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Category Archives: Midlife Musings
What I Admired Most About My Father (My Darling Papa)
I decided to pose the same question to myself and found myself floored. The word admiration seemed so distant and didn’t quite cover it. A primary school composition answer would be “He was the most handsome and intelligent person to … Continue reading
Posted in family, Grief, Midlife Musings, Singapore Living, Trauma
Tagged family, father, gratitude, grief, love, papa
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What do you Admire Most about your Father? Question posed to my Uncle, Aunt & Mum
I’ve been exploring prompting questions to ask my relatives, and I thought this was a good one. It really doesn’t matter if the answer goes a bit off tangent as the key goal is to prompt memories about a loved … Continue reading
Posted in Culture & Society, family, History, Midlife Musings, Singapore Living
Tagged Aunt, father, grandfather, grandparents, history, Life, uncle
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When Was Your First Plane Ride?
I posed this question to my family members. For me it was at age 10 (my sister was 9) on board a very rickety Garuda Airline to Medan, Indonesia and we saw the beautiful Lake Toba. For my mum it … Continue reading
Posted in family, Midlife Musings, Travel
Tagged air travel, airline, family, first time, plane
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One on One is Best for Me
Since the pandemic I realise more and more that I’m more comfortable having one on one conversations. No small talk for me. Life is too short for that. It’s why I find making new friends hard. I also don’t have … Continue reading
Posted in family, Joy, Midlife Musings
Tagged family, introvert, Life, Living, pandemic, personal
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Is Having Instant Information Helping Us More than Hurting Us?
Well for one thing, my concentration is not as good as it used to be with all these new distractions. But these distractions are oh so enticing. It’s no surprise that Tik Tok has grown exponentially to become the most … Continue reading
Posted in Culture & Society, Midlife Musings, Tech
Tagged devices, Information Age, internet age, Tik Tok, tweens
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What Do Kids Like? Through the Generations
When I was a kid the most fun I had was with my cousins, aunties and uncles. Wish I could relive just that part of my childhood. It was so sweet and joyous. We played cards like seven diamonds, ‘crocodile … Continue reading
Posted in Joy, Midlife Musings, Singapore Living
Tagged children, games, kids, Life, Living, Singapore, teens, toys, tweens
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Worse Case Scenario
Many passages in Salman Rushdie’s Autobiography ‘Joseph Anton’ stood out for me, but this passage in particular. He would not live his life by the worse-case scenario. That would turn him into their prisoner. He was nobody’s prisoner. Salman Rushdie … Continue reading
Posted in Anxiety, Books, Midlife Musings
Tagged anxiety, faith, Joseph Anton, Salman Rushdie, spirituality, worry, worse case scenario
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Blessed
I’m blessed with the best little angels and always want to take the time to record my deep gratitude. If one day they ever read this, I want them to know how much they mean to me. Actually at every … Continue reading
Posted in Joy, Midlife Musings
Tagged children, LOL dolls, love, Minecraft, nephews, nieces, preteens, pretend play, tweens
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Writing & Discomfort
Often after publishing something I feel strongly about, I feel really insecure and uncomfortable. I worry that it’ll be taken the wrong way. I also hate being judged. But that’s part of honest writing. You have to take the brick … Continue reading
Posted in Anxiety, Blogging & Writing, Culture & Society, Midlife Musings, Singapore Living
Tagged blogging, censorship, freedom of speech, truth, writing
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Salman Rushdie’s Writing Routine & Mastery of the English Language
I’ve always been fascinated by the routines of people I admire. Especially what makes a writer tick. And since I’ve always been fascinated by the author Salman Rushdie I googled to find these gems. The great thing about the writing … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging & Writing, Books, Midlife Musings, Singapore Living
Tagged English, language, routine, Salman Rushdie, writers, writing
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If I Had A Year Left To Live
Whatever time I had I would want to spend with the ones I love. And beyond that I would regret not writing down my life story and what I’ve learnt. All the things I’ve kept hidden which is actually not … Continue reading
Posted in aging, Blogging & Writing, Cancer, Midlife Musings, Trauma
Tagged Food, Life, Living, love, trauma, travel, writing
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Travel: Longing for Things I Don’t Get in Singapore
Singapore is much safer and has generally much cleaner air than the cities surrounding us and for that I am grateful. It also has my home sweet home, my stuff and my own bed etc. Travel itself is such a … Continue reading
Posted in Midlife Musings, Singapore Living, Travel
Tagged Life, Living, nature, safety, Singapore, travel, weather
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Sentimental Value – 21st Birthday Gift from My Father
As I regularly try to declutter for my peace of mind I come across a lot of things I don’t use but can’t part with. If I go by Marie Kondo’s rule of keeping things that spark joy, I have … Continue reading
Fascinated by Salman Rushdie revealing the best period of his life
If I could go back and relive any time in my life, I’d start in 1979. I was just finishing Midnight’s Children and my first son was about to be born. In fact, I remember telling his mother to just … Continue reading
What I Wrote Yesterday Feels False
False in the sense that I’m forcing myself to sound more well and upbeat than I am. Inside I’m drowning. I never wrote about the times I have such intense fear that I feel paralysed into inertia. Whether it’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Anxiety, Blogging & Writing, Cancer, Grief, Midlife Musings, psoriasis, Singapore Living
Tagged depression, grief, loss, ptsd, stigma, triggers
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Trying to be My Own Therapist & Psyche Myself Up
I want to be more in control of my life and not let my anxieties highjack my peace. I want to stop having insomnia and when I finally fall asleep, nightmares. My own perceptions of advancing age and illness are … Continue reading
Posted in aging, Anxiety, Blogging & Writing, Cancer, Midlife Musings, Trauma, When Work Sucks
Tagged aging, confidence, Life, overcoming, personal
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Feeling Lost today till a Stranger (not quite actually) & Kind Soul reached out
19 years ago I lost my beloved Papa and this whole week (the dates) are a reminder of my nightmares and trauma. I did things today, I would normally enjoy, but I couldn’t quite taste my food or have any … Continue reading
My Hysterectomy gave me a release I never expected
Till age 45 I still felt a vacuum inside and a longing for a child. It’s something I could tell no one. Most of my friends had kids and I felt alienated from them. Even at this late age it … Continue reading
Posted in aging, Anxiety, Cancer, Culture & Society, Midlife Musings
Tagged Aunt, childless, childless not by choice, grief, isolation, Life, personal, stigma
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What it was like growing up in the 70’s and 80’s – corded, rotary and pay phones
To have privacy for my phone calls as a teenager, I had to pull the cord of the only home phone and I couldn’t even shut the door of my room as the cord was thick. You were restricted by … Continue reading
Posted in Culture & Society, History, Midlife Musings, Singapore Living
Tagged childhood, Life, Nostalgia, personal, rotary phones, telephones
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My Origin Story from the 70’s- thanks to my mum’s meticulous diaries
My mum shared an old diary of hers with me. “All my secrets” she said. She recorded all her purchases and gifts she received since the 1970’s. The first thing that struck me? Wow, the inflation. Cars were a fraction … Continue reading
Posted in Midlife Musings, Singapore Living
Tagged 1970's, inflation, Life, mum, Nostalgia, personal
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My Partner’s Thoughts on Aging
Decided to ask B as well, after sharing my mum’s refreshing optimistic viewpoint in the last post. He’s usually a logical pessimist, while I’m a more emotional anxious person and we don’t always agree, so I was surprised to find … Continue reading
Posted in aging, Anxiety, Midlife Musings
Tagged aging, diabetes, health, Natural, plastic surgery, thoughts, vanity
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