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Hope Still Springs Eternal

I know myself enough by now to recognise when I’m starting to spiral, when I’ve given so much of myself to sorting out everyone else’s problems that I’m practically an empty tank, still going for miles and miles but running mostly on fumes and a stubborn determination to not let the world get the best of me. But sometimes it does. And there’s no shame in it. There’s no shame in admitting that…

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Unpopular Opinion: Spare is Worth A Read

I’ve held off doing this review for as long as I could, in the hopes that when I finally post it, the dust would have settled enough for the general public to look at Spare in a fair and objective manner. I can only imagine how hard it must be to live your life under such intense public scrutiny. I remember how humiliated I felt once when one of my classmates read out some poems I’d written…

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An Ode to Uncomplicated Friendships - Book Review: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

An Ode to Uncomplicated Friendships – Book Review: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

By the time I reached the peak of my adolescence, I had already consumed enough teen series and rom coms to know that my life only needed two things to be absolutely perfect: a guy best friend, and for me to fall in love with said guy best friend.  And for him to fall in love with me right back, obviously.  These were the angst-filled days of Dawson’s Creek Season 1 and 2, when Monday nights…

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The Approximation of Meaning: Book Review - Babel by R.F. Kuang

The Approximation of Meaning: Book Review – Babel by R.F. Kuang

I’ve been sitting at my desk for half an hour, staring at a blank Word page, surrounded by bits of scratch paper that contain hastily scribbled, half-formed thoughts; wracking my brain, typing and deleting in quick succession, attempting to figure out how on earth I was going to write this review. I want to write it in a way that will do it justice, because I think this is one of the most…

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Learning Mandarin: A Journey of Language and Learning and Finding Myself

Learning Mandarin: A Journey of Language and Learning and Finding Myself

Part 1: Self-Image: 我是张丽安. My name is Angela. I learned how to read and write my name in Chinese 张丽安 (zhāng lì ān) even before I learned how to write it in English. The very first sentence I ever learned in any language is 我是中国人.  This literally translates to I (我 wǒ) + am (是 shì) + China (中国 zhōng guó) + person (人 rén). I find it somewhat ironic that pretty much as soon as I learned to speak…

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Book Review: Into the Danmei Rabbit Hole

I was passing by Waterstones the other day and was reminded by the window display that June was actually Pride month, and as a proud ally I always post a book review to commemorate the fact that love is always love, no matter what form or shape it takes. This year I thought I’d do a review on a couple of book series that my friend Nina recommended, which are classified under danmei, the Chinese…

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Book Review: Unwell Women and The Slow Decline Back To The Middle Ages

I wasn’t intending for this to be the topic of my first foray back into blogging (after about two months of the worst case of writer’s block I have ever experienced), but sometimes life happens and you just have to roll with the punches. Writing has always been my preferred way of making sense of what’s happening in this increasingly confusing and bewildering world we live in, and a way to…

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Book Review: Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus

Book Review: Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus

Its often hard to objectively review the quality of a book when its subject matter resonates with you so much. Fortunately for me, I don’t have to do that with Lessons in Chemistry because its one of those rare unicorns that appear every once in a while: a book with a story worth telling that also happens to be incredibly well-written. There are so many things I want to say about this book, so…

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The Spinning Monkey

“Intelligence subsumed by the need to please…” The curtains drawthe lights come on,he takes centre stage. With bated breath,spectators watch,prepared to be amazed. For a second,he tilts, he teetershe looks uncertain. But there’s wheels to spina show to dono matter what the burden. Lightly furred,his tiny legspush pedal to the metal. The audience claps,He hears them gasp,reactions…

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The Book

The book had been sitting on the shelf for a long long time. Its dust jackets were faded and worn, and when he held it in his hand and opened it for the first time, its cracked spine seemed to sigh, as if it had been waiting for just this moment to exhale. The man felt the book’s loneliness and saw the places where it had shed tears. He saw the careless rips and minute breaks that had been…

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Book Review: Under The Whispering Door (And Waking Up Somewhere Strange)

I’ve read enough books to know that literary tastes change over time and sometimes a book you hate can become a book you love depending on your current life circumstances. I bought Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune first of all because I was attracted to the spray-painted edges and the beautiful jacket of the Waterstones hardcover edition. I was also on somewhat of an LGBTQ reading streak…

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The Waiting Game

Time is relative. When you’re running late for a work and every traffic light you come across is stuck on a red light, five minutes can seem like an eternity. However, when you’re favourite band starts playing its signature song during the last five minutes of a wonderful concert, 5 minutes feel like no time at all. 12 hours of the daily grind doing a job you hate can feel…

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It Was Rare, and I Remember It All Too Well

#alltoowell10minuteversion

Time check, its 4am on day 3 of my mandatory hotel quarantine and I’m slowly starting to go insane. I’m surprised my sister and I haven’t killed each other yet after being forced to tolerate each other’s company in such close quarters. I love my sister, and I’m sure she loves me too, but siblings were not meant to live in each other’s pockets all the damn time, especially if one of those siblings…

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Why One Should Never Write A Blog at 2AM

Why One Should Never Write A Blog at 2AM

I’m not sure how I got from walking down the busy streets of Oxford Circus watching as they start putting the Christmas lights up in anticipation of the holiday season, to waking up at 2am at some hotel in the Philippines, jet lagged and anxious as shit. I’m the kind of person who likes to plan things, often to the point of lunacy. I’ve been told time and time again that I need to lighten up and…

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Book Review: Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

Book Review: Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen

The Boss needs no introduction. Even those of us who were mere blimps in our parents’ minds (I doubt I was even a concept in mine) when he released his biggest hits would have heard his songs, or some iteration of it, at least once: Blinded By the Light, Glory Days, Born in the USA, perhaps even a teeny tiny song called Dancing in The Dark whose music video featured a then-unknown young actress…

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More Life Lessons From Hiking

More Life Lessons From Hiking

I always get a little pensive and philosophical after a long, vigorous hike. Oh, who am I kidding. I get pensive and philosophical after doing something as mundane and trivial as taking a shower. I am, always have been, and always will be the perennial navel-gazer. You guys are just going to have to learn to live with it. But I did find myself on a spontaneous hike along the Peak District…

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Sit Still, Look Pretty (or as I'm calling it in my head...Reflections From The Dental Chair)

Sit Still, Look Pretty (or as I’m calling it in my head…Reflections From The Dental Chair)

I find it incredibly funny, but also in keeping with everything that I know of myself, that it took a root canal procedure to finally keep me still; long enough that I was able to find words that can be strung together into my first blog in months. I mean, it would be a stretch to call this blog post coherent, but it’s something at least. Weirdly, sitting there with my mouth propped open and a…