I was reminded it was the month of the hungry ghost yesterday as I was walking home and saw people lighting joss sticks on fire by the side of the road. Maybe I did something terrible – like step in ghost poop and walked all over a ghost altar (I did neither of those things) but I’ve been having a terrible month so far.
You know one of those months where life keeps throwing punches when you’re already down? August has felt like that to me. However, I’m also aware of cognitive biases like negativity bias and recency bias. My month couldn’t have been all that bad right?
Since I have nothing better to do (that’s a lie) and I really wanted to write a blog post before the month ended, I sat down and drew up a table of good and bad things that happened to me this month, similar to what I did in January.
August 2023
| Bad Things | Good Things | Neutral Things |
|---|---|---|
| Fell sick before my Bangkok trip | Had a 5-day vacation in Bangkok | |
| Which resulted in me not being able to equalize airplane ear when I landed. Even after returning to KL, airplane ear persisted (I still have it) | ||
| Got really high in Bangkok | Got really high in Bangkok | |
| After returning to KL, visited an ENT specialist who couldn’t solve the problem and gave me medication instead | Not sure if I’m getting used to having muffled hearing or I’m getting better | |
| The visit was expensive and my medical claim got rejected – because I didn’t have a referral letter to visit the doctor (the app refused to work when I was trying to secure an appointment) | Colleague is trying to help me sort it out | |
| Received a hospital call, asking me if I was someone’s emergency contact, which got me worried about my family | My family turned out to be okay, not sure how the hospital ended up with my number | |
| My credit card got charged thrice when I tried to pay for my season parking (it failed twice and worked the third time but the charges went through) | My bank agreed to investigate the issue | |
| My car’s serpentine belt literally disappeared (must’ve broken and fallen off – or eaten by rats or stolen by ghosts) | Got home safely in a tow truck, belt didn’t cost that much to fix | |
| Due to a colleague who left, I’ve been assigned a lot of new tasks at work that I have no experience with | It’s a chance for me to shine | |
| I haven’t been able to write words for new music I’ve written | I’ve been able to create new music | |
| I can only do three pull ups | I’ve been gymming consistently since February and I’m the lowest weight I’ve been in a long time | |
| I’m vaping more | I smoke a lot less | |
| I haven’t had time to game | I’ve been upskilling via online courses | |
| My umbrella broke | I was close to home, so it wasn’t a big deal | |
| Was rudely awakened by a spam call the other day | As a result of the call, I woke up on time for work | |
| I discovered Spanish Love Songs and Hot Mulligan still slaps | ||
| I finally cleaned up my room | ||
| Dr. Pepper is now available in Malaysia, in 7-Eleven nonetheless! | ||
| Moved to a swanky new office |
So, am I being haunted? Nah. While there are way more negative entries than positive ones (it’s easier to remember those), it’s not so bad in retrospect. Nobody has a perfect month unless they’re dead. But then, they’re dead so it doesn’t matter. I can always look forward to the next one.
If you think you’re having a horrible month, try making a table. It could help you appreciate the good that’s going on in your life. If there’s nothing good about your life, you can cry into a pillow.
For those who need to hear something motivating, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes: