September 2026 — Life Recap

September was the month I got my numbers.

Not business numbers. Body numbers. The kind you can’t fix with a new website.

So most of this recap is about sleep, a blood test, and the small, boring things I started doing about both.

The rest is the good stuff. A pot that came back from the dead. A pool day. Date nights. And an old truck that finally sounds like it should.

(Photos with the kids are redrawn by AI in a hand-painted style, so their faces stay theirs.)

The pot that came back from black

On the first morning of September, a pot got burnt. Properly burnt. Black crust, black base, black everything.

Most people would throw it away.

Instead, two days later, I picked up a pack of wire brushes that fit on a drill.

That Sunday, my wife stood at the sink with a cordless drill, a tube of cream cleaner and a lot of patience. Twenty minutes later the pot was shining again.

I took more than twenty photos of that pot.

No regrets.

Friday nights are ours

Every week, my wife and I try to keep one night for just the two of us. Usually Friday. Usually food.

Friday, 4 September

Kopitiam dinner first. Then dessert at a cafe, because one stop is never enough.

Friday, 11 September

More dishes than two people should order.

Friday, 25 September

Western night. Soup, salad, two mains, and ice cream to finish.

Nothing fancy, any of it. That’s the point. It’s our weekly date.

One rose, for someone else

This rose wasn’t for my wife.

On a Thursday afternoon I picked it up for my son’s tuition teacher. No occasion. Just a small thank you, to show we appreciate her.

Teachers don’t hear that enough.

Most of them weren’t planned. Coffee becomes dinner. Dinner becomes “one more round”. One Wednesday started with coffee in the afternoon and ended at a bar with more friends than we started with.

These are my social highlights of the month.

My sleep that week didn’t thank me. More on that below.

The health screening I didn’t enjoy

On 18 September I went for a full wellness screening. They took a drop of blood and put it on a big screen, so you can watch your own cells move around.

It’s a strange thing to stare at.

The results were not great.

Visceral fat (the fat around the organs) at 18.
High blood pressure.
10 kg heavier than a year ago.

The good news… blood sugar, cholesterol and uric acid were all fine.

They offered me a RM5,000 package to fix it.

I said no.

Not because I don’t care. Because most of what I need to do is free. Walk. Lift something heavy. Eat better. Sleep.

So I wrote my own plan instead. Walking and strength first. No running until my GP says my flat feet can take it. A week of checking my blood pressure at home, then the GP.

Re-test in January. I’ll tell you how it went.

Chasing a better sleep score

I photographed my watch on a few mornings this month. The worst two first. Here’s the story those photos tell.

11 Sep: 4 hours 33 minutes. Score 70.
23 Sep: 4 hours 30 minutes. Score 70. The worst one I photographed.
16 Sep: 7 hours 57 minutes. Score 90. The best one I photographed.
17 Sep: 10 hours 42 minutes. Score 83. My body collecting the debt.
27 Sep: 10 hours 9 minutes. Score 84. Same again.

That’s the pattern. Some short nights, some very long ones. Not much in between.

Mid-month I wrote this in my notes:

As long as I solve my sleeping time, everything will fall into places.

So we made house rules. Wifi off at 9pm. Everyone upstairs. My wife was brought in as the enforcer, so the rule would actually stick.

A week later I added more:

Walk after picking the kids up from tuition.
Phone never enters the bedroom.
In the room from 9pm. Kindle only.
Kettlebell at 7am.
Breakfast prepared the night before.

Did it work? Partly.

A few late nights out didn’t help. And I still woke at 5am to make the kids’ breakfast more often than I planned.

But on 19 September I did my first workout in three weeks. And the week after, I moved more than any week I’ve tracked.

Slow. But moving.

Pool day

Sunday, 20 September. Kids in the car, then the pool.

Floats, a beach ball, and nobody in a hurry to get out.

That same morning I took three pairs of dirty sneakers to a shoe laundry. A small job, finally done.

Small moments with the kids

Pizza on the first. Curry noodles on a Saturday. A long family lunch on a Sunday. Burgers on a Tuesday. My daughter helping to wash a filter. My son at the market.

None of these were plans. They just happened.

Teaching the kids about money

At the end of the month I sat down and drew up a simple money system for the kids.

All three start together. Every ringgit they get splits three ways: 50% to spend, 30% to invest, 20% to give.

Whatever goes into the invest jar, I match. We track it on paper, not an app, so they can see it.

The plan is a month-end “money night”, where we count the notes together.

Simple enough for kids. Hopefully simple enough to stick.

New sound in an old truck

Saturday, 26 September was a full day off. No work at all. That’s rare enough to mention.

I spent it at a car audio shop with my old Hilux.

New front and rear speakers, an amplifier, a 10-inch subwoofer, and new carpet. Doors opened up and put back together.

Then I noticed the rear speakers were silent and a door was rattling. So it’s going back in under their 3-day guarantee.

Next on the list is the timing belt. And a promise to myself: no more spending on the truck until that’s done.

A trip to plan

Early in the month I put together a family trip to KL for late November. The itinerary went to my wife in Chinese, so she could decide properly.

Onward to October

September was the month I stopped pretending the tiredness was normal.

Patterns I want to keep… the house rules at 9pm. The kettlebell. Date nights. Saying no to expensive fixes for problems that need habits.

Patterns I want to break… the late nights out, and the 5am alarm I keep setting anyway.

Thanks for reading.

See you in October.