A season just passed outside my window
Dear BAL Diary,
This week’s update came 3 days later, and I had a good reason for it.
So, after a whole afternoon re-installing Windows, my laptop didn’t get any better. It eventually crashed that night, following by tons of errors like this:
There has been some thoughts, regarding how it happened. Maybe my SSD-drive wasn’t compatible with the system. May be my RAM was broken. Or maybe my laptop’s lifecycle is over (I bought it in 2016).
The fact that my IT guru “surrendered” scared the shit out of me. As they used to say, once you get badluck, it will come from all sides. My situation was like this: no Uni, no job, handicapped, and having bills to bare. A real challenging time is here I guess.
But, as clear as it sounds, being panic wouldn’t help. I may face a mountain ahead – just like everyone else may. What matters is my attitude and how I’d bring myself over it.
For the laptop, I have some options: One, have it fixed at Gigantti – Finnish electronic company. If option one is too costly and not efficient, then I’d move to Two: buy a new one. Nevertheless, laptop is my “long-term” investment, so I wouldn’t mind to try my best to save it.
Lucky enough, as my flatmate works at Gigantti, and he was going back home for two weeks. So, he brought my laptop to the maintenance at work, and I can use his PC in the meantime. That is how I’m able to write this article. After some days, Gigantti announced that my laptop is fix-able, and it wouldn’t cost too much, probably €150 maximum. We will know for sure when it’s done, but as for now, I’m relieved to know that I wouldn’t have to buy a new one.
How’s my leg?
So, this week marked a third of my 6-week recovery. Time had flown so fast to recognize, and I believe that before Uni opens again, I would have been able to walk normally, and many wouldn’t even know what happened.
This time, Tommi took me to the hospital, where I had the wound’s clippings removed, changed from that big red cast to a flexible, blue cast.
My wound are healing good, and less than two weeks from now can I start to walk without crutches – the doctor said. However, it upset me a bit when changing cast, seeing that my broken leg look so thin – I’ve lost my hard-earn muscles due to inactivity. It will take probably another month after this 6-week period for my leg to reach normal size again, so I may look very imbalanced at first.
In the meantime, there are many good news. I can take a shower with the new cast – no need to cover it anymore, because it can be self-dry. Also, I can now touch the ground with half weight on right foot. So at the moment I can stand up cooking and brushing teeth without crutches.
The “wimpy leg” nightmare also urged me to work out again. Even though the new cast is more flexible, there wasn’t much I could do still – just some crunches. But this routine is back, and it’s my objective to get in shape as quick as possible, after this period.
How to maintain your focus?
Most of us find it difficult to stay focus in a long time. The same thing happened to me – I easily get distracted with new notifications and other irrelevant tasks from my main ones. A week ago, one of my friends recommended Forest – an app designed to train your focus. So technically it works like a timing app, and you can plan an amount of trees that collides with your focus time.
With Forest, I’m reducing my “wandering” time doing no beneficial things. So check it out if you’re interested.
Mikko
This jäbä is one of my regular visitors – we all miss each other and bored our soul due to the lockdown. So we hanged out at my place the whole week, before Mikko left Lappeenranta to his parents’, as there is nothing to do here.
“Are you trying to turn me into a Vietnamese?”
“Why?”
“Now I’m sitting here having rice and egg with fish sauce, drinking cafe sua da and play Chinese chess. What does that make me?”
“Well maybe you’re right; that’s my great plan”
And until now I’m still amazed by the fact that he defeated me the first time he ever played Chinese chess lol.
A growing love for the good stuffs (a self-boasting section)
How can a person be in-depth good at something?
My brief answer: To dip oneself into it. Train your habits toward who you want to be.
Having no need to travel anywhere, no much temptations like before, this period is just perfect for me to dip myself in high-quality hobbies that I built during the pandemic time.
BBC Global News Podcast every morning when working out, to save time, and know what’s going around.
An hour before study for Financial Times, Shark Tank, and checking my favorite NBC stock portfolio. Of course, while having cafe sua da.
Break times with my going-on books. Kindle has been my best friend for a while now.
4-6 hours for Uni works. Always read more – what you need and like isn’t always taught in the course outline. It’s your responsibility to teach yourself.
FOMO Sapiens – A podcast series from HBR, introducing disruptive business ideas.
An evening with Books or TV Series. Breaking Bad (2nd time) is my choice.
And finally, fall in sleep listening to Trạm Radio – my favorite Vietnamese podcast, featuring Vietnamese contemporary literature; in other ways, my “bed time story”.
How about you? What is your tips, favorite programs, hobbies? Let’s share it down the comment section 😉
Conclusion
So, that was my second week since I broke my leg, which didn’t interfere much with my normal lifestyle, except sport aspect. I may fell in a swamp of bad luck at first, but I did what I thought was the best to do – to keep calm and deal with it. So, by the middle of this week, things seemed to have turned out brighter.
Time flies fast, much faster when your days are done only indoor. The last time I was running, it was still frozen cold. today it’s +10 degrees – summer is finally here. But surely I’m not gonna miss much of it.
For now, keep calm, enrich yourself, and be patient – good things come rather quicker than you may feel.
Khanh Tr.
moink20.com 