Cheat Work Thursday

For someone who prefers to see absolutely no one unless I want to, I think living on an island of 3,000 people is not sustainable – let alone one with no mobile coverage, reliable electricity or my must-have shops. Possibly, it’s more about mobile coverage and stuff than people. Even worse for those who were born on the island, the lore says they can’t leave. What if they want to go to uni or learn something new that the small, isolated town cannot provide, or work in a despicable AI company in another part of the country – all of which I'm either not keen on or hate, btw. So, thinking about it, this place is actually almost perfect for me. Widow’s Bay is a fictional New England island town with over 300 years of history, which is mostly the horror kind. The current mayor, Tom Loftis (Matthew Ryhs), is determined to bring tourists to the island to boost its struggling economy, even when it feels like at least 78% of the universe is working against him. The backstory is, t...

Nobody’s Girl will enrage you. If it hasn’t occurred to you yet that there are evil, rich, powerful people out there who are right now being idolized behind their masks, I don’t know what fantasy world you are living in. The book was written by a ghostwriter, Amy Wallace, and published six months after Giuffre’s death. It tells her life story from growing up in Florida to the aftermath of suing some of these rich, powerful men who abused her, including her work advocating for abuse victims. She suffered abuse by multiple people since she was seven before Epstein, and it’s a heartbreaking read. But I’m not going to dissect each one of them. Her abuse with Epstein started at 16 when she was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell, who bumped into her while she was working at Mar-a-Lago. It may be easy to say that even at 16 you should have the judgment to know if it’s a good idea to go to a private house, alone, to give someone a massage. Or to realize that you are being sexually abuse...

I wish the stock market had no impact on my life or my job. And the f-up thing is I’m actually too poor to concern myself with the stock market. Besides my sad retirement funds, I don’t own any actual stocks. It takes me one full day to decide if I can afford a $2 SHEIN necklace! But whatever’s happening there is affecting my job and subsequently my mental health. For example, this year, it involves a body of water. There won't be enough pages to talk about the atrocities the zionists and their friends are committing in the Middle East, but I want to zero in on one area Iran is defending itself right now: the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which disrupts 20% of the global oil supply. Despite one brilliant idea on Twitter to dig another strait across the UAE desert to transport oil — and I'm sure someone is already on it — I can’t go through another round of this. I know, what is a job that has long lost its appeal compared to living under the occupation for decad...

"How does it feel reading a book that you cannot stand?" I asked myself as I continued reading two books that I could not stand. Yesteryear People who are so itchy for the tradwife lifestyle can read this. I shouldn’t have. But the internet made me read it, and the verdict is no. The story is about Natalie, an online tradwife influencer, a modern-day conservative woman who also marries rich, cosplaying the farm life. One day she wakes up in 1855, without electricity or an army of staff, and is forced to live an actual tradwife life that is not hers. I thought it was going to be a comedy, and it was going to be hilarious (remember chick lit, from 20 years ago?). Nothing was hilarious about it. I get that this is still a satire. The story wants to mock the cosplaying. But it turns dark. And the twist at the end turns even darker. Darker and illogical. I’m so serious about the illogical part. But even before that, finishing the book was a dread. I didn’t have t...

Photo by Ben Kolde on Unsplash I have several emails. A few for official stuff and work, and a few for blogging, social media, shopping and whatever random online garbage and subscriptions. I don’t put my phone number on most of them. My policy with privacy is, I’d share my details – name, email, phone number, photo and address – only when it is absolutely necessary. I'm not even on WhatsApp or Facebook. And as if I were some kind of a secret agent, I don’t keep my browsing history either. Uploading government IDs? It better be because of a life-or-death situation. Then in January, in the middle of registering for an H&M account because my broke ass needed the 10% discount, right in the store, my Yahoo email account asked me to get a code from its recovery email, which was a Gmail. They did this all the time, and it was never a problem. I’d enter the password on Gmail, and I’d be in. But that day, the Gmail account asked for a recovery code from that Yahoo! Fuck. That, m...

Photo by Alexandr Popadin on Unsplash By June 2024, I’d been having problems with quality sleep for years. By that time, I’d long forgotten what having an eight-hour, good, uninterrupted sleep felt like. Then I was prescribed with a two-week of Tramadol for a pain that month. Those green and yellow capsules became my best friends. I took three capsules a day on the first couple of days, until I felt nauseous on the second day. It was bad. I almost threw up in a supermarket (I ended up throwing up at home). I learned that two capsules a day were just right for me. But several good things happened. One – The Tramadol helped me with the pain so much. Two – Although there was still a little pain, I suddenly felt active and motivated to do things that sick people would usually put off doing until they get better: house chores, cooking and more. I’d usually need an hour for it to kick in. Then by hour number three, the house would be clean, the laundry all done, and the ceiling ...

I’ve been a fan of the books for a long time, but I didn't know they were making the show, not until a day before it aired. So that was the best surprise. And boy, was it so good. Thank universe for Jacob Tierney for his craft and vision and care for the series. Rachel Reid, and the entire cast and crew are inspiring. Post-season 1, I saw on Twitter, apparently Rachel had said that Shane is autistic. It’s fine if Shane is autistic, and representation matters, but  I wish we didn't have this need to diagnose everything. I think it’s also ok to be messy, awkward, chaotic, nervous, quirky, super-organized or focused (or total opposite), and stubborn as a reaction or personality trait. Since when does everyone have to be smooth and have things all figured out all the time if they are not neurodivergent? Why would we want the same, predictable, non-complex, non-nuanced, cookie-cutter characters across all the stories we consume? How is that interesting? Not everything has t...

I could cry reading this article, What a Fear of Maths Does to Children . Growing up, I had to be good in Maths. I had to be good in all subjects actually, but Maths was always at the forefront. It was a life requirement. It was for the scholarship in the future. It was for the “good jobs” in medicine, accounting, engineering and law (yes, even law). There were no scholarships for writing, arts or languages. We wouldn’t be able to afford tertiary education without scholarships. So, that was the path – excel in school, get the scholarship (or not even a scholarship, mine was a convertible loan) and get the good job to change your life. Even if your heart is not in it. Just get the job, you can do art as a hobby. Even if I was better in languages, history, arts or subjects that required a lot of reading, I felt like I could never be proud of it. And most of my friends were good in Maths! There was no room to think that you could get away without Maths. So, because I knew I could ne...