If you read my blog post earlier this week, you’ll notice that I mentioned something about being antisocial. And I was antisocial. Still am. Well, maybe not for the past three days.

Enjoying the sunshine in Melbourne University’s South Lawn. Clockwise from top left: Edwin, Steven, Alicia, Regina, and I.

My first sister who lives in Singapore is currently somewhere in Europe for holiday. My parents are somewhere in Japan. My second sister who is a doctor is currently on rotation to Bendigo, a small rural country three hours drive away from Melbourne.

Me?

I am left alone in my two-bedroom apartment (okay, my parents’), with a pile of dirty dishes and unironed clothes.

So suddenly, I became too social.

On defining social

Last Sunday afternoon I helped my sister loading her three big bags and one super heavy black luggage to the car. I said goodbye, went back to my room, and started browsing the net. Thirty minutes later, I had a call.

A colleague/friend from Meld Magazine who lived three levels below suddenly requested a shelter from the horrible winter weather. Well, not that dramatic. He just forgot to bring his house keys and his housemate was not going to be home anytime soon.

So we had tea and more tea and talked for the next two hours.

Somewhere in the middle of our conversation, my editor in Meld whose house is just five minutes drive from my place asked me if I would like to have dinner at her place. Sure. Would love to.

So at 7 pm, 10 of us were enjoying seven-course dinner (there were literally seven dishes that she cooked, not counting desserts, which were all super delicious) with a few drinks. The chat lasted until about 11, and I didn’t get home until 11.30 pm.

That was day number one.

On Monday, I had uni from 11 am to 2 pm, and then my media friends and I decided to sit down at the University park and took some pictures (and chatted, obviously). The weather was too good for us to go home and I think all of us didn’t want to do any work, so there you go.

At 4 pm, I rushed to the city to meet another friend for coffee. I talked with him nonstop for another two hours.

At 6 pm, I rushed to Meld office to attend a news meeting, and didn’t get back home until about 8.30 pm. Then I ate dinner, tried to sleep, tried to sleep some more (but couldn’t), and finally fell asleep at around 1.30 am. Sad.

And that was how day number two ended.

On Tuesday, I woke up at 7 am to eat brunch with a friend at 9. This was the first time in a long time that I had woken up very early in the morning. Of course, I snoozed the alarm until about 8, but it was okay. The point is, I was not late.

I had brunch, went to the shopping center with her until the evening, and then caught up with another friend in uni who just got back from two-week holiday from US. At 4.15 pm, we went to lecture together.

At 6.30 pm, my uni friends and I had dinner.

I was not home until two hours later.

And I think I had done a months’ worth of talking in three days.

Collapsed, and recharged

I was tired. Like, dead tired. I had headaches. I couldn’t sleep. It was the feeling of being physically over-tired but the mind was still somewhere in lala land, thinking of 1001 things that did not need to be thought of.

By the end of the third day I collapsed so hard that I didn’t even have the strength to do anything. Just browsing, eating brownies, sitting on the sofa, writing blog post, and listening to music. You know, doing the activities that require minimum energy.

I skipped the whole day today (well, I only had one lecture, so technically I only skipped one class), and stayed at home. I watched TV, cooked chicken-mushroom-pork-mince noodles, and slept. I listened to podcast, ironed the clothes, and slept some more.

I recharged.

On being antisocial, again

Being too antisocial is never a good thing, but you know what? So is being too social. Of course, I had a lot of insightful and constructive conversations but guess what? Being social is draining. It’s absorbing every ounce of energy you have left in your body and transforming it into high degree of focus, lots of laughter, jokes, random comments, smart comments, and top level friendliness.

Moderate the level your social life. Know your own limit of social skills. Having a date with your sofa is not good, but so is jumping frantically from one social group date to another.

Are you a social or antisocial person? Share your stories below.