Personal Anecdotes
-
I tried going vegetarian for the work week, and here’s how it turned out
Evidently this blog has stooped to using clickbait-y titles to attract views, but if a highly reputable organisation like BuzzFeed News can draw me in with the likes of “Bernie Sanders Walked Into A Woman’s TikTok“, who am I to eschew such tactics? Fair warning: This is going to be a rather boring post, more descriptive than introspective. But I undertook this little experiment because I wanted to understand why it has been so difficult for me to go vegetarian. I’ve been trying to cut back on meat, especially beef, for quite some time now, with mixed success. People have different reasons for doing this — to be clear, I’m…
-
More thoughts on rain, running, Valentine’s Day and the Budget Speech
The past week has been so busy that I haven’t had time to collect my thoughts on a whole bunch of matters, instead letting them trail behind me like a haphazard flock of pigeons — pigeons that squawk loudly, peck at my heels and generally demand the attention they are due. By deliberately carving out time to sit down and write today, I guess I’m hoping that my half-baked reflections will be enough to quell their hunger for redress. And if anyone else enjoys reading this jumble of stories plucked from my stream of consciousness, that would be a (wholly undeserved) bonus. :’) If you’ve ever wondered what a sinus…
-
The GIFs of drawing, or why I like doodling so much
It’s been ages since my last jog and I’m twitching with restlessness. I miss the feeling of my heart rate rising to match the rhythm of my legs. The initial discomfort at the start of a run, the shortness of breath as I my lungs work to overcome inertia and set my body in motion. The sensation of flying when you’ve settled into your groove, in that fleeting moment when your back foot has pushed off the ground and your front foot has yet to land. The sweaty rush of endorphins when you reach your own finish line. At times like these it’s admittedly a little difficult to disentangle my…
-
Fun facts: A trip down my musical memory lane
Since hardly anyone visits this quiet corner of the Internet (I hear there’s this thing called TikTok that’s quite in vogue nowadays?), I thought it would be safe to unload a little fun fact about myself here. Well, I say fun, but you can be the judge of that. Whenever someone asks me if I play / used to play a musical instrument, I either tell them that I can strum a few basic chords on a ukulele, or, more often than not, I just say “not really”. The former is true, the latter is… not, really. When I was five or six, my parents, like most Asian parents, thought…
-
Coffee with a side of embarrassment to go, please
Here’s an embarrassing story to bait you into reading more of this post. A week or two ago I was heading home on the train with a colleague. It was peak hour, and the carriage was busy, if not packed. I was carrying in my hand a paper bag that contained (amongst other things) a half-finished cup of coffee — you know, the particularly environmentally unfriendly plastic kind, with the “peel-and-lock” lids that have an indentation for you to secure the peeled-back bit (and if you’re interested in the design of coffee cup lids, there’s a book on that). Anyway, I was so engaged in conversation that, as the train…
-
Merry Christmas! Have you tried dipping panettone in Milo?
I know I’m a day late, but — Merry Christmas! May laughter light up your eyes, and your home, with beauty and warmth that linger long past the festive season. May you find some comfort and joy this year’s end, whether it’s in the great food, greater company, or simply the eager raindrops of the Northeast Monsoon tap-tapping at your window on a cool and windy night. I’m writing this quickly and possibly somewhat incoherently, because there are thoughts jostling in my head that would rest easier outside of that crowded place. The first thing that’s been niggling at me is a conversation I had with a friend some time…
-
On Spotify Wrapped, and what data does (and doesn’t) tell us
You know it’s truly the end of the year when people start sharing their Spotify Wrapped results on social media. I think it’s a nice gift from the folks at Spotify — it makes one almost forget how much data they’re collecting from you and all their other users. 😉 In all seriousness, though, I suppose we like Spotify Wrapped so much because it reveals something incontrovertible about ourselves, or at least what we’ve spent our time listening to in the last year. After all, data doesn’t lie… right? Well. I for one was caught off-guard by the news that I’d clocked up 1,085 minutes on Ludovico Einaudi’s piano album…
-
Drifting thoughts #1: You can’t fake the time you put in
I’ve actually been mulling over this for quite awhile, because I’m fond of complaining to anyone who will listen about how I’m not particularly great at any one thing. You know the saying, Jack of all trades, master of none. That’s me. Trader Jack. I openly envy you-know-who’s deep knowledge of software engineering and computer science, not to mention his equally deep knowledge of obscure topics like cheese and sushi and… fabric. (Am I the only one who has not heard of Dyneema? No? Good.) I guess dabbling would be an apt word to describe how I approach most experiences, whether it’s exercise, watercolour, baking or writing. My attention flits…
-
It’s Alright To Take Your Meds, And More Notes From My Therapist
I noticed that quite a few people enjoyed the last cheeky post I wrote expounding my therapist’s pearls of wisdom, so I thought I’d write a sequel to brighten up your days. In all seriousness, I’m also documenting what I’ve learnt, just in case it brings some small comfort to anyone reading this (myself included). I actually count myself very lucky to have been able to afford therapy; private sessions are incredibly expensive in Singapore, and I’m sure that there are plenty of people out there who choose not to seek help because of concerns about the cost (and the stigma, but that’s another can of worms). My words, on…
-
Weathering the storm: A funny but useful analogy from my therapist
My therapist is a great guy, which is probably what makes him a great therapist. In some ways, he feels like the chill uncle I never had – you know, the one fond of meandering stories and extended metaphors. The less generous part of me sometimes wonders if he’s deliberately trying to extend the session. The more generous (and hopefully dominant) part of me finds him supremely amusing. Anyway, I once asked him how to deal with the particularly bad days, the days where everything seems bleak and pointless and you can’t see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” so much as the headlamps of a Maglev…
