“There” is no better than “here”, though the best thing always seem to be happening “there”. When you do get to a “there” and it becomes a “here”, you will yearn for another “there” that will, again, look better than “here”. Always appreciate the “here”.
Rules for being human by Fr. Louis Guntzelman
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Here, not there
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Giving a fuck
“Don’t give a fuck about your work. Give all your fucks to the living. Give a fuck about the people you work with, and the people who receive your work—the people who use the tools and products and systems or, more often than not, are used by them. Give a fuck about the land and the sea, all the living things that are used or used up by the work, that are abandoned or displaced by it, or—if we’re lucky, if we’re persistent and brave and willing—are cared for through the work.”
A Working Library by Mandy BrownI love this post.
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Burden of proof
Making a claim is easy, backing it up can be hard.
If I claim that the moon is a giant chocolate chip cookie floating in space, or if golden retrievers are filled with jellybeans and cotton candy, then the onus is on me to prove it.
The bolder the claim, the stronger the evidence required.
As an atheist, I never understood why the religious folks insist that we have to prove god doesn’t exist. We never claimed that was anything there in the first place so there’s nothing to prove.
The burden, on the other hand, is on them to back up their extraordinary claims and I’ve yet to see any empirical, scientific evidence that could prove the existence of a divine creator, heaven and hell, or eternal life.
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Off the treadmill
2024 started different from the past years.
Last October, I was asked to leave my company due to financial reasons. I served out the remaining quarter and as of 1 January, I was officially unemployed.
In Singapore, 2023’s retrenchment numbers almost doubled compared to the year before. While this means there’s much less stigma around layoffs, it also means that there are more job hunters in the market, coming into the new year.
I can’t change what happened but I can control how I process my situation. While I begin the job search, here’s my plan for the coming months:
- Be kind to myself and acknowledge that it was a financial decision, not an issue with my performance.
- Upgrade my existing skills and learn new ones. As a start, I signed up for an iOS & Swift Coding Bootcamp and 100 days of Python last week.
- Write a business plan for a content strategy consulting company that I can run from home.
- Spend time with old friends, catching up over lunch or coffee in the middle of the day.
- Travel. I have Japan and New Zealand lined up in the first half of the year.
No matter what, I don’t want to feel like I need to rush into another job because I need one.
Here’s hoping your 2024 is off to a better start than mine.
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Why we write
The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life.
Zadie SmithI used to write a lot more and more often. It’s a muscle that has atrophied since other things in life occupied that space. Some days writing was cathartic when it served as a dumping ground for my daily rants. On other days, there is information to be documented and shared with the world. But most days, especially in my previous employment, writing was a job.
I was surrounded by writers, most of whom were very good at their craft. On a good day, I was inspired by what poured out from their minds onto paper (or a Google doc) but on bad days, I feel like an imposter; a man walking in the footsteps of giants. This, coupled with my innate desire to polish and perfect things, resulted in never feeling like anything I write is good enough to be retained or published.
This resolution was made many times before but I’m going to make it again. I will find my “why” and will make time to write regularly. I will get past the insecurity and be okay with just putting stuff out there.
Why do you write? Where do you find your drive when the going gets tough? Where do you find the joy of writing? Leave me a comment because I’m going to need all the help I can get.
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Turning 45
I’m one year older in September. While I inch towards the inevitable end, it also means I am one year closer to retiring before I turn 50.
Retire before 50. What a concept unimaginable by so many in society. I got lucky in my career and started planning for this a few years ago. Perhaps I’ll share more in another post on another day.
As I move from the “35-44” to the “45-54” checkbox in survey forms, I am torn between being grateful for everything I have and feeling anxious that the best years are behind me. Is this what middle age feels like?
To celebrate, I started a “50 for 50” list – fifty things I’d like to accomplish before I turn 50. It’s like a bucket list but we’re starting earlier and giving myself five years to get it all done. Some are travel-related, like spend a month traveling in Japan. Some are things I just need to do, like plan my own funeral. Whatever it is, it’s just to make sure I have some things to look forward to in the next five years.
What are some of the ways you celebrate your special day?
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All work, no play
The past three months were consumed by work. I’m exhausted and to be honest, a little burnt out. And there’s six more months of 2023 to go.
Between being “strongly encouraged” to spend three days in the office, to the back-to-back in-person meetings and the hour-long commute to and fro, I can’t imagine how anyone could find this fulfilling.
I haven’t found much time to write (or rant), without the risk of feeling like I’m screaming at the top of my lungs into the abyss of the internet, only to be heard by exactly no one.
I’ve recently started making cocktails at home. It’s partly driven by my desire to have a drink (or three) after 4pm, a habit I picked up during the quarantine months of the pandemic. The other part is really about saving money. I can’t bring myself to pay so much for a drink in a bar when I can whip one up for a fraction of the price.
It wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to share some of my favourite recipes (or specs as the pros call it) here while I try keep honing the craft.
Also, top of mind, is how we’re inching towards of financial independence. I see this as the only way to escape how soul-sucking corporate work is. Unless of course, I get a huge inheritance but the chances of that is close to zero.
This all-work-no-play rhythm of life has got to change. Here’s hoping that the second half of the year will be better than the first.
keongzai 