I used to hate getting older, but lately I’ve started wanting to grow old faster.
By the time I reach retirement age, I’d like to have enough income from pensions and investments to live comfortably, maybe work a part-time job just because I feel like it, and spend my days at a leisurely pace.
Now that I’m working, time seems to fly by, so maybe I’ll reach that age in the blink of an eye.
There’s a mountain of things I need to learn, and as the amount of work I have to deal with slowly piles up, I feel like I’m increasingly running out of time.
The reality of working in the field was very different from what I had imagined.
Development is only one part of the job. Writing documents, planning work, reporting results, managing the site, answering inquiries over the phone—there’s actually much more to the job outside of development.
I’m still pretty clumsy at all of this, but I know there’s no way around having to deal with these things.
Someday, I want to be able to handle everything smoothly, leave work on time, and spend the rest of my day doing other fun things.
It’s harder than I thought to find time for self-improvement.
After work, I eat dinner and my eyes start closing on their own. On weekends, even if I take it easy and enjoy some free time, Monday comes around before I know it.
I guess I’m just a little disappointed that I didn’t make better use of my time when I was unemployed.
I spent my first holiday with my family in our new home.
My maternal grandmother, uncle, and aunt came up too, but I didn’t take a single picture. I really should have.
Whenever I’m with my mom’s side of the family, we always end up playing Go-Stop.
I don’t know the first thing about hwatu, but it’s fun just watching everyone play. Something about getting hit with a penalty here, someone “dropping a turd” there…
After spending so much time cooped up in my tiny apartment, going to a spacious house felt so nice that, for a moment, I even thought about moving back home and living there.
I visited two exhibitions this month.
One was an exhibition at Sejong Center featuring works by famous painters from the Renaissance through Impressionism.
The other was a solo exhibition dedicated to Alphonse Mucha, the Czech artist.
I’d mostly been looking at Impressionist paintings by artists like Claude Monet and Renoir, so seeing works from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo periods felt completely different.
There was something awe-inspiring about the different styles and the sense of holiness in the paintings.
Some things you just have to see and feel for yourself.
If I had lived in Europe during those times, I feel like I probably couldn’t have helped but believe in God, unlike I do now.
One thing I regret is that I don’t know much about European history.
Art is one of those fields that can’t really be separated from history, and without the background knowledge, I sometimes feel like I can’t fully appreciate the works.
Whenever I take a walk along Dorimcheon at night to clear my head, Chun-jang greets me.
What a cute little guy.
He used to pretend not to notice me sometimes, but these days, he comes over to me every single time.
Chun-jang sitting down right next to me.
He even climbed onto my lap this time and made himself a little loaf.
I sneakily touched his toe beans too, and they were so squishy.
Then this little bastard shifted positions a bit and actually fell asleep. ;;
I was afraid I might wake him up, so I couldn’t move for almost an hour.
I wondered if he had just been in a good mood that day, so I went looking for him again the following week.
And, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Chun-jang came right over again, settled down, and went to sleep.
Maybe it helped that, coincidentally, I was wearing the same clothes. He seemed to recognize me right away.
Is this what people mean by consequence-free pleasure…?
Now I want to have a cat like Chun-jang.
It’s a dream of mine to have one someday.
Oh, come to think of it, I went to Myeongdong Cathedral instead of Yongyangbongjeo Storage Park this month.
Maybe because I didn’t get to see the sun when I went to the cathedral, this month felt a little gloomy.
I’m planning to go to Haneul Park tomorrow.
The forecast says it’ll be cloudy, so I probably won’t get to see the sun.
I wonder if next month will be gloomy too.