trisected

Tag: hobbies

  • New Hobbies: F1, Chess

    I have to be upfront about it somewhere, so maybe this is it…

    Drive to Survive really got some new people into the world of F1, and I was definitely sunk in after watching it during the COVID Pandemic lockdowns. It gave me something to look forward to, and it was just outright exciting.

    As I write this, I’m waiting for the Jeddah Grand Prix to start. I am spending some part of my month allowances just to watch this every month, with a race somewhere or another. It’s a small cost, but it’s quite a good few hours of entertainment.

    In some part of my mind, I’m really thinking about how I managed to spend so much on my keyboards in the past few years. It’s crazy to consider the amount of switches, keycaps, and boards. I really like all of the setups that I’ve come to, and it’s really been a great experience. Now I’m making the setups work for me in the long run.

    In comparison, I spend about 12 bucks a month for 4 races, and there’s all the other information and hype that I can join in. It’s quite a thrill!

    Also, being me, I really considered getting Grand Prix tickets for Singapore, but it’s a bit too expensive. I think my days of spending a few hundred at a go are gone. But then again, it might be too soon to say?

    I’ve also gotten into chess! Not because of the Queen’s Gambit, but more because my wife really wanted to play. We got ourselves a small set to just get started, but it’s really enjoyable. I keep playing online and losing terribly. My patience is poor, and I’m too lazy to remember openings too well. The worst part is that my endgame sight is so poor! I keep missing winning moves. It’s terrible.

    But I still really enjoy playing, and it’s just a fun mess to go through.

    I hope I get to draw or make something with respect to these two things! Really fun interests that cost so much less than keyboards, but with that high level of intensity that I think I enjoy tremendously.

  • Weekly Roundup 31 Oct – 6 Nov 2021

    How fast time flies especially when I’m not blogging! I was thinking about how I should jump back onto updates here, especially because there’s actually a lot that goes on. I mean, I did manage to daily blog for at least 50 days in a row. I really have a lot of random things going on in my life at one time.

    I had two orders come in that I was really excited about: Keyboards and Used Jeans. Orders from Amazon Japan, and from Yahoo Auctions Japan. I had won a full size RealForce Keyboard at a really good auctioned price, and then I won a nice pair of used Momotaro jeans. There are some parts that are so nice, and honestly, I see myself enjoying the things that I’ve gotten.

    This week also proved to be a bit more restful than expected. I got to join in a mural painting on Wednesday. It was great getting to do some painting outdoors, and just to talk to other people who weren’t my colleagues. Sometimes there’s really a lot of baggage that we keep on carrying, and I just gotta let go of it. It’s not good to hold on to it, and I need to help my friends brush their baggage away too.

    Books I’ve finished reading: The Great War by Ralph Kern. Sci-fi war book, interesting premise, and I’ve just finished Book 1 of 5. I will probably do the rest in the months to come.

    Books I’m still reading: Sanshiro. I lay in bed one of the mornings and decided to start the book afresh. Man there were so many good lines that I had missed. Natsume Soeseki is really such a great author, and has such good command of expression. I keep thinking about what the Japanese original piece would say, instead of the English translation that I’m currently on. I will get to the Japanese book soon, I’ve already bought the book, and it’s sitting on my bookshelf.

    Listening to: Yaeji and Oh Hyuk’s EP: 29 and Year after Year. It’s really such a jam. Really enjoying Yaeji’s rapping and vocals though, it’s very chill, and her phrasing is very interesting. Silk Sonic just released a new track too, and that’s really quite dope too. Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars is a really nice collab group. Such is the theme for this week’s music update I guess.

    Things I’ve been doing: Sashiko (Repairing embroidery) and Running. The sashiko thing has been on my mind since Kenjima (on YouTube) showed the embroidered Levi Jackets, and also the sashiko jeans. Such a nice vibe.

    Been running again because Clarice had started running, and asked me to train her. She got a really nice pair of running shoes, and I’m really stoked to train her in running. It means that I’m running 5 days out of the week too, but that’s good for me. I get some exercise, and I’ve been feeling a lot more positive in life.

    I do want to get back to daily blogging, because I think there was a space for that in my life. But I’m not sure which part of the day I want to try that on again, and I’m not sure if I can keep to it. But I’ll work on these weekly ones first and we’ll see how things go from there.

  • How do you combine interests?

    I’ve been thinking for a long time, how do I make sense of the many interests that I have? There’s so many things to do, and so little time in a day. How do I decide what to do each day, and how do I decide which one takes more priority over the other?

    One of strangest things that might amuse any one who has known me for some time, is actually my avid awareness of Minimalism in my life. Inside me somewhere, is this person who actually wants to have nothing inside my house, and to have only the same set of clothes over and over and over again. It’s a dream. Realistically, this will never happen. Not because I don’t want to, but in that Spark Joy theory from Kon Mari, I find that there too many collections of mine that spark joy. I can be brought back to exact moments where I had gotten something and then it finds a renewed place in my heart.

    But this minimalism framework is one of those preceding the rest. Do I get something that I like for the sake of it? Why do I like what I am getting? Am I getting something purely for the uniqueness, or because I truly like and enjoy it.

    This does mean that I have 3-5 of the same black t-shirt, and maybe about 5-7 kinds of black t-shirts. They range in thickness, in length, in quality, in shade of black, the sleeve length, the neck width. You get the picture.

    But I have also specific unique items that only have one of each. For example, I only have one green khaki pants. I have one light tan khaki, and then I have regular black slacks. These are for occasions that I have to be absolutely formal in, and I’d rather have one pair that I have worn for the past 10 years, than to buy a new pair of pants every time I need it for a formal event. Then to resell, or loan those out after that.

    I think the COVID period has been especially hard, because I have a limited amount of places to wear these items to, and therefore the place of “I will use them when I am in the appropriate place” is missing. Technically, the minimalist during this COVID period would throw away most of not all clothes, because there is no need for travel, and therefore, there is only need for a few things. Shorts might be the most common, because of the amount of time spent at home. Which is also what I have gotten more of in the past year. Two pairs of the same type of shorts, in different colors. But they are very nice and stretchy, and I am enjoying them.

    Time based hobbies start next: What will take the most or the least of my time? And because of time, it is also: Which hobbies can I stack together at the same time? So sometimes I watch a number of shows that I really like, as I fix up keyboards. Sometimes, it’s listening to a podcast as I run, because I love to learn now things.

    Because time is so limited, gaming is something that has really dropped so much in the past few years. I really like gaming, and I wish there were more ways to game. It’s so hard, because it takes time, and it’s a single activity. I can’t stack it, as much as I would like to. But recently, because of Clarice’s involvement in streaming and gaming, I’ve began to start gaming a bit more, and using that single time as a specific time to start relaxing it. Although the game itself might not be relaxing, I am forcing myself to just allocate specific time to one thing, instead of stacking. It is a hard effort, but I think it’s needed as I learn how to rest better.

    All this aside, I try to track my days, and my time. It doesn’t always work out how I think it would, but I do make some attempts to. A lot of the time, things get pushed around. But then I write posts like this, and remind myself not to be so hypocritical. Then I restart some hobbies, or I give more focused time. And that works out for me really great in the end.

    I gotta get started reading again!! Personal reminder for myself as I sign off for now.

  • A Weekly Dose of Whachamacallit

    Some days start off real good. Some days get really funky, and you have no idea why. I think its because everyone has days when they just need a bit of that. You know? That… fizz? That… sense of excitement? It’s just unknown and yet every one knows that days can get really long and arduous without them.

    I find mine snacks, sweet or savory. That perk me up, no matter what my diet might be at that time. Sometimes its not food, because no matter how much I’ve eaten, I’m still listless. That’s when I tend to get into a new hobby. I dive deep, and find myself broke (financially) on the other side.

    Whatever you might call it, you know you need it. It’s kinda human, it’s kinda like gluttony. But its best we know what it is, so that we can give ourselves weekly doses of whatever we might call it. So that we can get ourselves going on our lives just fine.