wake me up when september ends (literally)

*clears throat* Mic check. Is this thing on?

Hello, friends. It’s been another few months of stagnancy and crickets in this little corner of the Internet. Sorry if you’ve been following my blog and wondering if this is still active. I had to take care of some business that took up a lot of my attention and time. Now I’m in a much better place mentally and have more leisure to focus on my health and get back into writing!

I decided to take an extended absence from work until September when I leave for Japan. It’s been only a couple of days into my leave–or you could call it a sabbatical. It feels nice to have the clouds over my head lifted. It’s been a grim and stormy ship ride–navigating a demanding, turbulent job.

I’m off duty for 8 weeks. So, what do I do with all this free time? I made a bucket list of things I want to do during my sabbatical:

• Go to Rockaway Beach on a weekday
• Go to the New York Botanical Garden
• Go to the Met Cloisters
• Go to the MoMA
• Check out a museum in the city I haven’t been to
• Knock out some books in my to-read shelf on Goodreads; a friend gave me an idea to do a series of Jane Austen novels including Emma, Persuasion, and Pride and Prejudice (I wonder if it’ll be different a second time since I read it for the first time as a high schooler)
• Finish a 24×30 landscape painting that’s been sitting on my easel since I started it in April
• Journal everyday
• Reconnect with old friends and make new connections
• Brush up on my Japanese before my trip to Japan and Korea in the fall
• Get into birding and enjoy nature time that comes with it
• Join a church choir (this is an ambitious goal that I might not able to check off because I have no idea where to begin)

The eldest daughter in me will creep up and try to make me feel guilty about not working and having a clear direction or plan in the next months and year ahead. But this list of goals reassures me that I’ll still be busy without a 9-to-5. It’s a good type of busy, doing things that bring me joy rather than being busy in a dreadful job that saps me of energy and life. Paid time off is a luxury that I am not taking for granted–yay for benefits! I’m grateful for this time of rest and healing.

Here are some highlights of my life pre-sabbatical. This year has been packed with major sport events in New York including the Knicks making and winning the NBA finals and the World Cup games at MetLife in New Jersey. It’s been refreshing to see people unite and cheer on their favorite teams on the streets and in bars and restaurants.

I’ve grown to appreciate sports as an adult, thanks to my old coworker who retired last year. Sports is a kind of religion–it brings people together. Also, it’s entertaining to revel in the intensity and drama that seep through the screen (or directly in person) as athletes show off their finest skills from years of training and fight for victory. I’d say there were some moments when some soccer players were being dirty in the World Cup final, but it was satisfying to see the referee giving out cards that they deserved. The celebrations around the games including the halftime show were fun, too. “Dai Dai” the official World Cup song by Shakira has been my anthem this summer.

Outside of the chaotic sports world, I found simple joys and quiet in the following–patting my precious dog Ina on our afternoon walks, reorganizing my plants on the bedroom window sill, and making pizza and Aperol spritz at home.

I witnessed a funny interaction between two birds while I was walking Ina one Saturday morning. A bird (I think it was a black-crowned night heron) caught a worm and was savoring it until he was interrupted by his hungry friend. The third picture shows that the negotiation talk didn’t go the way the latter bird wanted. As the phrase goes, “The early bird gets the worm”–I saw it happen right in front of me in the park, and I got to document it.

Until next time.