I’m back again with my monthly blog post (on the last day of the month cause I’ve pretty much procrastinated the past few nights, catching up with this korean matchmaking variety show called ‘i am solo’).
To be honest, over the past months, I’ve been revisiting the thought of keeping this blog/website alive. I actually did a search on some local travel bloggers who started about the same time as me (more than 8 to 10 years ago), and many of them have stopped writing completely, or perhaps just do a random update once in a while. There’s so many other things we can do with our time these days (e.g. Netflix, Disney+, mobile games, reading books, craftwork etc.) and I’m not too sure how blogging ranks in the priority already. Perhaps it will be something that will go down the history books when tiktok and instareels take over the social media space. Thankfully, I’ve gotten over the fact that my blog/website will no longer reach its past fame, which is why I am able to write as and when I want without burden, without planning and without an agenda of scoring for partnerships/collaborations.
So what happened throughout the month of August? The month started off with, my last day (and yep that was the ‘change’ I was talking about in my previous post). Then, I spent my ‘unemployed’ break on a somewhat solo trip in Australia – covering Melbourne, Perisher resort (near Jindabyne) and then Sydney. As usual, I had many thoughts during my trip and one of which was how unconfident I felt about the new environment that I’m gonna be in. True to my worries, my past 2.5 week hadn’t been the smoothest journey within my imagination. It is pretty much still bearable but there were many aspects which could have been a lot better but that being said, I came from a very comfortable comfort zone. I’m still learning, I’m still trying – to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Few days back, I met an ex-manager of seven weeks (who somehow remained as a friend) and she told me to ‘never give up’ nor lose self confidence (and that is the most detrimental thing) in this unknown environment. Putting these words of advice through my mind each day and hopefully this discomfort will pass soon.
So anyway during my melbourne trip, I did ponder upon whether I would be bothered to do a ‘trip report’ but then again my itinerary wasn’t a conventional one as I didn’t plan anything but just went with the flow with adhoc recommendations. I was happy to catch up with my friends abroad (though I didn’t manage to meet one friend as she contracted covid few days before we were planning to meet) and it’s amazing how time ‘pauses’ in between whenever you meet people after a long time. Such short meetings over a longer period makes the time together even more precious. I’m really thankful that I have such friends who live overseas that I can catch up with once in a while. Times like this makes me love social media as that’s how we keep in touch >< Maybe I’ll do a photo dump for my trip over the weekend. Now that I look back, I did visit some scenic places that are worth sharing and I also made it to the ski resort! My first ever night ski was pretty much a joke and it made me reflect on the Japanese saying ‘Fall down seven times, Get up eight,’ I was falling down in places that were far from the ‘home base’ and the only way home was to get up and keep skiing. Shall share more about that story in my Australia post.
Another thing I want to talk about is that I recently read and completed the book ‘I want to die but I want to eat tteokboki‘. I wish I have found this book earlier as it touches on dysthymia, a mild but long lasting depression that may cause you to lose interest in life, feel hopeless, lack productivity and have low self-esteem and an overall feeling of inadequacy. There were some parts of the book that made me see ‘light’ in some aspects of my past and some paragraphs that I had to re-read a few times to gain wisdom from. Sometimes, I’ve been toying with the idea of seeing a psychiatrist or a fortune teller cause I just can’t seem to figure out what I want in the future or what the future holds for me. Never gotten past to taking action beyond that thought but yea, such thoughts come and goes, especially when I’m bored. If you’re keen on such themes, another book that I recomend is ‘Maybe you should talk to someone‘ and it is about a therapist seeking treatment herself. Mental wellness is a pretty ‘trending’ topic lately and I’m glad that everyone is paying more attention to this and perhaps have more empathy on others. Right now, I’m currently reading ‘The time travellers wife‘, which is really an enjoyable audio ‘read’. Gosh, am I slowly slipping into book recommendation? Actually, I’m a little sad that I discovered audiobook listening too late in life. I find it so much more enjoyable to listen to audiobooks during my daily commute compared to mindless scrolling of social media accounts.
Oh and there’s a slight improvement to the covid rules in Singapore. We are no longer required to wear masks indoors (except for public transport, hospitals/healthcare facilities and places with vulnerabilities). Slowly but surely, we are going back to life before covid. Hopefully by year end (3 years in total), we can declare that covid is a true endemic and that new variants or diseases will stop appearing. Really, give the human mankind a break ><
How has August been for you thus far? Remember to cheer up and stay healthy!