Yet freelancing is admirable for the insecurity, the need for a balance of self-promotion, humility and service to others. To be able to work in the comfort of your home is not easy and it takes lots of discipline and a sense of routine if you do have lots of work to juggle. For me, I reinforce this discipline by sleeping at fixed timings and try to have my meals within certain time range as well. When you’re doing graphics design, writing, web development and possibly even a little bit of consulting sort of freelancing, it is always easy to end up chatting on the computer, visiting game sites and getting a little too hooked to Facebook games. To enforce this computer discipline, Mac users have this software called WriteRoom. I have it installed but hardly use it partly because I’ve been regulating my gaming pretty well enough not to affect my work.

I’m definitely enjoying my freedom.

I am lazy. I work hard so that I can slack later.

Wee Chern tells me this is has got to be the greatest motivational quote when I offered this in response to his query of whether I would feel lazy since I work so hard. For more ideas on procrastinating procrastination, check out my article ‘Slack Later‘ on ERPZ.

“Auntie, I want the Thai-style Chicken Rice.”

“Okay” Points to lady in front of me and ask, “So what do you want?”

For a moment I was feeling embarrassed I kind of cut the queue.

“Mince Meat Noodles…”

“Sorry, that one is that other stall, please order there…”

I almost burst out in laughter but managed to suppress it.

“Stop, stop, stop! I need to buy newspapers.”

“Err. Okay.” Brake and then depress clutch and applied handbrakes; switch gear to neutral.

“Wait a while.” Opens door and alight car. Soon, he came back.

“No more newspapers?”

“Yeah. Drive on. Forgot to buy newspapers at 10am just now, they get sold out quickly on Sundays. Now I don’t think there’s anymore…”

My driving instructor looked sad. I’m glad it’s not because of my driving though the scolding is still routine and I still make stupid mistakes but for someone who always appears angry and impatient, I was surprised that he’d be sad. For one, the instructor demonstrated that he is fallible and it dawned on me how insignificant his concerns in life is compared to mine. It might sound tainted with a tinge of self-importance, but my mind was filled with more worries (university, scholarships, studies, future work and career) than just concerns about getting to read newspapers on a Sunday morning.

Perhaps that’s why I’m still a noob and he is the pro.

“Just park with the bumper in.”

“Huh?”

“Steer right, full lock, just drive into the parking lot. Quick!”

“Okay,” I did the full lock to the right and the car was slanted but I didn’t quite bother (it was usual); I knew I needed the car to stop so I depressed the brake.

“Eh, you must depress the clutch!” Too late.

The car was slanted in the parking, bumper in, fully stationary because the engine stalled. I had depressed the brake and allowed the car to come to a full stop without depressing the clutch a bit. For a moment I was still wondering how the engine stalled.

Yeah, I’m still a noob.

Thanks to the Wikipedia article I got introduced to a whole load of similar concepts, including “Parasite Singles“, “Freeter“, and “Twixter“. This is an even wider concept of Boomerang Generation that spawned comedy films like Failure to Launch and Step Brothers. The idealism that is expressed by my generation of kids seem to hint that the figures for people in these classifications would grow.

For now I’ll be sitting back and relaxing at this new status.

So when I started out at work, I kept comparing it with the kind of life I had in camp and it becomes rather miserable. Then as life moves on, you discover that there’s something new you learn everyday and when you talk to people and learn about their lives, about their history and each individual’s purposes, you think there’s so much more to the work then what you have been dealing with and in most cases, you can actually find out. You can work on and fulfill your purpose and also that of others. You can commit yourself to a vision someone has shared with you, or you can be inspired to create your own and move ahead with it.

And soon enough, life is going to be pretty exciting for you.

Basic math and cost-benefit analysis suggests that if I value the cup at more than $1 then I should buy the package. Unfortunately, most people would just consider ‘When would I get another opportunity to get a Lipton limited edition mug for $1?’ It is obviously the wrong question to ask. And that’s why I opt to get the refill. While I know that the pen casing with the spring and the clicking mechanism in the Jetstream pen probably cost more than 10 cents or comes close to being around 10 cents, it is a question of how much I value it. Since I can’t use the pen casing without a refill it’s value is zero and so I’d rather buy a refill that helps save me 10 cents.

To think that for a time I thought I’m going to be very free. Well, to have time to blog this entry is probably good enough…