2023 Week 41: Things I Did to Feel Young Again

How did I get so old? And I don't mean the good, wise, cool, Thursday Murder Club kind of old - I mean the boring, boiled cabbage, sleeping at 10pm kind of old. Time flies, notoriously, as you get older. It only gets worse when you have a fixed routine like mine. I've been trying to stop time by being more spontaneous. Here's what I have been doing so far:

1. Film screening

Last weekend Jon took me to watch Zigeunerweisen. I don't even remember the last time I watched a real movie in a theatre. WTF. (Dune?) I remember going to watch a movie by myself virtually every Sunday at when I was in my 20s.

2. Pub quiz

Okay this isn't new, but I hardly go out at night, which feels like a young person thing to do. (I also ordered ice cream at the pub because what the hell. It turns out that Molly Malone's banana and vanilla ice creams are the bomb.)

3. Bowling

We went bowling on a random weeknight. The alley was crowded with serious competitive bowlers and the tables were festooned with their McDonalds dinners. I can confirm that we still suck at bowling.

4. Turning off my sleep alarm

I had an alarm on my phone telling me to go to bed at 10.30pm.

5. Considered gaming

Various people in my life have been telling me to play games. I used to stay up late playing King's Quest, The Sims, and Theme Hospital, but I haven't played any computer games since I became a wageslave. Weird huh? I was sorely tempted by my brother's Switch (really, it's just the form factor) and the game Unpacking. But so far I haven't started playing anything. I can't even get Steam to work on my Macbook. The pursuit of fun seems to involve a huge amount of admin.

6. Chinatown haberdashery shopping

My neighbour asked me to go to Chinatown because she needed to buy some sewing things. It's not my thing but I was like what the hell, yes. It was so fun. When was the last time I went shopping with a female friend? Honestly can't remember. I'm not even sure I have ever done it. Shopping has always been a solo thing for me.

7. Hanging out in town

I have been spending Friday nights at home for as long as I can remember. Enough! I got Jon to come out and meet me in Orchard and we just... hung out. By hung out, I mean sat at the OCBC bookshop and read books. Which was pointless since it was just a less comfortable version of what we'd do at home. We went to Concorde Hotel hoping to look at pre-gaming clubbers hanging outside Drip but... we were too early. Yawn.

8. Flea market

I sold books at a flea market for the first time ever. It was quite an interesting experience. It definitely slowed time down for me, although I don't know if I'd do it again.

9. Writers' meetup

Finally, I attended an online meetup for aspiring writers. This is my second writing/publishing meetup and I can safely conclude that I am not an aspiring writer and have no desire to play the publishing game. It seems like a colossal waste of time. This line from New Grub Street comes to mind: 

"When already there was more good literature in the world than any mortal could cope with in his lifetime, here was she exhausting herself in the manufacture of printed stuff which no one even pretended to be more than a commodity for the day's market. What unspeakable folly!"

It's been an interesting week, but I didn't realise how taxing it would be to try and have a lot of fun. I'm exhausted...

In other news, I finished George Gissing's New Grub Street. I have dog-eared soooo many pages in it. Can you tell it's my new favourite book??? I'm glad I haven't lost interest in reading, though it's undoubtedly an old person sort of hobby.

Here is a picture of Momo being sent home to her parents in Pasir Ris: