roadkill and other observations

The Semantics of Clickbait

Producers of clickbait deserve credit for one thing; a keen awareness of misleading vocabulary. They don’t care that beneath the sensationalised and misleading headlines that they spew across social media and online news sites is vapid drivel that instantly bores the audience. No. All they care about is the volume of clicks. Clicks are kings. Nothing else matters.

A Topo Ultraventure

BOOMZ! In the same instant I realised I had tripped, I had to accept that this was going to be a very hard landing. Running downhill on a rocky section of the MacRitchie Reservoir trail, it came down to just hoping that the body parts absorbing the brunt of the impact would not suffer catastrophic damage.

2020: saved by books

Every time I turn to a page with the heading, “Chapter 11” I sort of snigger, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Things I learned today

Impermanence applies to everything. I am very stupid, at times, except for when I am very wise, before becoming stupid again.

Newsletter Number Whatever

BIG things have happened since the last newsletter.

Don’t worry, it already happened.

Or it didn’t, as the case may be.

Self, minimalized

For something that is not meant to exist, reducing self to a minimalized size might be the most an aspiring Buddhist can hope for.

The beautiful tears

At first I mistook the song as Angie, but it was Wild Horses.

The song almost made me cry. One song that always brings tears is Step Out by Jose Gonzalez. It’s not the lyrics or the music, but rather the entirety of the piece combined with the passion of Walter Mitty, pursuing his goal, and achieving it.

The Covidiot

As I walked down the road a stranger approached me, extended his hand, and asked, “Hey, how are you?”

My previously relaxed right hand quickly curled up into a clenched fist as my arm moved behind my back, resting against my lower spine.

Without missing a beat, my walk continued.

This is 21 July 2020. Globally 14,703,293 people have tested positive for Covid-19. 609,887 have died. Here in Singapore, as soon as you step into the public space you must don a mask. Hand sanitiser dispensers are everywhere.

And he thinks I am going to shake his hand?

Sometimes, it is difficult to remain optimistic regarding the destiny of the human species.

Photo credit

My carcass

The phone rang. The NYPD wanted to talk to me. My father’s cadaver had to be identified. I was living 3,827 miles away in Denmark. After the call, I downed some whiskey and phoned my father’s number to hear his answering machine greeting, to quell the fear that I might forget the sound of his voice (29 years later I still haven’t. We still have occasional nocturnal chats in my dreams). Meanwhile, in New York, his partner took care of the cadaver ID formalities.