How I already expended my stimulus check on Facebook ads

What were you up to this time last year? It’s not difficult to find that out nowadays if your life is documented online or if, like me, you take a lot of pictures and videos on your phone.

Our last beach cleanup before the lockdown happened during this time last year. It coincided with an outdoor event which was set up by the beach and you could hear the live music in our video footage from the activity. The weather was nice, and it was a good day to be…

In China, setting off firecrackers and fireworks during the Chinese New Year period is an important custom, reportedly because in traditional Chinese culture, firecrackers were originally used to scare away evil spirits. Is Covid-19 then a consequence of the Chinese not exploding away enough firecrackers before the start of this year?

I live in a city which in 2014 broke the Guinness World Record for the largest ever fireworks display, and where fireworks are a weekend occurance at a local entertainment destination which is open six months a year. This NYE, we have been promised another show of explosives. …

Are we afraid of enlightenment?

Last New Year’s Eve (NYE), I heard the fireworks rather than watched them. I had already tucked myself in for the night but had not yet fallen asleep when the crackling sounds made their way into my hiding place.

I live in a city which in 2014 broke the Guinness World Record for the largest ever fireworks display, and where fireworks are a weekend occurance at a local entertainment destination which is open six months a year. This NYE, we have been promised another show of explosives. …

This article is about not giving up on your intellectual capacity to analyze things for what they are and not for how they are made to look, and it is also about Ghaf trees.

Advocacy work can be lonely, time consuming and definitely not financially rewarding. I am not somebody who is eager to take it on, nor am I somebody who is financially secure. Our organization does not currently have a single paying member (despite offering a membership option of $11 per year) and does not pay salaries. Three and a half years ago when I officially first set…

The pen is a wonderful invention, the keyboard too; but the pens of today are not the pens or feathers or chisels which facilitated the delivery of words in the past. A pen, like the one in the picture, a Pilot pen I had borrowed (more like allowed myself to avail of) from my dad, is an engineered piece of work, but unlike its predecessors, this modern day instrument is not biodegradable. When buried, that is, if it makes it to the graveyard, i.e. landfill, intact, it will remain there for generations to come. What a legacy!

I already lost…

We cannot keep pretending everything is alright.

The pen is a wonderful invention, the keyboard too; but the pens of today are not the pens or feathers or chisels which facilitated the delivery of words in the past. A pen, like the one in the picture, a Pilot pen I had borrowed (more like allowed myself to avail of) from my dad, is an engineered piece of work, but unlike its predecessors, this modern day instrument is not biodegradable. When buried, that is, if it makes it to the graveyard, i.e. landfill, intact, it will remain there for generations to…

A ruffling of some Gen Xer and Baby Boomer feathers.

I was cynical when a self-deluding book salesperson proclaimed that millennials felt entitled and that we were struggling at work because our parents gave us medals for coming last. Maybe it is because I see Gen Xers and Baby Boomers parading their titles and suit jackets around, eager to be identified as experts, eager to speak on stage, and eager to strut their experience in number of years.

While generational markers provide a context into the circumstances we are born and grow into, they do not define who we are…

I am upset and cannot get over the fact that I could not connect with 22 human beings because a virtual window would not open.

My hands were shaking and my body was sweating, yes, but not because I was nervous; I was helpless and loosing my cool. I tried everything, de-activated the pop-up blocker and successfully initiated the test session again but the launch button for the actual group session scheduled at 4:30pm was simply unresponsive. …