What to do when You're Single and Bored

I'm sure we've all had those days when the hours seem like years, and we just don't have anything planned out to kill that much time. It doesn't matter whether or not you're single or in a relationship, dragging days really do exist. Unfortunately, for the single people out there, it's much harder to find things to do to spend some time. So, here are some not-new-ideas you could try to work with (in no particular order):

Eat

Yes, we are all too familiar of doing this, and it's probably the first thing that came into mind while you were reading the title of this boring post. We tend to resort to eating because for most people, it's the default thing to do. Whether or not you're stressed or perfectly relaxed, busy or just staring at the ceiling or into nothing, this act of putting food through the GI tract is probably the best choice when you've got nothing else to do. Besides, as Freud postulated, the first thing that we satisfy as infants is our oral needs. So, eat, eat, eat!

Khmer Dinner at Phnom Penh

Watch Movies/Series

Don't want to binge and thus, gain weight? You could try catching up with movies of your liking. If you're not the movie-kind-of-person, why not catch up with the latest episodes of your favorite series, or, just finally start watching episodes of one of the most talked about series now? Get copies from your friends or download such from P2P, and you're good to go. Nothing beats a Lord of the Rings trilogy marathon or How to Get Away with Murder series marathon from fast-forwarding time. In this case, slow internet connection's probably gonna be your only enemy, aside from low storage space.

Not quite sure which movies to watch? For the hopeless romantic but wanting to have some LOLs... or not:

• Blended: the most recent movie collaboration between Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, this hilarious romcom deals with two single parents, who are just trying to get through life while raising their own set of children. They first met each other at a horrible blind date set up by their friends, and then later got caught up together with their kids at a fantastic family 'blending' retreat in Africa. I'm sure you've seen their prior movie team-ups, so you'd know what to expect. If not, see 50 First Dates and the likes. 
• Love, Rosie: this British romcom rocks, yo! First off, because the lead characters are English, and pretty much every word that comes out of their mouth sounds holy to thy ears. Second off, it stars the Hunger Games' hot Sam Claflin, and Mortal Instruments' cheeky Lily Collins. It's a movie about 2 best friends who've friendzoned each other, and then goes through a series of bad relationships and hardships in life separately, and then finding out that love sometimes takes time, and that no matter what, those who are meant to be together will eventually (hopefully) find their way to each other at the end. It's like the movie One Day, but with a happier, much more satisfying ending.
• That Thing Called Tadhana: this Filipino movie is about having your heart broken, finding out how and where to get the courage to start picking up the pieces, and then being brave enough to open up and find love again. This ultimate hugot or so 'much feels' movie stars Angelica Panganiban and JM De Guzman.

For the young at heart (and or even mind):

• How to Train Your Dragon 2: this sequel did not fail to follow into the footsteps of the virtues/values shown during the first movie. It's still about treasuring family, finding out more about who you are, where you belong, and doing what you feel serves your purpose most. It's about finding your inner strength and making it a weapon to defend those you love. After learning to live with and love dragons, the riders of Berk learn of the presence of the alpha dragons, encounter dragon catchers and a mysterious dragon rider, and set out to try to win a battle for maintaining peace for both humans and dragons.
• Big Hero 6: this Japanese movie is full on laughs and heart-touching moments. It's about the things that matter most (family, friendship) than having revenge over the people who've hurt us. The tale tells of an incredible bond between Baymax, a robot health care provider, and a technology genius child who suffers the loss of his family and now seeks to avenge them.

For the thrill/suspense/action + fantasy seeking type:

• The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies: the third and final installment to the Hobbit trilogy shows the story of how Bilbo and his company defended the Lonely Mountain through a series of combats between five different armies all striving to conquer such stronghold and its treasures.
• Guardians of the Galaxy: let Groot and his company of weird, crazy and unexpected criminals-turned-heroes save the day in a series of comic battles against a fanatical warrior trying to take over the universe.

Out of the ordinary/mind-blowing movie:

•  Gone Girl: after his wife's messy disappearance, which was blown out of proportions by the media, Ben Affleck's character becomes the suspect to a murder, and finds himself uncovering a series of lies that got him to his position to prove his innocence. Also Starring: Rosamund Pike, and featuring HIMYM's Barney Stinson.

 For Series marathon, I recommend the following:

• Awkward (just finished with Season 4): sewn with really cool indie songs from MTV, this series tells of the story of how an unpopular 15 year old gains immediate, unwanted, and unfortunately, negative popularity at her high school when the student body mistakes an accident she has for a suicide attempt. Starring: Ashley Rickards. Looks familiar? You've seen this girl at One Three Hill as Brooke's adopted daughter.
• 2 Broke Girls (currently at Season 4): 2 young unlikely pair, one who's lived all her life down and below life while the other has had silver (even gold-plated with diamonds encrusted) spoon on her mouth since birth, team up for a business partnership (selling cupcakes), and then eventually forming lasting friendships. Starring: Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs.
• How to Get Away with Murder (just completed Season 1): a new mind-boggling series tackling criminal law, the whole first season is all about a team of aspiring lawyers working under one of the toughest defense lawyers/professors to figure out who was the murderer of a college girl while solving other cases each episode. Starring: Viola Davis.
• Suits (currently at Season 4): entering corporate law, a brilliant Mike Ross, who has unbelievably superb photographic memory, pretends to be an aspiring lawyer while working for one of New York City's most sought after corporate lawyers, Harvey Specter. These two take on cases and tear them down with a series of unconventional corporate law strategies. Starring: Gabriel Macht and Patrick J.
• Game of Thrones (currently at Season 5): several noble families fight over the throne to take control of the magnificent land of Westeros, plus dragons and the undead combined with sexual scenes/nudity and really gorgeous people, this series is actually the best of the best.

Read a Book (or something)

Prefer the solitude offered by the pages of a book? Then why not finally finish that one you've bookmarked at page 456 since like forever? Or maybe start reading another one just to satisfy your fill of words and use your imagination to recreate what you've read in your mind. This option takes up less electricity, and consumes less of your energy as well than the previous ones.

Write, or Doodle

Some people are actually getting hooked at calligraphy, even buying those pricey highly-specialized-for-calligraphy-artsy-fartsy pens. So why not write that favorite story, poem, or hugot lines into a piece of paper or wherever suits your taste? Work out those hands, doodle, and add color to them. If you fancy just coloring, there's this very popular coloring book that is tailored for adults, the Secret Garden, An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book. Check it out at Barnes and Noble.

Workout/Exercise

 Hit the gym, start being fit and finally get those abs! or... just maintain that already hot figure. Working out has never been so popular nowadays, and I'm blaming it on the rising trend of cropped tops and celebrities flaunting their perfectly sculpted abs in their mirror selfies post-workouts. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to have some of those abs, I workout three times a week. But having abs is not the only benefit of working out. Here are some of the best benefits to help you be more motivated in donning those workout clothes you bought from Surplus, or for the rich kids, from Nike and the likes.

• Helps improve metabolism
• Strengthens muscles and bones
• Improves cardio-pulmonary efficiency
• Boosts mood, self-esteem, sleep quality and energy
• Reduces risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke, depression and dementia

For a quick read on the miracles of exercise/physical activity, check out Livewell.

Here's a quick workout for those wanting some toning:

• Warm up exercises (1 minute each): butt kicks, high knee jog, side step/2 feet lateral hop, stretching of neck, hamstrings and quadriceps, shoulder rotations, elbow lock
• Set 1 (3 reps with 1 minute rest break in between reps): 10 reps of push ups (if you cannot tolerate doing push ups on the ground, you increase the inclination and then just gradate as your upper extremities get stronger), 20 reps of body weight squats, 30 seconds of isometric exercise for abs/core muscles (full or elbow planking)
• Set 2 (3 reps with 1 minute rest break in between reps):10 reps of pull ups or biceps curl with weights (if you don't have dumbbells, use water bottles, etc), 20 reps of side lunges (10 reps per side) or step ups (10 reps per side), 30 reps of alternate forward shoulder reach while in planking position
• Finisher: 20 reps of mountain climbers and or 20 reps of shoulder press with burpees
• Cool down: stretching

Or you can opt to download apps like NTC (Nike Training Club) or choose any from these Top 10 workout abs.

So, basically, there are lots of things we can do during those stretching hours of being alone, I mean, single and bored. Reading blog posts like this one is one, as well. Well, anyway, no matter how you spend the time, so long as you're content and happy at what you're doing or what you've done, then all's well that ends well. And, well, nothing lasts forever, so this state of being 'single and bored' would prolly end too. (wink wink)

-xo

Then and Now

Change is the only thing constant in this world. It is inevitable. We humans go through this long and arduous process all throughout our lifetime. Sometimes, we do so painfully and sometimes hap’ly, but nonetheless, with equal significance.

I am the kind of person with an “a-lot-of-things-happen-in-one-minute, what-more-in-a-lifetime?” attitude. So for twenty years, give or take a few, I can say that a lot has definitely changed.

‘Watch’ Out

As I think all of us would agree, every childhood won’t be complete without each of our own all-time favorite cartoons or anime. Animax, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network among many others, were the channels that, I’m sure at least at one point in everyone’s childhood, dominated our television hours. Powerpuff Girls, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Detective Conan, and let’s not forget the famous classic fairytales, such as Snow White, Cinderella, Pocahontas, etc, were definitely our choice of ‘must watch’. We would gladly lend our eyes and ears to endless stories of magic, fantasy, fairies, Santa Claus, angels, or even the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I was like this until change changed me. I started to shift my interest to sports, such as volleyball and lawn tennis, and to almost all of National Geographic’s segments during high school. Then I began to like romantic comedies, mysteries, science fictions, fictions, action, suspense/thriller, and books-turned-into-movies/TV series kinds of genre during my freshmen year in college. I started becoming bored with cartoons; out of the blue, I could no longer stand Tom and Jerry’s endless cat and mouse chase that never really quite gets to the chase. Suddenly, I can no longer bear watching television with only the cartoon channel on for one whole day. It’s either I switch to History, National Geographic, ETC, Star World, or AXN. I didn’t quite get to notice it immediately, but during my junior year, after not watching any kind of animated drawings for about a year, I knew that I have changed.

Now, I only watch movies like Despicable Me, UP, Cars, etc, and would seldom watch any cartoons on TV. But don’t get me wrong. I did not become a person who hates the cartoons I used to watch. I still do love them, it’s just that now, I pretty much would not want to watch them or they aren’t exactly at the top of my ‘must watch’ anymore. Probably, when there’s no choice, I would. Besides, there’s always going to be that kid-at-heart thing in my vocab.

Chow-then

Do you know Cartoon Network’s Chowder? It is a cartoon about a young aspiring chef, Chowder, who is being trained by another chef, Mung. It is a really funny show. Anyway, I told you that because in the show, there was also some cooking done. And speaking of cooking and taste for food, drastic won’t even describe how this also changed over the years.

When I was just a kid, I was like one of the thinnest kids in school, literally. I don’t really fancy eating breakfast. Let’s face it, waking up early to eat and spend my precious sleeping time doing such was not really my thing. I was never really a morning person, I was shall we say, ‘nocturnal’. So back then, I don’t really eat much, like, I only get to eat for about 15 minutes and then that’s it. I easily get satiated. I eat so few food each meal that at times my mom would have to call one of my aunties who scared the hell out of me back then and she would make me eat. I was really not hungry most of the time and I was a really picky eater. I don’t know why, but it’s like food didn’t even appeal to me at all.

But now, look how grown up my belly, I mean, my appetite’s become! I eat 4 major meals a day not to mention the snacks I take in between breakfast and lunch as well as during midnight. And what’s worse is that I eat the heaviest meal during dinnertime and not much during breakfast.

Before, I used to eat only chicken and pork and very few types of veggies. But now, it’s like I can eat anything as long as it satisfies my taste buds. Not to mention the junk food and the guilty pleasures introduced to my ever-widening food-I-love-to-eat cognitive map.

Hangout

As a child, this would have meant going out into the streets and playing non-stop with other kids of the neighborhood until my parents call me for dinner. As a teenager, this would have meant sleepovers on a friend’s house for movie night or just endless chatting, road trips to random places, or food trips to affordable guilty pleasures.

But as a young adult, three things have managed to be equated to such: (a) having a pig-out night plus watching movie either alone or with family/friends, (b) having booze with friends plus sometimes with great food, or (c) having a good few or, if I’m lucky, more hours of under-the-covers-sound sleep.

Yes, my leisure time nowadays include me just unmoved within the confines of my room either sleeping, watching movie while munching food, or surfing the internet. I’ve become the boring person I've thought of and was scared of becoming when I was still a kid. But hey, on very rare occasions, my besties and I would go out and have random road trips, end up having a sleepover or booze at a condo, or watching random movies at home or in cinemas. Going to the mall has never  really been my thing, but I definitely love to shop whenever it’s Christmas season since I really love to buy things for people and for myself. But I do not consider  shopping as a regular thing.

Outlook on the Opposite Sex

Being kids, we used to hate each other, it used to be a world between girls with their ponies and Barbie dolls, and boys with their toy guns and gameboys. We have these imaginary solid walls between such worlds. But as time passed, one wall eventually started cracking after another revealing the shy beauties of one world and the gentle toughness of the other. Crushes begin to blossom and butterflies start fluttering in thy stomachs.

By the time we’ve reached our teenage years, crushes would have been one of the ‘it’ things-to-do. Having someone chase after you and shower you with sugarcoated words and material things isn’t too bad after all. Besides, it’s the nature of human beings; neither can live without the other.

But as I reached college, it felt like forming more serious relationships than just those borne out of intimate love. We start forming serious friendships that will last a lifetime. Of course, there are times that we don’t settle just for friendship, and thus, develop a deeper sense of understanding and relating to each other. But I’d go more for companionship than just being the girlfriend or a guy’s girl. This section may have been a bit senseless, but I just can’t put into words my explanation.

Happiness

I used to equate happiness with money. I believed that everything would have gone smoothly in life if only one has money to buy ice cream. But as years went by, life happened. I learned that it’s not the money that makes us happy; it’s what the notion of being satisfied with whatever we have at present that does. It’s not about the money and most of the time, it’s what the money can do. But take away all those, and go back to the time that money wasn’t the main focus and goal of life, maybe we’ll realize that it’s the simple things that bring happiness. Doesn’t one saying, “sometimes, even the best things in life are free” ring a bell?

So you see, it’s insane how change creeps up on us and slaps us in the face. There are still a lot of areas to consider where changes have made huge impact. But as for now, these are the things that I think matter to me and thus, deserved to be discussed. I’m pretty sure a lot of you can also think of other things about yourselves; things that have greatly evolved through the years. We might find it scary when we realize how different things are from before when everything was just as simple as learning ABCs. But sometimes we’ll also realize that maybe change is exactly what we need.

Isn't it funny how everyday, nothing changes? And yet when we do look back, everything actually has.

- Keso