It’s a nightmare, but you can make things easier for yourself.
Visa applications and restrictions withal, there are boat loads of other social issues that plague the endeavour. Definitely not for the weak-willed, but nonetheless rewarding.
I graduated from University in July 2019 (for the second time), and this around, Mother and Father insisted on attending their first ever graduation ceremony. I relented.
Not 30 minutes after walking down the 20 metre square platform, came the all too familiar “good job, time to get a job now” comment from my emotionally subdued Mother whilst we pushed past a hall full of sweaty, over zealous fresh graduates, their parents, friends, caterers, university…
Because being late is not edgy. It’s also much more than a time-telling device.
I don’t proudly call myself a watch aficionado or collector, considering my historical ownership of several less-than-forgivable fashion watches in my teenage years. I do however have an appreciation for them.
Mother and Father had a couple of watches they purchased in the 70s and 80s, that I grew up around. They wore them daily, as practical, time-telling tools, rarely as status-determining symbols or for bragging rights. For them, they were objects of necessity, much like what water was to marine life, air to the plants, or underwear is to the modern human imbued with, and governed by societal expectations.
…
And change your life. Or function as decor for your home.
Foreword
Every so often, you pick up a fresh paperback (hardback snobs, sue me), that factory fresh smell of the novel (pun intended) assaulting your nostrils, compelling you to cry a little with each turn of the page. As the days go by, you soak in every printed word alongside that ghastly chemical-ridden scent, and you’re in love. Or perhaps just intoxicated on chemically printed ink.
I’ve met with several of these books in my life, some unsurprisingly forced upon me during my English Literature major days, some kindly recommended by friends and family, and other unassuming titles scavenged from Reddit’s…
That Mum and Dad will be proud of.
A while ago I wrote about the woes of planning for this year’s (2021) Lunar New Year celebrations all by my lonesome, some hundreds of miles away from home, no thanks to the global pandemic that simply refuses to pass (much like your creepy uncle-twice-removed that just won’t leave you alone during the festivities, constantly spewing sexist, misogynistic, or simply harassing comments).
As the weeks and days closed upon the auspicious new lunar year, I found myself scrambling to get my affairs in order. I’m not one to make lavish meals or dishes in my daily life — I’m more…
We’ve all pooped our pants in public, right?
Iwill open with this, the single most embarrassing event of my life:
How bad can it really be — pooping your pants. It wasn’t just the action of losing control of your bowels at a non-potty training age, but having to go about the rest of the day with soiled underwear, the stench of your own embarrassment on sensory display to your peers.
I comforted myself with false thoughts of — everyone does it; I’m still a child, no one will notice, but they sure did. …
Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me, I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
Smash Mouth’s All-Star, the soundtrack of my youth.
I Kind Of Deserved It (Acknowledging, Taking Responsibility)
I was the nightmare of parents and teachers alike. I had neither interest nor single care in the world when it came to my academic responsibilities.
A little ironic, considering—to my Mother’s delight—how I am planning for yet another post-graduate degree.
Being late for attendance-taking, classes, or examinations barely fazed me. Any chance I had for a few minutes or hours of sleep, I took it.
I lived less than 5 minutes away from secondary school; close enough that the dreary morning announcements or school bells were encroaching clear enough on my…
And that’s a good thing.
Ask me 15 years ago what I thought of my 40 odd-year-old parents, and the response would have ranged from a giant EWW to boring, with a healthy commentary of “I don’t ever want to be like that”.
That entitlement as a fresh faced teenager would slowly wane over the years, transforming into quite the opposite — a kinship, a respect, even a longing to be a little more like my parents.
With the perils of adulthood, I find myself struggling to keep up with a lifestyle devoid of responsibilities. Filing my taxes on time is like jumping through hoop…
What is success, really?
The “OG” success
For many in my Mother’s generation, success is measured primarily in terms of financial and economic health and sustainability, an underlying motivation of her post-war, post-independence life experience.
Understandably so, considering the tales both Mother and Father have recounted over family dinners — Father had to quit school in his early teenage years, work at the family hawker shop from dawn to dusk, take on part time labourer jobs during the weekends in order to support his younger siblings.
Several particularly gritty tales that stuck with me through my formative years involved the death of an Uncle, who, due to…
A yearly affair, adored by billions around the world, days, even weeks spent in the company of family and friends.
With the 2019 pandemic (god has it already been over a year?), I haven’t been home for over a year now. This year, I, like many others (hopefully) will not partake in the largest annual human migration, in efforts to curb the potential spread of that ceaselessly resilient virus. That also means that this would be the first Lunar New Year I would have to begrudgingly spend alone, thousands of miles away from my home country, away from family and friends.
As the year of the Ox approaches, I find myself stubbornly and desperately holding on the ideals and traditions…
yesnodunno
Not Tristram Shandy.
