Things I miss, and things I don't

Hi, there! It's been a while. I'm several months behind in my posts at this point, so I decided that rather than try to keep writing posts in chronological order and keep dates accurate, I'm just going to start writing reflective posts interleaved with random events that have happened over the past two months, in no particular order. I might fix the dates later. For the first reflective-style post, since I'm a little over halfway through my trip, I started thinking about things I miss from home, and things I don't.

Don't miss: TV

I enjoy TV shows arguably more than the average person my age, so I thought it would be pretty hard to be abroad while some of my favourite shows aired their new seasons. Oddly, however, I just don't really care. It will be nice to watch some of these shows when I get back home, but it's not going to be first or even probably twentieth on my list of things to do. I wouldn't even say I'm really "looking forward to it". It's more just a "oh yeah, that'll be fun when I get around to it". My takeaway from this is that I definitely don't need to watch as much TV as I was watching at home. Sometimes I'd complain that there were just too many good shows, and not enough time to watch them all. It's definitely true that there is not enough time to watch them all, so I think I'm going to start being extra choosy with what I spend my time watching. I'm sure I'll still have my lazy days binging every once in a while, but hopefully not too often. I'm really glad that Game of Thrones isn't airing its final season until 2019, though, because I would have scoured cities for the best WiFi spot to stream that shit every Monday.

Don't miss: music

I also thought it would be torture to read about new albums getting released and not being able to listen to them. But it really hasn't been a big deal. Rather than checking critic sites daily or weekly for new content, I think I'll start to batch update my playlists every few months by quickly checking the top albums from that time period, which should save me some time. Or maybe I'll finally join the current century and subscribe to a streaming service, so I don't have to spend as much effort seeking out new tunes. Surprisingly, the only times I've really missed music in general have been on long bus rides when I get a headache from reading. I've learned to appreciate silence and ambient noise more, and to take in the world around me or get lost in thought, rather than an album, sometimes. I think I used music as a distraction, to drown out what was going on around me. Of course, I still plan to blast my favourite tunes most of the time when I get back in the driver's seat of a car back home.

Don't miss: concerts

In the same vein, I don't miss going to concerts. At least, not as many as I've been attending for the past 5 years or so (about 1 every month). I realized that sometimes I would just go for something to do, and that I wasn't as excited about them as I used to be. There are still bands that I will try to see every time they come to town, but I think in general I'm going to start being a bit more selective with them, because it's hard to justify spending so much money and time on something that I'm not even going to get excited about.

Don't miss: Canadian food

I've run into a few people whose travels are coming to an end, and inevitably at some point the conversation becomes about what they're going to do when they go home. Most people say they're not going to eat rice or noodles for months, and they can't wait to binge on burgers, pizza, steak, meat pies, or some other food that means "home" to them. I'm the opposite. I'm keeping a list of all the interesting foods I'm eating out here because I can't wait to get home to try to make them myself. I'll almost certainly be eating more rice than I used to. I don't need to have western food once in a while to "take a break" from Asian food. In fact, aside from a few meals, the only times I've eaten western food in the past 4 months have been on travel days, because when it's 6am, you're half asleep, and you're trying to navigate an unknown airport to catch a 9 hour flight, it's just easier to grab an Egg McMuffin.

One exception to this one: I do miss Canadian beer.

Miss: cooking

Although I don't miss eating Canadian food, I am looking forward to cooking again, whether it's making my kitchen staples or one of the meals on my mile-long food idea list I alluded to above. Frankly, this one was a surprise for me. I always knew I enjoyed cooking, but I never realized how much I enjoy it. In particular, I miss, and am looking forward to, cooking for other people. It will be fun to host a bunch of people and make them a meal entirely comprising things they've never tried or, probably, heard of before. I took a cooking class today and it was so much fun that not only did it remind me how much I enjoy being in the kitchen, I also learned a lot and took away many ideas from it. I definitely plan to do at least one more class in Thailand before I come home, and maybe one in Vietnam as well.

Don't miss: board games

My friends and I have gotten together for biweekly board game nights over the past few years, although they've been more like bimonthly or even less often now that we're all pairing up. I also play board games with my coworkers every once in a while. There are many excellent board games that are being released every month, if not every week, these days, and one of my favourite pastimes over the past few years has been going to my friendly local game shop and browsing the new selection every week or two. I limited myself to buying one game every month or less, because I found that I was picking up too many - so many of them just sounded so good. I thought that while I was away, I would miss playing these games, but I don't. I realized that I don't constantly need new games, because they're really just an excuse to hang out with people I love, and fun ways to pass the time when we do hang out. Speaking of which...

Miss: people I love

This one is kind of a no-brainer and pretty self-explanatory, but I'd feel like a bit of a dick if I didn't include it.

Miss: playing sports

This one was the opposite of the board game one. I don't really miss the activity of playing board games; I miss the people I play them with. Conversely, I just miss playing sports, regardless of who it's with. Of course, playing with friends enhances any activity, but in this case, I miss the activity itself. I had been looking for a volleyball game to join for months, but no one was playing on any of the beaches I visited. Sometimes there were nets set up, but they looked so lonely in the sand with no one to play with. Today, I joined a bunch of local guys playing a game of pick up on the beach, and I was absolutely elated afterward. I decided to stay in Trinco for an extra few days right after I played, hoping to play again a few more times before I left.

Don't miss: routine

Lastly, I don't miss the routine of being at home. I don't miss sleeping in the same bed every night, or my condo in general. I don't miss doing mostly the same stuff everyday. It's exciting to be somewhere new, and to experience different cultures and ways of life. This is by far the longest I've been away from home, and I'm only halfway done. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy being away for so long, and while of course it has its drawbacks (some of which I mentioned above), and I've been homesick once or twice, I know now that I'm definitely cut out for it. I think I've changed quite a bit already, and I'm sure I'll have learned more and changed more by the time I'm home again, so it's going to be very interesting to go back to "the grind" after this time away.