PACHINKO

Day 36: What memory makes you smile? 

I have two surefire memories for this. One is when I went home to Singapore in December 2022, and we surprised my grandma, because she thought I was coming home a week later. The other is when my sisters came to visit me in Canada in December 2021, and I pretended to eat a dirty churro stick that we’d dropped and picked up from the ground (because it was expensive). Both are in my “family” highlight on Instagram. :)

Day 37: What is your favorite restaurant?

In Singapore, Scaled, and Jaan. In Canada, I haven’t been able to afford eating at many restaurants to have a favorite, not yet. I’ve probably been to five restaurants here, and I wouldn’t go back to any of them (!!!).

Day 38: What person in your life is your polar opposite?

I don’t know, I don’t know that there could be such a person who’s a polar opposite of me, but my mom and I are very different in some ways, and my biological dad and I are also very different in some ways. I’m just quite different from my parents in many ways, but I know there are similar traits as well.

Day 39: What is one thing you believe to be true about love?

The right person will never make you feel like you’re too much for them.

Day 40: If you could rename yourself, what name would you choose?

I quite like Sarah Mei, so I wouldn’t choose to rename myself, but if I had to, maybe Naomi? It’s a pretty name.

Day 41: If you could live during any time period, which would you choose?

The 1920s.

Day 42: Who is the strongest person you know? 

Emotionally, Sara Kishawi. Physically, any one of the people whom I used to work with at lululemon in Singapore. Jaysen? Gino? All of them are strong and have their different strengths.

Day 43: What food are you craving right now?

Nyai’s sambal goreng.

Day 44: If you won a million dollars, what would you buy first?

A plane ticket back to Singapore to visit my family again.

Day 45: Who is your Valentine?

It was Kiyara, and we had a really good (friend) date, with really good food, and I’m so glad I’m getting closer with her.

Day 46: With whom did you have a meaningful conversation today?

No one, not today.

Day 47: What are you shy about?

Nothing, really, I’m not a very shy person.

Day 48: Which holiday do you most look forward to?

Is Halloween a holiday? I LOVE Halloween. I like dressing up and I think I’m good at it.

Day 49: Who could have been nicer to you today?

My friends came over and we had a nice, chill time, sharing gossip and watching Booksmart, so I had a pretty nice day. No one comes to mind.

HOMO DEUS

It’s been two extremely long weeks. However, it’s the Friday before my reading week, so I’m finally able to breathe for a few days or so. Last week, one of the boards I sit on released a statement about the Gazan genocide that I didn’t agree with nor vote for. It didn’t call it a genocide nor call for a ceasefire. One of my favorite people on campus (the other man apart from my therapist Art), my Liberal Studies professor, Warren, read the statement and called it astonishingly vacuous, so I know I have the right opinion. However, I’ve been spending time with Sara, Katy, and Kiyara, all of whom are WOC who are not from Canada, so I’ve been feeling much more at ease and free to be myself, when I’m talking to them. Last Sunday, Taylor Swift flew from her Eras Tour show in Tokyo to the Super Bowl where her boyfriend Travis Kelce was playing. That was all anyone asked me about, whether I saw “my” Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, while Rafah was being bombed by Israel. Taylor also gives no fucks about her climate emissions at all, so I’m kinda sick of her. I got myself a new poster to replace the one of her in my bedroom. However, will I still devotedly listen to her upcoming new album The Tortured Poets Department? Only time will tell. (I probably will.) I’m so sick of her. I wish I could say what I really feel about people like Warren, and Art. I love them both so very much. They are two white men whom I absolutely adore and wish I could be friends with forever. Perhaps I can, but it is unlikely. I also tend to hold onto any form of dynamic or relationship longer than I should, and you know what they say, you will always repeat a lesson until you learn it.

TABULA RASA

Day 22: What is your favorite joke to tell?

I’m all for a two-state solution, but then how would we differentiate between the two Palestines?

Day 23: What is one thing in nature that moves you?

Bodies of water/walking barefooted on the ground or soil.

Day 24: What foods make you happiest?

Hotpot, ssambap, sushi.

Day 25: Which room in your home is your favorite?

My bedroom.

Day 26: What treasured object would you rescue from a fire?

I feel like I don’t treasure any material object enough to need to rescue it from a fire, but if I had to, then my iPad. 

Day 27: What country would you like to visit some day?

The answer to this question could never be exhaustive, but for the sake of answering, I’ll just say Greece.

Day 28: Who are the people in your life who really understand you?

Maggie, my sister Lyssa, Alessia.

Day 29: What could you never give up?

Speaking up for what I believe in.

Day 30: What song could you listen to over and over again?

All Too Well (10-minute version).

Day 31: Who are you worried about? 

My friend Jasmine, and also myself.

Day 32: What is one mistake you don’t regret making?

Not getting a degree earlier in my life.

Day 33: What is the most you would pay for a haircut?

If it’s just a haircut with no wash or other services, $30?

Day 34: What is the best part of your day?

Talking to Sara Kishawi about activism for Gaza.

Day 35: What relationship in your life do you wish you could improve?

The one I have with myself — I want to trust myself and my instincts more.