I think I’m getting a bit TOO excited

OK, I have pretty much decided on my new camera: a Sony ZV-1 👍 It’ll actually be my first camera since maybe the 2000s. I don’t even remember when I last had a camera that wasn’t my phone, that’s how long it’s been! 😱

So now I can’t wait to buy it 😊 Hopefully there won’t be protesters around Causeway Bay on the weekend again and so the Sony store will actually be open 🤞 I feel like I’m entering a brand new era with my videography/vlogging and photography journey with this new camera. I might actually even create a vlog about it 😂

N and I haven’t really found a new tv show to watch after we finished Community, so while we’re searching for our new show, we’ve been watching product reviews on YouTube of the various cameras in the market at the moment! 😆 I don’t know why I keep watching review after review of the Sony ZV-1. It basically does everything that I need from a camera at this stage of my journey, so more reviews of the product isn’t going to change my mind 🤣

Can you tell I’m so excited?? 😁 I’m building it up in my mind to be this mega awesome camera, but then what if it doesn’t deliver? I need to stop getting all hyped up about it. It could end up being very anti-climactic… 😒

Fun and relaxation

N did a ton of karate today, two hours in the middle of the day and two hours later in the evening 😱 I did the complete opposite: absolutely nothing 🤣😔

Well, in terms of exercise, that is. I did manage to cobble together a quick video from yesterday’s brunch, I actually had enough footage to work with 👍 I hope the birthday girl liked it. If anything, it’s the thought that counts 😊 This whole vlogging business is so much fun, though. I really should do more, I enjoy making them so much 😄

N is also doing some research for me in the camera space. The difference between us, though, is that he is willing to spend a lot more money on technology than I am. So the camera he suggested to me is 5x more than what I’m willing to spend 🤣🤣 FIVE TIMES! So I didn’t even look at the specs of the camera. But for that price, I’m sure it’s pretty damn awesome. Or least it better be!

Anyway, I still need to read up on the various options that I have. I still have no idea what I want to buy! 😒

And I finally finished Crash Landing On You, five months later. I don’t know exactly when I started watching that drama, all I know is that it took me months to finish it! Not that it was bad or anything, it was just that I never really had the time to watch it. And when I was watching TV, it was usually with N, and Korean dramas aren’t really his thing, so we usually just watch whatever American show looks interesting.

But I’ve finally finished it, so now it’s time to find a new show. Actually, we’ve also just finished Community, so if you have any suggestions for our new show (or an Asian drama for me 😉), then please let me know! 🙏

Eating and more eating

It was a public holiday in HK today, so we just had a relaxing day. We were going to go and have Singaporean for lunch, but when we got to the restaurant, we found out that they’re closed on public holidays. Grrr! Although we should’ve checked this before we left the house 😆 It’s just that most restaurants are open here, public holiday or not, so I didn’t even think to check.

So we ended up having Viet at the restaurant next door. We actually had the choice between ramen, Viet and goose (!), but Viet won out in the end. We walked past the goose place afterwards – I think goose is a specialty here in HK – but it just didn’t really appeal to me, so I’m sorta glad we decided not to try that place 😅 I think I’ve had roast goose before, but this place seemed to cook the goose a different way, I don’t quite know how, but it just didn’t look as appetising. Maybe I’ll give it a go when I’m feeling a bit more adventurous 😄

We then went back home and watched an episode of Community before taking a 2-hour nap 😴 We then headed back out for ramen, although at a different ramen place to the one at lunch (which lost out to viet). We ran into one of N’s workmates on the way to the ramen place, so it was nice to just stop and have a bit of a chat with him and his wife before we went off and had dinner.

It was a nice, relaxing day 😌

Meh

It wasn’t the most exciting day, nor the most productive. It was basically just meh 😑

The most exciting part of my day was probably watching the second last episode of Crash Landing On You, my current Korean drama that’s taking me foreverrr to finish. It’s not my favourite, but it’s good enough, so I’ll take it all the way to the end 😆 I have quite a few other Korean dramas in the queue, so I’ll be glad to finally finish this one! I feel like I’ve been watching it for months 🙄 Well, it probably has been months, since I only watch an average of one episode a week, if that 😂

Oh and I started watching a tutorial on using DaVinci Resolve, that free editing software that I downloaded on the weekend.

So yeah, these were the most exciting parts to my day. I hope you had a more interesting day than me! 🤪

Too hot

I was thinking of going to Causeway Bay today, one of the shopping areas in HK. But N went out to run a few errands this morning, and while he was out, he was basically complaining about how hot it was today, hinting that he didn’t really want to go out and do anything in this heat. So we just stayed home with the aircon on and watched a bit of Community 😂 And besides, we figured everyone and his dog would be out celebrating Father’s Day, so this probably wasn’t such a bad idea anyway! 😆

(Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! I hope you guys had a great day 😊 )

I also downloaded DaVinci Resolve, the free version of this video editing software. I’m getting a bit tired of trying to edit my videos on my phone, the whole process is just taking wayyy too long now. So I thought I’d try this free version on my computer and see how I go with it. Apparently even the free version has a ton of features for the average creator, so I figured I’ll just try it out and see how I like it before I fork out any money for the full suite of features that I may not even use anyway for the type of videos that I make (and my current skill level! 😅). So I’m very excited to try it out this week! 😄

Mindfulness and passports

I started reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. It’s actually not too bad so far. It’s helping me become much more present and aware of what’s going on around me. I don’t think I can ever become fully enlightened, which isn’t really my goal anyway. I just want to lead a more mindful life, not get too anxious about things and just try to really experience each moment. It’s doing exactly that so far, so I’m happy! 👍

I also organised stuff to get our passports renewed. Fat chance we’ll be travelling overseas this year, but our passports are expiring soon, and I want to be ready for when things do start returning to normal. I don’t want to be scrambling around at the last minute. So we got our photos taken yesterday; printed out the application forms today; and I’ve also booked our appointment at the consulate on Wednesday 👍 Hopefully the photos will be fine when I go pick them up tomorrow 🤞 For the price I paid for them, they better be!

And because no one is travelling right now, bookings are eeeasy to make at the consulate at the moment! Their website says they’re usually booked out at least one week in advance, so we should take that into consideration if we have travel plans. But because of the rona, no one’s travelling, so I could’ve made a booking for tomorrow if I wanted to! 😱 Crazy days! But I’m not complaining ☺️

What is ‘normal’?

We went and got our passport photos taken today. It cost an arm and a leg, OMG! We paid close to A$50 for both our photos! 😱 Do passport photos normally cost a bomb or is it just HK?? I wouldn’t be surprised if you said, “It’s just HK”, because this city is just so damn expensive! 😒

N went to karate today for the first time all year, I think. We still haven’t resumed dancing. We were going to go back this year, but then the rona happened, and that threw out that plan, as well as my travel plans this year 😔 And I’m still hesitant to go back now. Sighhh… I think my ‘normal’ life is effectively put on hold this year.

And then in the evening, we started watching a Chinese drama! It’s called All is Well, and apparently it was one of the most popular dramas in China last year. It has been recommended to me by a few people now. The first episode was intriguing, so I’m definitely going to continue watching 👍 It doesn’t have the same pull as the Korean dramas, but it’s gotten me interested in a different way. Plus the listening practice is good, even if I am still reading English subtitles! 😂

Oh, did I mention typhoon season has started? We had our first T1 and T3 signals in the past few days. Luckily it didn’t progress any higher than T3. Although N would get the day off if it goes to T8, so that’s not bad. So everyone keeps wanting a T8 to be called! 😆 I remember last year when I was freaking out about my first T8, and people just kept saying, “Don’t worry about it! Enjoy the day at home, and just have a bottle of wine to get you through the day!” So I’ll definitely take up this suggestion this year! 😆

Not bad for a Monday

Man, this miserable weather just ain’t stopping ⛈ But it didn’t affect me today, surprisingly. I just pushed on and did what I needed to get done today 👍 I don’t know how people keep their spirits up in places like Scandinavia where the days can be sooo short during winter! I guess you just do what you gotta do!

And one of those things was figuring out what to do for N’s birthday next week. I know what I want to do now, and I’ll book it in tomorrow 👍 I won’t write it here yet because he may actually read this post and I want it to be a surprise ☺️

One of my students asked me today if I did any Spanish study this past week. So now he has unintentionally made me accountable for my Spanish language study! Spanish isn’t really my focus at the moment, but I try and dabble in it every now and then because Spanish and French are actually the next two languages on my list. But now I feel like it needs to get a bit more attention if he’s going to keep asking me how my own language learning is going! 😂

And then N and I finished season four of Community. Not a bad start to the week!

Rain and TV make a good combo

I woke up to thunder and heavy rain, so I knew we were just going to stay home today 😔 Pretty much what I predicted yesterday! So we missed out on a second Cronut. Oh well. At least I got to try it once 😊 And who knows, they may bring it back again in a few months’ time. And they may introduce a brand new flavour too. Chefs do like to experiment.

So I just watched a ton of YouTube videos, all about making better YouTube videos! 😂 And we also watched a few more episodes of Community. We’ve almost finished season four, so we’re slowly getting to the end of this show too. What shall we watch next??

Remembering the recent past

I pretty much told myself that I was going to chillax today and not do much at all. Mission accomplished! 😆 I did do some work in the morning; I also spoke to my mum briefly and I also did some laundry. So I wasn’t a couch potato for the entire day! But I did watch a lot of TV today 😂

I remembered this post that I wrote back in March, and I was wondering how long I would have to wake up to 10,000 new coronavirus cases. I don’t track the numbers as closely anymore as I did back then, but the numbers are now going up by around 100,000 each day. Which means that I am basically waking up to even more cases two months later 😔

I also guesstimated in this other post that the global peak will be around May-June. Well we’re smack bang in the middle of that estimate, so I wonder if the numbers will soon start tapering off now…

I’m glad I have these posts to read again, to see what life was like back then when we were at the peak of cases here. Despite feeling rather emotional at the time (and the panic buying! 😒 😂), life still went on as normal here, just with schools and other government-owned facilities closed. I do remember the apocalyptic feeling, though, when the usually bustling HK was eerily quiet, and when restaurants that we usually go to were really empty. We’re not quite at the same level yet as pre-rona, but we’re getting there, at least. And I’m truly grateful for that 🙏