Life turns on a dime

Today during lunch I received a call from a property agent whom I requested to view a room. By 8 pm evening, I have signed the contract and paid the deposit.

The previous plan was to stay at a storage converted room a block a short distance away. I changed my mind after the viewing. This one is slightly more pricey but the room is more than twice the size. It is a proper room after all. 

Land lord's a real ancient man. Here's hoping he really won't bother me as he claimed. My ideal rental is a neat, quiet environment where no one ever bothers me. That is not a lot to ask for, but somehow I haven't had such luck.

I'm rather happy about the location. It's seriously so near by office now. Google map says 900 meters. 900 meters, 3 traffic junctions, and a lift ride. It would take about 15 minutes from home door to office door. Now that's a real luxury. The amount of time I'm saving is definitely worth that money. I can safely wake up at 9 am every day now! Also, there's a really delicious mala stall 2 minutes walk away. Can foresee a lot of stomach aches in the next few months.

One downside is that I'll be moving away from KFC. I am such a regular customer that the staff recognises me and knows my orders. In exchange I have McDonald's 3 minutes walk away. But... I'm not a fan of McD. Although there is a subway 2 minutes walk away, and I am a fan of that. Plenty of choices where I will be living. Objectively speaking it really is a damn good place to be living.

On other news, I chatted with Yangyew more in the last 10 days than possibly the last 10 years combined. He's suddenly so passionate about Japan now. That's of course a wonderful thing. More people needs to realise how great Japan is. Looks like I got myself another travel buddy. Can never have too many of those. I hyped him up like crazy for our upcoming trip in December.

Admittedly, I myself was less excited after seeing the ticket prices. I forgot how expensive December flights were. Jeez. That would blow a pretty big hole in my savings. Ah... I still have some time before I have to decide. Gonna have to pray for a miracle now.

A bro of mine is getting married in September. It's a stark reminder that many of my friends are fully adults doing adulty stuff now. Whereas I'm still playing games like I was 20 years ago. Different people, different lives. Mine was never meant to be a family life, and I'm fine with that. I'm happy enough the way it is. I count my blessings and appreciate the life I'm given. I make good money, have a good job, have good friends, and have plenty of time to enjoy the things I like in life. What more can I ask for?

Lately I have found myself a new goddess. Tomaru Sayaka. I liked her since 4 years ago but now I'm kinda crazy about her. She has the sweetest smile ever. Perfection in female form. She's been my wallpaper for some time, and will stay that way for a while. Thank you Lord for creating Japanese girls. 

FIRE

Financially independent, retire early.

That's been my life goal for a long time without even being aware of the FIRE movement. The idea is to retire by late 30s to early 40s, and doing what one likes for the rest of his life. One must have enough savings or a substantial passive income to last him till the day he can start drawing pension or tap on their retirement fund. In Singapore, that would be 65.

I don't know anyone other than myself who wants to do this. Maybe there are, but people don't talk about this kind of thing usually. I asked a couple of people and it seemed like most people sort-of want to retire earlier but they aren't doing anything about that. I think it's the same as people saying they want to lose weight. It's very easy to say, but deep down they don't care enough to want to see it through. Talk is cheap.

There are a couple of things that I really wanna do in life, but can't because of time constraints. One of them is learning to play a keyboard. I bought a keyboard two years ago and only played it for a couple of months before I stopped. That's not because I got tired of it, rather it was because I couldn't enjoy playing at home.

As someone without much ambition, I suppose I just want to retire so I can go explore various things to do at my own pace. There are so many things in life that I quite like. Astronomy, music, history, nature. When I was young I loved drawing, although that interest is almost completely dead now. I never ever feel bored thanks to my interest in a great number of things. And I'm sure is grateful of that. I'll never understand how anyone could complain that life is boring. 

Honestly, I'm starting to suspect that I would never find my purpose. Though it's probably better to have more time to find it than less eh. I don't really care about money so much as time. I sure would like to have a couple of years with totally no commitments tying me down to truly explore.

Yesterday I did my annual financial planning. According to my more realistic estimations this time, I will hit six digits in cash savings by May 2020. June at the latest. Considering my monthly expenditure, that is enough 16 years or so. And at that time I would have worked a little longer than 3 years. Project that a couple more times and I should have close to half a million by 40. Enough to last till 65 I suppose. Just having 2.5% interests from $300,000 amounts to $256,000 over 25 years. That's $1867 a month. More than what many are doing. Compound interest is amazing.

I only wished I was able to take away more from my university course and earn a better salary. Could probably retire a few more years early. Regretting ain't gonna get me anywhere though, so I just gotta make do with what I got don't I?

I guess I gotta thank my parents for raising me poor. I am pretty much immune to the lure of consumerism. Not having something doesn't bother me so much. Also, perhaps I gotta thank my sister for that scolding back in 2011, when I spent more than a thousand bucks on AKB goods. Just a thousand bucks, mind.

My target is retirement at 40 years old. Preferably with a decently sized home fully paid of by then. Else I could have 2 tenants paying for my mortgage and expenses as an alternative. I'm gonna go tour the world while I still have the energy to. You know what they say about time, age, and money. 40 is a time when all three conditions are in good balance.

There's no need to completely stop working even after retirement. One particular job that I really had fun with was interpretation. I had two interpretation stunts a couple of years ago. I sure would like to do that on a free-lance basis, just to keep my brain active.

Still, it's early to say if I would achieve this goal or not. I still have more than a decade ahead of me, and things can change. I could lose my job eh. Or get cancer. Better not count on life working in my favour all the way. However, I just gotta keep sight of it. After all, this is a very, very long term goal.

Bad year

2019 hasn't been kind to me so far.

Work hasn't been well. Keeping a dying game going for the whole of 2019. Felt like a big waste of time. Got a crappy increment too. Also, I'm probably not getting my transfer to Japan this year anymore. So many people from when I first joined the company have left. Probably because the salary just isn't going up enough, or perhaps they got lousy grades for their evaluation. I probably won't leave for that reason considering how great the environment is. And I love my colleagues too much. Plus I still need to get my Japan transfer before I would even think about leaving.

Landlady is a crazy bitch. Today I went to view a room nearby. It's really just a storage room converted into a room. Slightly cheaper, but I will learn to bear with it. Beggars can't be choosers. I hope things are better this time. There's only so much I can know from a short viewing.

I haven't been eating well since I moved here. KFC a third of the time, bread another third. I don't have anything to live for, so I really don't care too much about taking good care of myself. I will probably regret this in a couple more years... but ah... how little do I care. At least I'm getting enough exercise I suppose. Walking to work and back, about 3 km a day. That's probably more than most people.

Many of my friends are getting married. I don't feel envy or anything. Not like I even talk to them anymore. The ones I'm still close with are unlikely to ever get married, just like myself. Some of them don't want, some of them can't. Whatever it is, we ain't gonna die alone if we got one another's back for another 50 years.

I finished Shadowbringers on Tuesday. That's 4 days after it released. On Thursday, I binged through Stranger Things S3 within one evening. I love a good story, and those two provided much of that.

Recently Yangyew came to talk to me again. He was going Japan, so he consulted me. Now he's there and totally loving it. That's everyone's reaction when they visit Japan the first time. Such a wonderful country. He wanna go back again in December, and I feel tempted to join him. I will rope Leo in. They will surely get along since they both like hiking and photography. I will probably have to take no pay leave, but I have so much savings now that I don't really care about losing a few thousand dollars. 

I just need to save up for a few more years, buy a house, and I can retire and go travel the world or do whatever else I might want to do. Never have to worry about something as trivial as whether I'm allowed to take no pay leave or not, ever again.

Angelcat is back in Singapore, but she stopped talking to me after coming back. There's really no need to force it though. We don't really have much to talk about after all. I can accept that now.

I have so much time compared to the average working adult since I live so near my office. I wake up at 9 am and reach home at 6:30 pm. I have 6:30 p,m to 2:30 am to do stuff. 8 hours. That's definitely a luxury in Singapore. I suppose I do have a good life huh... I will never complain about being busy or having no time, because that will be an utter lie. Work probably will get slightly busier next project onwards, but it seems like I will never have to OT if I manage my time well.

September is the best year of 2019, due to the onslaught of games that month. Games are the only things I live for now, so September is essentially my current raison d'être.

I shall try to keep the blog alive with periodic updates such as this. Otherwise there would be nothing to remember my unevent life by.

梦中情人

I dreamt of the Princess for the first time in a while. It was a vivid dream.

Through it, I remembered so clearly the feeling of being in love with someone. She was at my place, but in the dream it wasn't messy. We were sitting on a sofa, watching TV. She was sitting on me and I was hugging her from behind.

My father did something, and I got angry and shouted at him.

Sadly. I don't remember anything else. I wanted to write this down while I remembered everything, but by now the details are gone to me.

It was without a doubt the Princess. Her face, the way she speaks. Everything was the Princess as I remember. I thought I would have forgotten by now, but my subconscious remembers clearly.

Thank you for the sweet dreams, Princess. I hope you're doing well.

Angel

She is back in my life. Suddenly came to talk to me again.

Last night, she gave me a Facebook call, and we chatted for 20 minutes. As if a whole year of no contact never happened. She apologised for that twice.

I'm too used to people disappearing from my life now. Having them reappear is a nice surprise that I don't mind having.