What I’ve been up to this month
It’s been ridiculously hot in Singapore these past weeks (I think there’s a heat wave going on, so my weather app tells me it feels like 36 degrees). Ugh. Super thankful for my insulated metal cup keeping my water and tea cold.
Concert galore! The wife and I decided to go to a bunch of live concerts this and next month. Just this weekend we saw standup comic Atsuko Okatsuka who performed in a movie theatre(!) and ballad queen 梁静茹 (aka Fish Leong) last night who’s concert took me back to karaoke in the 2000s.
Special mention for 梁静茹‘s audio visual powers. We were wondering if it was going to be a soothing experience to put you to sleep considering 90% of her songs are love ballads. But they included lyrics! Means we can sing our hearts out. And her band/accompanying dancers were pretty awesome as well.
Next week is going to be peak Mamamoo fandom. We’re flying to Bangkok next week to see Wheein (my Mamamoo bias) and the week after Moonbyul’s coming back to SG again so watching that too. I think I’m tapped out of Kpop for awhile after these concerts though. Is it a bit much? Probably. But whatever.
Also went to Hong Kong at the beginning of March as a half work, half holiday/visit in-laws, which was pretty cool too. My in-laws brought us to the Chinese restaurant they had their wedding dinner at + celebrated my wife’s first month’s birthday there too. Super cool bit of family history there! And I think the fact that the restaurant is still standing is pretty amazing. In Singapore you’re lucky if a heritage site remains standing after 5-10 years.
What’s been adding value this month
Books
Got back into reading with a couple of books!
Finished Dinner on Monster Island by Tania De Rozario, which mixes horror movie references with well-written personal essays of how it’s like to grow up brown, queer and fat in Singapore. As expected, the collection touches on some heavy subject matter, but it was the first book I actually finished reading in months.
I got started with Sarah J Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses’s (ACTOR) series - and I see why it’s been so popular. The book basically mixes epic fantasy and romance (with a dollop of sex) inside. Is it the best book ever? No, but it kept me engaged and reading. Which is pretty great! It’s funny cos I got reading it with thanks to Anne Helen Petersen’s excellent newsletter on ACTOR.
Currently reading Consumed by Aja Barber, a book I’ve had on my TBR for the longest time but never finished.
Games
This month’s been all about the new Zelda game (Tears of the Kingdom) on the Nintendo Switch. I’m not mechanically inclined so the game’s focus on building things took me a while to get used to, but I feel damm smart when I manage to solve a shrine without looking up a walkthrough!
Also this game appeals to my brain that constantly gets distracted lol. This amazing comment on Reddit sums it up entirely. “Oh wait what’s that over there??”. This is why I love these huge open world games that constantly get me distracted 😂
What I’m thinking about
REST!! I’ve definitely pushed myself a bit too hard this month with a full client roster and a week off thanks to the HK trip. It’s been go-go-go ever since I came back from HK and I think towards the end of the month my brain had just had enough and I’m feeling exhausted and especially anxious. I.e putting 4 weeks worth of work in 3 weeks is not the best situation.
Pretty proud of myself for recognising that my brain and body needs a break from being always-on though. Old Joshua would have continued pushing past it and get grumpier by the second. (I am not great to be around in that state). So the past 3 days I’ve forced myself not to look at work or any aspect of my business and I finally have the headspace to sit and just be.
After all, why run your own business when you don’t even give yourself the flexibility to rest when you want to? That’s no better than how I was at my full time job.