I have been in phases of non-employment a couple of times in my life thus far and this has by far been the longest ever.
While I have been enjoying the extra freedom of time, there are moments in my day where I start to stone and question myself on my purpose in life. These thoughts don’t come all the time as most of the time I am usually preoccupied with things to do but just now, I had that thought again. Monday and Tuesday nights are usually the more boring nights for me as I do not have any dramas to ‘chase’. I’m currently watching the Wed-Thu, Thu-Fri and Sat-Sun dramas and usually I watch them after 12 at night and from 1am+ it’s time to wind down (random YouTube surf), check out my stock portfolio and hopefully sleep sometime between 2-3am. I know it’s not healthy to sleep late every night but I don’t really want to wake up too early either (unless there were plans for the day).
The best part of not working is to have the luxury to meet up with friends on weekdays. Last year, I remember going out for many lunch appointments with my still-working friends and it was really nice to kind of be part of the corporate crowd, listening to the complaints and ramblings I quitted on. This time round, I’m thankful that we are kind of allowed (but not encouraged) to go out, and I can meet my friends physically for the first time since a year ago. Sometimes, you really can’t recreate the experience of meeting physically. There were many friends that did not FaceTime/Skype/Video Call me when I was abroad, well but I’m not complaining because I’m not too much of a video person too, so it was really enjoyable to catch up after such a long time.
Another tiny moment in life that is worth mentioning is about the extended time I’m spending with my family. If you know me, I am annoyed 95% of the time from the amount of nagging I receive daily but 5% of the time, I kind of appreciate the fact that I still get nagged at, despite my age. It simply means.. someone still cares right? As our parents’ ages, we really won’t know how much more time we have with them and every small thing you do now is still a chance to reduce the regret when it comes. There was someone close to me who lost her dad a couple of months back (when I was still in NZ) and it came like a ‘sudden death’ with no known symptoms or signs. Illnesses like heart attack and cancer can really strike any moment and the least you want is to have regrets. Whenever possible, don’t forget to spend more time with your loved ones. I’m kind of happy that my New Zealand family holiday back in February did happen as it would have been the last overseas trip for all of us until the so-called vaccine is found or when it is safe enough to travel – in God knows when. It’s nice to have common memories to talk about during meal times and I know they enjoyed the trip a lot (well because they didn’t need to do any planning or driving). I still wish to move out and be independent 5 years down the road (though I’m not certain if it really would happen), so I guess the next 5 years ‘still staying with my parents’ should be pretty precious for me.
I.. am interested in everything, anything at all. This extra free time has given me new and random and possibly short-term hobbies. There was one period of time I got addicted to ‘crochet’. I spent every night doing something (usually small like toys). At my peak, I was even doing crochet on the bus to work. I ended buying a lot of yarn colours so I could recreate toys at the spur of the moment as I have a library of colours to choose from. I also bought a bag of cotton stuffing to fill up the toys and crochet-ed and 6-7 years on, I have no idea where they are.
Another fleeting hobby of mine was buying and building nanoblocks. I started with the pirated version and upgraded to the expensive and official version after I got hooked onto it. Started stocking up on the pokemon versions (which were a rarity then) and I remember visiting and calling shops asking for the latest availability for the new releases. It was.. hectic. There was the cities collection which was highly sought after (well, duh, I like travel). However, there came a point in time where I bought way too many set of nanoblocks and then I got lazy to build anymore. It’s like the concept where when you don’t have something, you would crave for it but the moment you have it, you can’t seem to treasure it anymore. I don’t know why I’m like that but that’s what happens when I go shopping.
Anyway, so my latest hobby is.. needle felting. I haven’t gone full-fledge into this hobby but I did spend a long time on this little fella below! I kind of bought more supplies so I will be working on something else soon. No idea if the hobby will stay on but needle felting is really x10 harder than crochet.
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That’s pretty much my life for the past month. I’ve been hanging out with friends way more than I should and oh, I’m spending a sizeable amount of time on the stock market daily. Not really trading as much as I hope to, but I spend a hell lot of time monitoring my positions. I guess it’s a reflection of the amount of spare time I have, and the uncertainty I have towards my stock picks for me to monitor them so closely. Really thankful that I’m on a positive position (well, market is on a rising trend) and hopefully the earnings can guide me through the days.
Cheer and hope you’re doing fine on that part of the world you’re in.