spare time

In another life, I’d fill my spare time with knitting projects. But that’s not a viable option for me here in Singapore; wool plus swampy weather brings to mind the smell of wet sheep. So what’s a person to do?

Fear not, I found a way to keep myself occupied! Here’s a round up of stuff I’ve been doing in my spare time lately (when I’m not trying to be social).

Knitting

Socks for friends and sisters

I knit a bunch of socks for my friends and sisters. I might have kept some for myself, but it’s too hot to wear wool socks in Singapore. (Singapore is a terrible place for knitters.)

For the socks in the photo here, I used recipes from Summer Lee’s book, The Sock Project. Right now I’m three-quarters through a pair of socks but have grown bored of knitting on skinny satay skewers. I’m itching to knit a sweater soon, which I’ll probably give to Jessica, because it’s too depressingly humid here to wear sweaters anyway.

Sweaters for my nephews

Speaking of sweaters, last year I knit my nephews a pair of matching jumpers. The pattern is Storm Sweater Junior by PetiteKnit. I love how these look! The stitch pattern gives the “feel” of a fisherman’s sweater without forcing the knitter to deal with a finicky cabling needle.

I made labels for each sweater with a Sharpie on herringbone twill tape, along with a hand-drawn card. My nephews seemed delighted to see their cartoon selves on the card.

Here’s a photo my sister sent me from when the boys decided to wear their sweaters one day! Hopefully they’ll squeeze another winter or two out of them in Hong Kong. They’re growing very fast — I knit each sweater a couple sizes bigger to account for this — but I can already see they will soon outgrow them.

Making food

Adventures in meal prep

I don’t really enjoy cooking. I treat food as mostly functional.

Anyway, for years I was eating some variation of a salad with red cabbage every day, until my dentist pointed out that chomping daily on red cabbage was wearing down my teeth (and staining them, too). Yikes! I’ve since switched out raw red cabbage and try to eat more cooked stuff now.

My current Sunday ritual is to meal prep while listening to The Old Man and the Three (or the Young Man equivalent). If there’s a game on, I’ll watch it on League Pass.

And so my fifteen-year-old meal-prep habit continues.

Here’s a random selection of lunchstuff lately.

Yogurt in this economy

I’ve also started making yogurt in my Instant Pot. It’s much more economical than buying it at the supermarket. Greek yogurt at the supermarket costs $17.50 a tub. Meanwhile, milk sells at around $6.00 a jug and yields a tub’s worth of yogurt.

I’m experimenting now with L. reuteri yogurt, because at dinner with Auntie A., all the aunties were gushing about gut health and how L. reuteri keeps their wrinkles at bay and minds sharp.

Failed sourdough experiments

Last year I experimented briefly with making sourdough. I gave up because I could not for the life of me understand how to use the oven in my old rental flat. It was one of those overly high-end built-in contraptions. So obscure was it that I couldn’t find a single Reddit thread from fellow troubleshooters…

Now that I’ve moved into a flat with a normal oven, I’m thinking of reviving this sourdough project. Watch this space.

Exercising

I actually really like running

Sadly, I got plantar fasciitis last year and had to stop running and playing soccer for a while.

And running in Singapore sucks. Running is only bearable before the sun comes up. Otherwise it feels like you’re running through a thick warm soup. Before my plantar fasciitis hit, I’d get up at six-something and do Zone 2 stuff in my secret running loop nearby. Sometimes I’d throw in sprints at the end because I read somewhere that it can move a needle on your VO2 max.

At some point, I was running 21 km a week and couldn’t figure out why my feet were hurting so much. I couldn’t walk around in bare feet at home! (In hindsight, 21 km a week sounds like too much. I wasn’t training for anything, and I have zero desire to run a half-marathon or marathon.)

Anyway, I’ve been running on and off since I was a teenager. I find it’s the best way to get out of my own head. I picked it back up again when I lived in Shanghai a few years ago. I’d run along Suzhou Creek, stop to swing across the monkey bars, people-watch a bit, then run home. I picked it up again two years ago when my brother-in-law Chris invited me to run Bay to Breakers with him. Perfect running weather there in San Francisco.

Luckily my plantar fasciitis seems to have subsided now, and I’m starting to build up mileage again!

Critters on my running loop: bats, chickens, squirrels, monkeys, frogs, birds, cats, dogs.

In praise of Caroline Girvan

Aside from running, I’ve been very consistent with strength training. I use Caroline Girvan’s workouts and work out at home. I came across her on Reddit in 2023, when I was looking for a no-nonsense way to become stronger.

I’ve had gym memberships in the past, and I could be pretty consistent, but for some reason I’d eventually stop going after something trivial interrupted my habit, like catching a cold or going on a holiday.

I’ve since figured out that the best way for me to work out consistently is to remove every single barrier: by working out at home. No need to worry about commuting, crowds, showering, warts or athlete’s foot from the change room, creepy dudes, dirty gym clothes, equipment hogs.

Behold: my girl cave / gym corner.

Riding my bicycle

I don’t really consider bicycle-commuting exercise, but when the pollution isn’t bad, and when I’m not engrossed in a book and thus stealing chunks of time in my workday to read (like on the bus or subway), then I ride my bicycle to work. It’s the highlight of my day!

(I’m currently engrossed in Personal History by Katharine Graham.)

Here’s my ride. Isn’t she a beaut? My friend Galen helped me pick it out.

Drawing

Silly bookmarks and stickers

When I’m bored, I sometimes draw little creatures, cut them in the shape of bookmarks or stickers, and “laminate” them with packing tape. Very fun. Actually my favorite thing to do is sit around with Jessica just drawing or knitting and shooting the shit.

My favorite drawing so far is this picture I made of Jessica’s dog, Boris, from memory. I turned it into a postcard (i.e., “laminated” it with packing tape) and mailed it to my brother-in-law as a surprise.

I also made a bunch of paintings for my apartment, which I shared about in another post.

Making music

Lastly: I’ve been experimenting a bunch more with singing and playing my guitar. I used to feel sort of embarrassed by how earnest I sound when I sing, but now I’ve come to accept that I’m probably just an earnest person, and I’d rather be earnest than apathetic.

Experimenting with hymns:

Experimenting with open guitar tunings:

Experimenting with fingerpicking:

Experimenting with weird arrangements of songs I liked as a teenager:

And my favorite thing… singing with my sister.

Stuff to do more of

Interesting to reflect on what I get up to when left to my own devices. Most of these are solitary endeavors. It makes sense, though; in the past five years, I’ve basically started from scratch in two different cities (Shanghai and Singapore). Sometimes I do feel lonely still. And though I’ve grown to enjoy my solitude, I find myself cherishing connection, too…

Looking forward, here’s how I hope to spend my time in the coming months!

Another attempt at sourdough
Pottery (it would be cool to make a mug that turns out to be someone’s favorite!)
Read more
Play soccer again
Spend time with family and friends
Volunteer somewhere (be more useful to society)
Go somewhere with cooler weather to hike and enjoy nature
Write more (thankfully I can scratch this itch at work)

Thanks for reading this far, dear reader. What have you been up to lately?