07 October, 2018

How is it October?

Now that I'm virtually retired, time doesn't fly by as fast.
The days blur together, but I fully realize that I've lived in Vietnam now for over FOUR MONTHS.
We are finally reaching a point in the year where my summer clothes aren't too hot. They are exactly right for the temperatures.

I've started to compare "today" with where we were at this point after moving to Beijing, rather than "this time last year". This time two years ago, we were full of excitement about our new home in Beijing. However, four months after we had moved there, we were desperately awaiting a legal return to work, and suffering cabin fever from being cramped in a tiny apartment with nowhere to go!

Four months after moving to Vietnam, we are in a larger space, with our own things to do, living almost as if we are retired! Mind you... 

...I've not furnished the house the way I envisioned it when we first moved in.
...We've STILL not yet begun cooking again.
...I know less about this city and language than I did with our move to Beijing.

Baby steps.

Life is good. I'm using a lot of my time for writing. I don't write about it much here, but I might start doing my #AccountaClub posts here, instead of in the comments on Bit2Read. Now that I'm boosting my daily word count, I just don't get into the blogosphere much, so I'll just blend this into a post to update my own blog.

If you're wondering, #AccountaClub is simply a place to set and check in on your goals. Every Friday, Isa-Lee Wolf at Bit2Read (linked above) writes a short post updating on how she's doing with her goals, and if you choose, you can do so as well, in the comments, or on your own blog. It is literally, a club for accountability. Most of us have writing goals amongst other goals, so if you have a goal and need to be held accountable, check it out!

In the spring, my writing goal was to meet a certain weekly word count. I've been increasing that number lately, and last week I wrote over 9,000 words. I don't know if that sounds high, but I'm inching up to at least 12,000 words per week.

So for me, my week was productive, even considering we're getting out more often to explore the area. For instance, on Friday we were on the road all day, riding the motorbike almost FOUR HOURS to a couple ancient historic sites. Here are a few pictures.
Hai Van Quan. A fortress between 2 arms of the sea.
North of Hai Van Quan... see that beach off to the left?
Outside a military museum in the "Forbidden City" in Hue, Vietnam.

 



Hue (pronounced like "way" with an H in front) is an ancient city. The old part of the city is sometimes called the "Forbidden City", or the "Imperial City", or "Purple City". North of Da Nang, it ended up taking us almost 4 hours on the motorbike. We stopped several times, including at Hai Van Quan, above - which literally means "The most impressive gate in the world" and when you see the setting, it kind of is...
I took this panorama shot to show the ocean on both sides of the gate. It protected both stretches of land north and south.
This will have to suffice for my summary of September. I'm trying to get around to read all of your updates, too. What were your goals, and did you meet them?



14 comments:

  1. It was a great trip. I can't wait to just get out and enjoy the mountains again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Red,

    Having a word count writing goal is admirable. I am working myself up to doing more creative writing. I got away from this and really want to get back. I've gotten quite absorbed in doing a lot of blog hops so I'm seeking out those that challenge the writer stolen away within somewhere within locked behind a barrier. Heck there's clutter on the inside as well as the out, will I not ever get organized? lol

    I'm sorry you weren't able to listen to my playlist today. Perhaps my song choices will inspire you to find them on YT in your region to listen to for the first time or again after many years.

    I'm not sure what kind of weather Vietnam generally has but hopefully you'll experience some cooler temps before long. It still feels like summer in East Tennessee but we're expected some cooler temps next week. YAY!

    Have a pAwesome week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! I get Hall & Oates on one of my favorite Spotify playlists, and there is ample music to keep my jamming in the morning!

      I am enjoying the fact that I can wear summer clothes still, but not sweat from just sitting still in the living room! The mornings are beautifully cool for my yoga, and the evenings are getting quite cool, too. I could go on, but maybe I'll just do a geography-related post about this.

      Delete
  3. Yeah, best to compare to your last move, I think. Glad you got settled more easily. The months are just flying by.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This week, we finally started cooking at home!
      I think I'm ready to go out to eat again. ;-)

      Delete
  4. Good to hear an update. I envy your surroundings. So much to explore in Viet Nam!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you don't mind humidity, and aren't afraid of bugs, it's a great place.

      Delete
  5. 9000 words sounds pretty impressive to me Red. I think I'd be lucky to reach 1000 and I'm planning on blogging less soon so my word count will plummet even further. I think your life sounds pretty great atm.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Things really are pretty great. I feel like I'm retired. I couldn't write this much if I still went to a day job. We are truly blessed.

      Delete
  6. Lately I've failed to keep any of my goals, but I'm trying to not let that get me down. Here's a funny story I heard told by Neil Gaiman: he was at a convention with several other writers, and early one morning Terry Pratchett came bounding into the room.
    "What are you so happy about?" asked Neil.
    "I've written my two-thousand words for the day," said Pratchett.
    All the other writers just glared at him.
    I just keep in mind that even the pros have dry spells.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's hilarious.
      I can't write in the morning. At least not first thing. If I do, I wind up sitting on my computer all day and nothing else gets done.
      But I am incredibly proud when I have a productive day!

      Delete
  7. I'm behind in everything - the unexpected death of our 30 y/o grandson (father of five under age 7) here locally, really set me back. We had family from Colorado here for a week. They left last Tuesday and I'm still not back into my routine. So no #AccountaClub posts for two weeks and now I'm busy getting ready to head south for the winter in our RV as well as getting ready for two cruises. Sigh...trying to write but even our blogs are behind. So maybe I'll get back into the swing of things by, um, Feb?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have good reason to be away from routine. I'm so sorry to hear about your grandson. Naturally you have more important things to be doing.
      I think February is a reasonable new goal!

      Delete

I enjoy a good debate. Feel free to shake things up. Tell me I'm wrong. Ask me why I have such a weird opinion. ...or, just laugh and tell how this relates to you and your life.