I know everybody is saying Good riddance! to 2020 but for all the chaos, I like to think last year contained more than mere silver linings. I like to think it helped us become better people, somehow. And so even as I look back, I’m celebrating and sharing five new “coronarhythms” that 2020 gave me. Coronarhythm 1: Mornings with ABC Classic FM The 7am news … Continue reading Coronarhythms
When we meet someone for the first time, how often does it occur to us that they may become a significant part of our lives? What would change if we approached first meetings this way? Continue reading Meeting your future friend
I’m not really sure why World Taco Day is a thing. It’s probably just a marketing device to boost sales at restaurants, Mexican or otherwise. The same goes for Taco Tuesdays – why not #TequilaTuesdays? #TeaTuesdays? #TiramisuTuesdays? I don’t understand it, but I’m okay with it. In fact, Taco Tuesdays have become a beloved part of my week. Method: Head to local pub after work. … Continue reading How tacos can change your life
The other day my dad kindly informed me that if I ever stood for politics I’d need to renounce my Malaysian citizenship. This, of course, occurred in the context of the dual citizenship debacle that has kept Australia entertained for the last few months. Now I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that my father thinks a political career is a real possibility … Continue reading Going for glocal
You cried the day I left. Well, I like to think grey skies and rain spattered across the windshield means I meant something to you. Part of me wants to say you were a detour. But that would be unfair on you and, frankly, inaccurate. My life the novel, and you’re a chapter – no less vital to the story than the ones that preceded you, or the ones that will be … Continue reading Seeya, Sydney
4,000m above sea level and 400,000m from the closest shore of the Pacific Ocean, playing beach volleyball every Sunday afternoon in the park somehow became one of the defining elements of my life in La Paz.
Now, at sea level and right on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, playing beach volleyball every Monday evening in Manly is becoming an anchor, a touchpoint, to each week here in Sydney.
It’s funny, the unlikely things that make me feel at home. Continue reading What feels like home
Three thoughts chewed over with friends in the last month or so: Religion is a relationship: it’s not really about exactly what you do, but the relationship that those acts and activities somehow sustain and develop. Am I great company but a terrible friend? And what would make me a better friend? Why do we still have reservations about online dating? Given how technology has changed every other way … Continue reading Questions about relationships
January 2011 was the month I spent as an intern in Dili. It was an amazing experience: I got to write a super interesting report for an NGO (the Judicial System Monitoring Programme). I got some fascinating insight into the life of an expat community, specifically the expat development community. I met a bunch of cool people. I got to practice my Indonesian and Tetum. I … Continue reading Turning points in Timor-Leste
I count the days till I go home and they are too many and yet too few. I think of what happened to her and all my sorrow and outrage leak out again. I speak at length with a friend and have the sensation of being simultaneously trusted and betrayed. I speak briefly with another friend and feel the last month of intimacy chill within a week into a relational … Continue reading Stuff that doesn’t make sense
Well, the world is changing and so too the nature of friendship with it. Often we say social media has transformed the way humans interact with each other – everything is simultaneously more immediate and more fleeting. This is true not only in business and in politics, but also in the very nature of what we call friendship. Thanks to Facebook I can call someone a “friend” … Continue reading Disposability: Friends ForEVER or For NOW?
⎯suansita⎯ 