Living it up later

Okay, on to something lighter now... enough of all the naval-gazing. I'll bounce back soon enough from the brouhaha.

Was having lunch alone today and saw the gardeners at work in the poly garden. There were about 7 of them. All in a row, all on their haunches, carefully weeding out the unwanted growths, some laying a plastic layer on soil and pebbles on top. Grab, pull, throw. The work had a rhythmic quality that was almost hypnotic to watch. They worked in silence in the blazing mid-day heat, hats or caps the only protection from the sun.

I liked what they did. Whenever I do this in my garden, I get carried away and can go on and on just pulling the weeds. So I think I won't mind a job like that - just pulling weeds. Of course in a week or so of this, I might get a bit bored and then my mind would be wandering to find ways to either speed up the process or be more productive. Which is why I probably would not last long at a job like this. But it would be nice to do for a while.

Another job I think I would really enjoy is to be a local tour guide. Once upon a time I even explored the possibility of signing up for a tour guide course and then to be registered with STB upon passing the exams. Apparently you can also earn quite a bit from this - fees and tips included! But the course fee (I think it was $1800 then?) stumped me (yes, I was a poor struggling journo then!) and so I gave up the idea. But I've always liked the thought of meeting people from overseas, showing them around, giving them snippets of history, folklore etc. Who knows, when I retire, I just might do this! When I have more time on my hands next time, I might start off as a museum docent first - that would be fun!

I think I might like to try factory work too - working in a conveyor belt system where you just do that specific portion and pass it on to the next. Like weeding. It hypnotically mindless - don't need to think so hard, just fix and pass on and so on. Only drawback would be the shift work. I can't see myself working a graveyard shift!

Or an assistant in a GP's clinic - must be slow-moving clinic! - where I can happily label the meds, sit amidst the colourful bottles (always a fascination for me as a child!), call out names importantly etc. And educate the doctor about breastfeeding and birth on slow days!

See? I'm all ready to work up to 65 and beyond! But work aside, I would like to make time to do the fun things that I've never had the guts or the time to do before - like paint! On canvas - just mucking it up! Or 3D sculptural work with clay. Or learn a foreign language - French? Spanish? Japanese? Teach English for a month or two in a remote village in China! Learn to bake! Learn to do the tango! Or the foxtrot! Learn some taichi! Walk a bit further on an unknown trail. And when it comes to travel - backpack to South America, take the Trans-Siberian railway from Vladivostok to Moscow, drive on the Karakorum Highway, walk the footsteps of Christ in Israel, spend time on a retreat in a mountaintop in Italy and if possible, travel the overland route from Singapore to Paris in a jeep with KH.

All these dreams.

I might not be able to fulfil all of them. But half the fun lies in the dreaming today of what may come tomorrow. So that alone is good for a muggy Monday afternoon's worth of day-dreaming!