This is a weird week. After a long time (I think after months), I’d felt constrained for words. Every piece I wrote felt trite and the words seemed forced.
Irony is my life-runner’s favorite pastime. Less than a couple of weeks back, I had boasted on Twitter:
It wasn’t an empty boast.
Here’s proof:
When I opened all those drafts this week, nothing spoke to me. It’s like someone transplanted my brain this week and none of what I wrote over the last two weeks seemed interesting enough for me now.
💀 The post that was killed
Talking of transplanting brains, I think it all started when N outright rejected a draft I had scheduled for this week. Her exact words were “What the fuck even is this?”, “Too weird…even for you” and “Don’t ever publish this”
The post was called CouldBeWorse Lifestyle: A Brief Guide To Brain Surgery
Here’s a brief snippet
You’ll never get to read this because Reader No. 1 rejected it. Disagree? Let me know.
😇 Looked for validation in the wrong places
When you seek validation from Grammarly’s weekly stats email, you are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Also, now you know how much I suck at spelling.
🎉 Then, I declared a holiday for myself
Promptly, I declared a holiday for myself this week.
The spirits of this week were full of malaise and I wasn’t going to toy with them.
My self-declaring a holiday for myself did not go over well with people with real jobs as I got pinged on Twitter from three different friends telling me politely to “go f*** myself”, “I too need one 😢” and “Aren’t you already on holiday?”
What the hell is this post then? Couldn’t you leave us alone for just one week?
I hear you. But I am not sorry.
I’ve built up an addiction to writing every day even if I am on a holiday. Instead of trying to write an article to publish, I started writing about how this week was going and then it all seemed fun again. So, here this is - whatever this is.
So what now?
Not much of a segue here but in the spirit of this week, I am going to comment on my Twitter posts over the last two weeks.
So here we go.
#1: Cafe thoughts
I have been ruminating about opening Cafes for a while. I really shouldn’t let myself name it though.
It’s an idea that increasingly taken root as something that’s high-commitment and yet does not fall under the intense hamster wheel of scale and digital businesses.
#2 Slices of life
I saw someone reading Stephen King in the Starbucks that I frequent and it made me irrationally happy. N and I still occasionally plot about turning up at the gate of his house in Maine and trying to force our way in to meet him.
N and I visited Dasa Book Store (a second-hand book store in Bangkok) and as usual, while she was busy scouting for books she wanted, I was busy fooling around. I would make a great Warlock I think.
Bangkok had been in a haze most of February. However, in the third week of February, there were a few glorious days of blue skies, fantastic weather, and nice vibes. Naturally, I spent most of those days walking the Sois of Bangkok.
#3 Taiwan Trip
N and I are traveling to Taiwan for 9 days this April. Given I am the one on a ‘sabbatical’ the brunt of all the planning has fallen on me. After much muddling through where to go, the itinerary is set in stone. But there’s so much to see that I bet a second trip is on the cards sometime in the future.
#4 Moody Tracks
I’ve been on a kick of Moody OST recently. For those interested, I have started putting together a public YouTube playlist of moody soundtracks that can immerse you into a state of complete and utter melancholy.
I discovered the soundtrack for Past Lives (yet to watch the movie) and it made me feel all kinds of aches.
I have also been discovering other playlists including this one that helps you pretend your life is a Wong Kar-Wai movie.
I think I am melancholy-ied out for now.
I have some go-to albums for writing. The top one for me has always been The Social Network soundtrack. Never has the world going down the toilet of social media algorithms sounded so fantastic.
#5 Demon Slayer
The Market is a little mall right next to my Condo. They’ve been setting up an exhibition of Demon Slayer with two massive inflatable characters that get deflated every night and then reinflated again the next morning. Seems symbolic somehow.
Also, I had no idea what a Demon Slayer was as I am not a Manga fan.
This is what Google had to say.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. The series is set in Taishō era Japan, where a secret organization, the Demon Slayer Corps, has been fighting demons for one thousand years.
Also, the title says “Total Concentration Exhibition”. Is it one of those funny mistranslations? Or are we supposed to be completely focused when we enter this exhibition? Turns out it’s part of the lore too.
Total Concentration Breathing is a fictional breathing technique in the anime and manga series Demon Slayer: Kime. It's a key fighting technique that involves inhaling large amounts of oxygen in a specific pattern to increase physical and mental abilities.
#6 Strange animal sex anecdotes
I was reading The Book of Humans and found strange facts about sex (the verb and the noun) and it gave new meaning to the movie Finding Nemo.
As for the review of the book itself. It’s kinda meh. Starts off interesting enough and then once animal sex anecdotes stop it’s not so fun.
#7 Things I’ve Seen...and read
A quick review of some things on TV. The chemistry of Maya Erskine and Donald Glover in Mr. and Mrs. Smith caught me unawares in a nice way.
Watching Jeremy Clarkson become more and more of an old Grandpa struggling to get into cars is mildly depressing. But Sand Job had some amazing shots. Also, didn’t know there was a country called Mauritania until now.
Expats is a slow burn. Emphasis on the slow. But I did love how Hong Kong was shot in it. Next trip?
Also, some books. Currently reading Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains, which is fantastic!
#9 Seminyak kinda sucks
My views on Bali, especially South Bali. tl;dr: It’s overrated.
#10 Strange encounter
Got stopped by a man and had a hilarious moment. My conclusion: I do not get enough of these random encounters in life.
I burst out laughing to his face when I put two and two together. He quickly drove away very confused about my sanity.
There are only about another ten thousand tweets left to parse but I will stop for now.
If you want a live drip of my unfiltered thoughts live follow me on Twitter (@tyags6) or Instagram (@tyagarajan).
Could be Worse,
Tyag