It’s the fourth day of Chinese New Year: while the working classes are reporting back into their offices and started work, I’m still back with my parents. My laptop flipped open with the backlit display shining at me, my stationeries and notebook spread across the dining table among the containers of Chinese New Year snacks. I’ve made the dining table back home my remote office.

After a series of hackathons, I’m starting to experiment with how to work in remote locations — outside the comforts of office cubicles where everything is within reach and I never need to worry out running out of office supplies. It’s always about learning to deal with small desk spaces, less than optimal furniture in terms of ergonomics and tuning out ambient noises and distractions from …

Quitting – even after my fourth job, I still feel the nervous and uncomfortable twitching sensation within myself. Every time as the thought darts its way through my brain, the calculating part of the brain keeps on churning the numbers: the risk and rewards, the financial projections and whether will there be a serious impact towards my bank and retirement accounts, is the discomforts, frustrations and agony justifies the departure… what if things turn for the better after that?

Most of the time, I always decided to do nothing about it: delaying the decision. After all, I’m still getting paid well and I don’t really have any immediate plans and safety nets that would make the departure a no-brainer.

And so I procrastinate for a while… or so I thought a few days back …

You probably wouldn’t know this as I’m not able to bring myself to say it: that you mean everything to me since I felt the rush upon knowing you. In due course of time, I still find myself fixated over you despite the fact that I know I need you more than you’ll ever need me.

Maybe it’s just me seeing you as perfect the way you are, even with all the flaws and quirks. In a way that Bruno Mars struck an emotional chord in me when he sings his songs.

You have such honesty shining through in your words, your eyes and your expressions – so beautiful that I’ll try to capture them with my own eyes when I get every silver of a chance. Noticing even the slightest …

Am now making two small but radical changes in my daily routine:

1. Swapping my gym days from Saturdays to Friday evenings
2. Sleep early, rise early (like really early, more details later)

Due to my maximizing nature, any changes to my routine usually indicates some form of shift in my priorities.

My gym days used to be on Saturdays mainly for two reasons: one being that it forces me to go outdoors and be around people; and two being that it forces me to disconnect myself from the online world and give myself some room to rest, draw inspiration and enjoy life. So Saturdays tend to be my indulgent day where I’d spend some money to make myself happy in whatever ways that material stuff can give.

Switching my gym days to Fridays is more …

How long has it been that I had first set eyes on you? Five years ago, perhaps? Remembering brings the bittersweet feeling of what’s not meant to be. Hence I always only been able to see you from afar no matter how close I am right next to you.

Your kindness is one that I couldn’t repay as much I’d love to shower you with gratitude million times over.

A passion unrequited is a life that I’ve gotten used to. Hence I’ve learned how to move on without you, letting the sorrows fade away while the rosy images of you remained framed in my heart.

Five years later, in the present, I met “you” again. It’s not the same you I’ve met before, but everything that I know …

A lot has happened in my two months of blogging absence: I just changed my job, gave a public presentation (and yes, it’s still sends shivers and trembles down my spine) and travelled to Australia.

What I have achieved is the past two months still feels surreal after everything has transcended. Not all of them ended well, well… the public presentation in particular, still I’m feeling the exhilaration that passed through every fibre in my body with these new experiences I’ve acquired.

To others, these seemed to be insignificant baby steps – yet through these actions and experience I gained a strong sense of empowerment that I’m taking control over my life.

As for what I’m currently doing, I’m now pushing my limits actively – one tiny bit at a time …

Since middle of last year, I made the effort to cook myself meals during the weekends.

Usually, it’s just a simple rotation of udon noodles with miso soup in a hotpot, Chinese chow mien and spaghetti with Ragu or Heinz spaghetti sauce on them. Nothing particularly fancy or hard to make.

The original intention is that I would want to pick up a life skill and just making sure that I ate more sumptuously and healthily during the weekends.

As the routine goes on, I’m starting to develop a love for cooking. Like any new skill, it started off with a more frustrating journey with puzzle pieces scattered around the floor: it’s not just about cooking skills but also the other process that goes before and after the cooking – from planning meals …