2025/09/05: July

kicking start July

feeling relieved that

we made it through the first 6 months

so things are going to be okay?

*

but at the back of my mind

there’s also this fear for uncertainties that

what if things take a turn

for the next 6 months

*

added steps which means extra time

small volume after work hours

yes yes yes

bring it on

*

the length I was willing to go

to crawl towards the minimum figures

towards the end of the month

*

at the end of the day

i am more than happy

to keep my personal spending low

by cutting down non-essentials and

one-time expenses

*

that is when I came to realize

there are little pleasures in life

that cost little or nothing

chirping birds, dew-laden grass,

the cats going round and round

waiting for their meals to be served

a bowl of noodle in front of TV during lunch

sun shining through the window

right before sunset

*

it has been a long way

to be right where I am today

and it definitely feels good here

so let’s dive in to live the life

*

2025/08/12: June

Waddled through June

with a challenging project

back and forth

the fear is real

what if I lose the client due to

mishandling of this single project

*

Forget about the extra time and effort spent

just want to get this right

for once and for all

*

Started to grab the pattern

after these months

when to expect a peak and trough

throughout the month

*

Feared for the worst in July

i actually left a few POs

completed, ready for billing

so that I at least have something

to start the third quarter with

*

Towards the end of the month

on a Friday which was a local public holiday

a friend suddenly texted to see if

i want to hang out

*

that is not what we usually do

as we usually meet up on Sunday

but readily said yes

thinking perhaps she wanted to

have a quick catch-up

in the middle of a peak

*

It felt good after that quick session

hope she felt the same

even though that means

falling out with my usual routine

e.g. leaving the cats waiting for their treat until late

almost can’t hit my minimum reading time  

skipped workout routine all together

*

and lost some sleep

due to the Matcha latte

taken too late  

*

2025/06/30: May

started May with a large project

something which has not been done in awhile

that required a time tracking sheet

and spent a few days and nights

just to work on a single project

which turned out to be quite a satisfaction

when the whole thing was completed

*

things took a different turn

during mid of the month

after getting notification about

further change of policy

which will result in further pay cut

w0ith immediate implementation

*

It’s not just about uncertainties anymore

but it just went crashing down

but first took a few days to

enjoy the quiet days after the rush

*

there were these moments that

i wished i am not doing this anymore

but no I still need the money

and this is still something i enjoy doing

look it’s not so bad after all

back and forth

*

towards the end of the month

thank goodness to the large project

which made up of 60+% of my total in May

that was how bad things were

but it happened to be the highest in 2025

*

so i really didn't know 

what to expect next

*

2025/06/01: April

setting job insecurity aside

April was a pretty fulfilling month

of meet-ups, cheat days and

ended up adopting a new kitten

*

gave up two live shows

one had been on my wish list for a long time

one was a recent favorite

*

but there isn’t anything too painful about it

that makes me go like

damn should have gone instead

*

and guess what THE FIRST TAKE channel 

is showing the live showcase

CENTRAL MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT FESTIVAL 2025

both Taipei and KL shows (premieres today!)

*

the concert took place on 26 Apr

which was the night i picked up the kitten

behind my house!!!

if i were to go to the concert...

*

then there was this feeling that

i thought I could have saved a lot from

not doing this and that

*

but nope some non-recurring expenses

will always come your way and say

look we will not make things easier for you

*

so did i buy anything for myself this month?

no i didn’t

in fact I had nothing in mind or in cart

but thanks to everyone

who made this month felt special

with the cake, gifts and wishes

*

2025/05/16: March

March usually marks 

the end of trial period

for a brand new year

and before you know it

the first quarter is ending soon

*

things began to pick up a little

going easier on me

like look

as i had hit the lowest low

for the past few months

things couldn’t get worse than that

*

from the worst case scenario imagined

during the beginning of the year of

simply not making ends meet

overflown by festive spending

that’s quite a relief

*

it seems like

i might be able to keep the job

a little longer after all

*

have been telling a few close friends

I am going to lose my job to AI real soon

*

looking forward

hoping things will get less turbulent

*

that kind of struggle

simply felt unreal

work it out or move it out

since I am not ready to get out

just have to work it out 

*

2025/04/18: 五後

上個拜五

提前把工作做完

4 點來弄個下午茶

結果一個托盤就擺滿了

*

伯爵茶口味的貝果

香蕉 + 優格 + 奇亞籽等

無糖紅茶

Dodol 椰糖糯米糕

*

再搭個短篇影片

最近在看《他鄉的煮人》

*

吃完看完想去睡個午覺

就來了電郵

有點趕 當天就要交

好想說 下班不做了

但還是不想和錢過不去

*

感謝客戶賞口飯吃

還在對的時間

才有那種閑情吃下午茶

*

傍晚也才收到周末的工作

也還是同樣要感謝

*

2025/04/03: 留守

面對收入銳減的窘境

到年初跌至新低

又碰上年節

*

但總不能削減年節開支

該給的給、該送的送

反正把祝福轉換成紅包、禮品

遞出去是蠻開心的

*

到二月、三月才正式

啓動低成本生活

就是除了必要消費

可以延遲買的就不買

*

但是有些開銷

還真的省不下來

*

總不能跟貓咪講：

奴才外面捕不到魚 隨便吃

*

總不能把保養品都換了

尤其到了快速衰老的年紀

用得不好不如不用

*

也不能跟父母道出實情

他們把我們養大的過程中

也有過有困難的時候吧

但從來隻字不提 絕無缺失

*

也不能和小朋友講：

球鞋小了還可以穿一下下

撐爆了再打算

買其他品牌 也一樣

*

三月結束了 來驗收成果

相對一月份的入不敷出

哇 達到收支平衡

居然有餘額

*

發現每個月總有一兩筆

必要的大額消費

還清后 稍喘一口氣

又是全新的一個月

*

四月的清單上有

父母家的洗衣機壞了

濾水機的合約到期了

一月讓眼鏡店保留了 2 副鏡框

啊 到現在還沒去弄

*

幸好一直都有做手賬的習慣

但以前總是左翻右看

總找不到削減開支的方式

*

其實還不簡單

當你手頭緊了

什麽花錢的慾望也沒了

*

四月尾有 Creepy Nuts、傻子與白癡

要不....

算了一下 還是算了吧

*

三月有 4 筆飲料消費

這就算了 把飲料也戒掉的話

那真的會把自己逼瘋吧

*

暫時還可以守著

這個待了 10 年的崗位

繼續當個稱職的三明治世代

*

今天只想來點

一派輕鬆 / 許光漢

*

2025/03/31: February

kicked start February during Lunar New Year

and I seriously didn’t want it to end

going back to work

with no work to start with

*

but look

i turned down a task on Day 7

simply because i was meeting a friend

whom i am meeting once a year

*

bad for financial health

but good for mental health

as I went through the dire situation

first and only time, as I recall

*

does talking actually help to

take the load off?

yes it is indeed helpful

*

and much thanks to

this “low-maintenance”friend of mine

as described in a video shared by this friend

shortly after our meet up

*

February seemed tough

given the Lunar New Year break and

it’s of course the shortest month in calendar

*

but somehow sailed through

with significant improvement from January

like it can’t get any worse

given the new low

*

the gap between earning and expenses

created during the festive season

was narrowly covered

with the help of passive income

*

so we are starting afresh in March

with no nothing

with the immediate goal of

getting through the month

and hopefully setting aside some

like the good old sunny days

*

P/S

as i was writing this on end of March 

just replied to an email 

with another new rate cut rule

wow but yes of course 

i am accepting the task 

*

2025/02/28: January

celebrated 10th anniversary as a freelancer

in the mid of uncertainties and worries 

with new low in monthly sale

*

which was even lower than

the figure 10 years ago

when i decided to go freelance full-time

*

and more policy changes implemented 

paid hourly rate?

to monitor AI quality and efficiency?

and further implementation of AI in other tasks

with revision of rate, of course

*

but anyway

i have never looked forward to

Lunar New Year so much all my life

as it was a good getaway from the

hellish situation i was facing

*

wrapped up the month in festive mode

on day 3 of Lunar New Year

with a new low in the invoice sent

*

wait till the New Year bills are total up

with a huge gap to be filled

but let’s do that in February

*

still spent generously on festive expenses

e.g. Angpao, gifts, a small donation

simply because i don't know 

what can i afford for everyone next year

*

it couldn’t get any worse, could it?

let’s see..

*

and somehow

i was living quite a good life

doing a thorough spring cleaning

reading all the books on my list

sleeping a full 8 hours every night

*

if money doesn’t bother me anymore

yes, I guess that’s how I am going to

spend the rest of my life

*

2025/01/31: December

usually caught myself in catch-22 situation

during December where

i wished to work more to end the year

with proper looking figures

and also to rest more

*

pre-Covid

I usually stopped travelling

during the second half of the month

more of like a hibernation period

to sort myself out after a long year

*

but last December

i was away from 19-30 December

the longest time away from home

since i moved in 3 years ago

*

combining family trip, staycation,

friend meet-up, last but not least,

two final concerts to wrap the year

*

given the short peak in early December

the figures didn’t look too bad

to cover my holidays spending

*

took the whole day on 31 Dec

to sort out my sales, personal spending etc.

nothing beats the feeling of

finally being home to end the year

before a tsunami hit in January

*

2025/01/03: November

Kicked start November with a 

concert staycation in town 

for Fujii Kaze concert 

*

as i didn’t expect the travel peak 

in conjunction with Diwali 

was forced to extend the stay 

for another night very last minute 

which was not quite an issue 

as i didn’t have any pending deadline 

*

that was tentatively the last 

concert staycation in town 

which will be much missed 

(but turned out it wasn’t)

*

it was a good way to start November 

as November is usually the month 

i need extra motivation to work hard 

in spite of the months-long fatigue 

due to the extra budget for year-end shopping 

*

but it feels good to buy a little something 

for the loved and close ones 

before the year ends 

*

in fact i started buying Christmas gifts in October 

for low in stock items 

that’s the fun of doing it 

buying something that you think will put a smile

on the face of the person who is about to receive it

*

when the going gets tough 

the tough goes shopping 

*

2024/12/02: October

almost 2 years into e-book

this was the first month I managed to get a tick

for minimum spending time

throughout the whole month

*

in other words

there was not a lot of work

*

for easy read novel

it takes about 2-3 days to finish one

thank goodness it’s in digital format

which takes up minimum physical space

regardless of how many books

i buy or read in a month

*

and the more books i read

the more titles or authors have been added to

my to-read list

*

the best part of all

switching between book to work

when needed is not as tough as

from series to work

*

but gives as much motivation to

finish work on time

to pick up from where i have left off

*

and motivation to work?

to buy more books!!!

*

2024/11/25: 不形

上兩個禮拜在戲院看《破。地獄》

接到一封電郵

幾個月前的一個項目

客戶有所不滿 必須扣錢

*

當然郵件已經打開了

就不能無視 很快地回復

“好的 接受這個安排”

*

四周是沒有其他觀衆的

所以不會打擾到其他人

不過精彩的吵架就錯過了

也好 也是我會再看第二次的原因之一吧

*

那個四個月前的項目

然後也已經結賬收款了

所以從今天的新項目扣

幸好有新項目 也算是好事吧

*

突然發現

和客戶只用電郵溝通

不必看人臉色以後至於

同時可以完全做到

“喜怒不形于色”

*

過了這村 繼續趕路

問心無愧就好

*

2024/10/31: September

it usually takes me almost one month to 

realize i have not even written 

the pending post from previous month 

*

felt a little stressed up 

about the 5d4n 

across the sea but 

not oversea trip 

*

post Covid travel be like 

you take 5 days off

you gonna be spending the next

5 days healing from the travel

*

travel fatigue is real 

and one the major reasons being

traveling in big group and 

and constantly put in an awkward position 

throughout the whole trip 

so it’s more like social fatigue 

*

so that would be a 1/3 of the month gone 

but thank goodness 

managed to get hold of a project

that made up for it

towards the end of the month 

*

last words?

travel young 

*

2024/09/30: August

started and ended Aug with a busy pace

but thank goodness left with a work-free weekend

to watch concert in city with the gang

hash-tagged good music good folks

*

and also spared some time to

meet up with another gang in town

hash-tagged good food good people

*

with gangs I meant 2 different couples

yeah I am so not used to

hanging out with in a big group

*

there were some hectic projects

like when I looked back

wow really?

all done within one month

*

the good news is

closed with the highest sale this year

but the bad news is

due to the hectic days

forgot to keep up with the currency stats

which left majority of the country cheering

*

lost quite a bit but anyway

came across this beautiful quote on Google

which pretty much summed up

what i have in mind:

*

“you can’t lose what you never had

can’t keep what’s not yours,

and can’t hold on to something

that doesn’t want to stay”

*

so cheers

as long as i still can afford

the nice food my cat loves

the nice shows i want to watch

the books with nice covers I saw

the nice items i want to buy my parents

*

life is still pretty good

isn’t it

*

2024/09/04: July

 

July used to be a heck of a busy month

before Covid

but was usually quite motivated

because i wanted to see sales

to cover my travel

usually back-to-back

during this period of the year

*

anyway things took a change

given the unpredictability

over the last 12 months

and I no longer travel

except for short staycation

to watch live shows in the city

*

July started off slow

but landed myself in a

hectic work-sleep cycle

towards the end of the month

*

but look there was the Olympics on TV

which kinda of help to boost productivity

as i can’t wait to finish work earlier

so that I can watch live matches

*

that’s super rare for someone

who doesn’t watch sports

on a seasonal basis

*

but sadly

I didn’t actually wake up to watch

any of the track event I bookmarked

not possible

given the earliest was usually 1:45 am

and the finale at 3:45 am

*

by the way

I haven’t even finish the Sprint docuseries on Netflix

and season 2 is already on the way

*

and the Olympics lasted until mid-Aug

that felt super fast, like a few blinks of eye

and looking back

I can’t quite remember anything memorable

In my everyday life

except the winning moments witnessed on TV

*

it took the athletes and their teams a long time

to make it there

and even better to the podium

so…

“giving myself a pat on the shoulder”

*

 

2024/08/13: June

 June was the month

i managed to sail through

half of the weekends work-free

doing something, planned or unplanned

*

spent two weekends away

oh no, I miss my weekend routine already

*

and half of the weekends

working on projects that required

more time, concentration, effort

and preferably some quietness

*

putting together,

a spread sheet that didn’t look too bad

to wrap up first half of 2024

*

no matter how long the to-do list is

focus on one task at a time

and you can always continue tomorrow

*

 

2024/06/30: May

Suffered the lowest sale ever since 2015

but had heaps of time to

tackle the tough projects

*

to read through the day

and to run whatever errands there were

and even attended important event

as a cousin who is always not there

*

But thank goodness

managed to see the light at the end of the tunnel

towards the end of the month

with a large project that lasted for one week plus

so was not invoiced in May

*

Anyway am still trying to

cutting down on unnecessary expenses

what if what if

one day it gets so low that

i don’t get enough to cover my expenses

*

Of course it doesn’t mean

i should settle with minimum threshold every month

by the way the time (and money) spent on reading

seems to be paying off

as I found it’s much easier to

work on a new topic I have not encountered before

due to the exposure to wider range of topics

*

Yup will not cut down on

buying books and newspaper subscription

that would be my top priority

*

Hello June

oh wait we are soon coming to the end of June

time really flies

when you have so much to do

other than work

*

2024/06/05: 叻沙

連續加班了幾天

終於爬過一座大山

是蠻累 

連日還灌了很多清茶

胃口都被沖淡了

*

晚餐點了外送

是平常不太吃的 laksa 米粉

*

這家湯頭夠香

但不會過濃郁、油膩

*

無意聽過店家受訪說到

他們是客人點了才製作每一碗

而不是一大鍋湯頭備用

*

沒錯 也是聽了訪問

才對他們的食物感興趣

畢竟這是一家咖啡館

*

幾天下來

家裡所有 comfort food 都用盡了

包括冰箱裡唯一的冷飲

可可口味的 Oatside

*

不過確實好喝  

感覺那 9.6 克糖分花得很值

決定囤購一些

*

吃過 laksa 後

溫溫熱熱的感覺 真好

*

我想以後有人問起 comfort food

那一定會想起今晚這碗 laksa

*

2024/05/01: April

Took two weekend off in April

for live show + staycation in the city

*

the first trip, solo,

departed later than planned

got myself stuck in heavy traffic

resulted in late check-in and

arriving late at the concert venue

not forgetting the late dinner after 1am

*

but spent a well-rested day in the Airbnb

with a pretty good view from the balcony

so it was just concert + Airbnb

before heading back

*

the second trip,

travelled much more relaxedly

by making it earlier

with the comfort of being hosted by an old friend

*

we did so much in a day

brunch at café, attending a Raya open-house before the show

catching some football while having supper at Mamak

and watching the recent talk-about K-drama

all the way until 3am

*

which really felt like

going back to the college days

but back then I known as an early bird

and only got dragged out when the gang

came knocking on my door

and back then we don’t even have Netflix

(relying on illegal resource and slow connection)

*

couldn’t be more impressed by

how my friend was all set for work

in front of the laptop at 8:30am

that seamless transition

*

while I slept through the 2 hour journey back

at the back of my mind

thinking about how I could

make up the time  

to catch up on errands and work left behind

*

having got used to a pretty routine

for the past 3 years? post-2020

it will take some time to adapt

the uncertainties, rushes, changes

that tag along with travel

*