The gift (and curse) of being together amid COVID-19 Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or Google Podcasts. THIS IS PART OF A MINI-SERIES CALLED THE BLANKET FORT SESSIONS, A COLLECTION OF PERSONAL ESSAYS THAT EXPLORES HOW PEOPLE FIND HUMAN CONNECTION DURING THE PANDEMIC. To the socially impoverished in a time of global pandemics, moral panic and economic turmoil, human connection... Continue Reading →
Ep. 13: Great (parental) expectations | Some Scuffs
You bring dishonour to your family. Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or Google Podcasts. There are those who become doctors and engineers and architects, and volunteer for UNICEF while serving in their church choirs and still managing to spend Sundays with the family. Whose parents are positively glowing whenever they speak about their golden child. And then there's people like... Continue Reading →
Ep. 8: An anxious person’s survival guide to hook-up culture | Some Scuffs
Forget old-school dating. This generation is ready to hop straight from an app into bed. Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or Google Podcasts. So goes the common narrative, at least. First of all, is there anything wrong with casual sex and the new technology-mediated approach we use to attain it? And second, what does this change... Continue Reading →
Ep. 4: Why are some people so bad at texting? | Some Scuffs
"Answer my text, you b*tch!" cries PWR BTTM's Liv Bruce emphatically in a song about boys who don't reply texts for hours. Subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts or any other podcasting app. The lyrics are totally relatable. Many of us fuss and fret over text messages gone unanswered by people who say they're just bad at... Continue Reading →
How not to give a compliment
"Show me that gorgeous smile." Look, I know I'm not hideous. But as a woman who is neither particularly handsome nor well put-together, I don't get a lot of remarks on my physical appearance (save for the daily affirmation I get from my eternally supportive team at work, God bless them and their compulsions to... Continue Reading →
Happenstance
Every year, Nat receives countless well wishes on his birthday, March 23. That is, up until 2015, when his personal milestone was eclipsed by a national tragedy - the death of a founding father. "Why did Lee Kuan Yew have to die on my birthday?" The question is rhetorical, of course, and I don't know... Continue Reading →
Between us, let’s just be honest.
"Babe help I fucked up" reads a little box that pops up at the bottom right corner of my desktop screen. It's late morning and the office is quiet. I open the Telegram message. "I fucked up so bad." What happened babe??? "I cheated." Are you okay?? "I cheated. He found out." "I don't know what... Continue Reading →
Don’t say it.
What is it about the phrase "I love you" that it has so much power over everyone involved in its exchange? That it can mean so little, or so much, depending on who's saying it and in what context? That it holds the potential to be misappropriated? Or cheapened? That it can be wielded for purposes of... Continue Reading →
Asymmetry
I have an asymmetrical bob now. No, I did not adopt a kid named Robert whose left eye is smaller than his right. I just got a sassy haircut courtesy of the amazing Mrs Ong. Why this is news is because my visit to her salon happened on the second last weekend I get to... Continue Reading →
Senescence: We keep getting older and that sucks
senescence /sɪˈnɛs(ə)ns/ noun. the state of being old: the process of becoming old (Source: www.dictionary.com) My aunt took our grandma to get fitted for a hearing aid recently. It cost her about a thousand dollars, so naturally she was pretty pissed when Ahma refused to wear it at home. My dad and aunt chided her for taking it... Continue Reading →