2 min readThere’s no denying that your influence in my life has been greatly profound. Having spent most of my formative years in your youthful company, I lived vicariously through you. I felt as though your lives were mine to live even though I was young and didn’t understand much. I have the fondest memories of my…
Category: La Vie Quotidien
Snippets of my daily life
Why I Now Think English Proficiency Is Overrated
2 min readViral videos of white people berating non-English speakers have been going their rounds on social media as of late. It is a distressing and appalling trend that largely aims to discriminate. There is no other excuse for this rude and insufferable behavior. But I should not look farther than my own country for traces of…
Readers’ Relay: A Challenge to Promote Literacy
4 min readKaycee, a friend and former dorm-mate from Kalay, issued a challenge to me to post seven books I love to promote literacy. One book a day, no reviews, just covers, no exception. That’s the rule. I’m going to have to bend it a little (maybe a lot) and post my list here because I’ve cut…
Sanity Check – August 2020
2 min readWe’ve made it to August. We are closer to the end of 2020 (arguably the worst year in my 30-year existence) than we are to the start. Jose Mari Chan memes are lurking in the corners of the World Wide Web ready to surface come September 1st. Christmas songs will immediately commence reverberating in radio…
Happy Birthday Gino!
3 min readIt is my single greatest blessing in life to find friends whose equanimity I can only aspire to have. You, Gino, are one of those friends. I don’t know how you always remain calm, composed and unbothered by a world constantly in chaos because you seem content losing yourself in K-drama for days on end….
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
3 min readI ordered the book of the same title on Amazon a few months ago but out of my own stupidity, I missed to indicate the unit number of my apartment in the address box so until now, my order has not reached me. Here’s where I have to tell you that this is not a…
Joyeux Anniversaire Mon Meilleur Ami!
4 min readI find it most difficult to write about the people closest to me because I’m afraid that what I write will never be adequate. And for you Dann, it’s harder because how do I even begin to chronicle over two decades of non-stop crazy. You must know that my penchant for beauty pageants is a…
Collection of Pre-pandemic Musings
4 min readLifted from my Day One journal. Saturday, 23 November 2019 Out of the many Saturday afternoon walks I’ve taken around Joo Chiat, it’s the first I’ve taken notice of this beautiful mural. Mother and child – the most proverbial connection. I’m running empty. It’s been difficult lately to get myself to write something, anything. It’s…
Happy Birthday Rachel!
3 min readI’m sorry this greeting came a little late. I really should have stopped at drink number two at Tuckshop last night but here goes! Being one of the last to come to Hong Kong, I was naturally unnerved by the thought that I’m moving yet again to another unfamiliar territory. But it didn’t take long…
Temperamental Millennial
3 min readThe avalanche of bad news this year has left a lot of us paralyzed with insurmountable fear that turned into hopeless rage. It’s easier to perhaps remain apolitical and instead, watch endless Tiktok videos but my temperamental millennial mind just won’t shut up. Someone in my Facebook network shared a post airing the supposed statement…