Cheat Work Thursday

Part of growing is untangling hard conversations and navigating the messiness of change. And if you are lucky, it doesn't stop at 16. I know, it can sound exhausting. My favourite coping mechanism is avoidance. But don't listen to me. And good thing these kids are too well-adjusted for that. Let's recap season 3: “Is that what you wanted to talk about as well?” It’s the summer holiday, and the gang is having a beach day. Charlie has been practicing saying “I love you” to Nick in front of the mirror, but he’s anxious it might not be the right time yet. While in the water, he and Nick say they have something to tell the other. Nick starts and says he thinks Charlie has an eating disorder. Enter record scratch. Charlie denies it and pulls away 💔. At Nick’s house later that evening, when Nick’s in the shower, Charlie confesses through the door that he actually wanted to say he loved Nick earlier at the beach. He leaves before Nick gets to respond. Nick chases afte...

"I have a boyfriend!" We start the season by picking up where we left off in season 1, and life is good. Charlie tells his friends and family about him and Nick. His parents are cautious, and Tori is worried about Charlie getting bullied again. Charlie tells Tori that he’ll be ok, and he’ll protect Nick. At Tara and Darcy’s encouragement, Elle tries to flirt with Tao, but it seems to be slow-working. Year 11 GCSE study session starts, and Nick is seated next to Ben in the hall. Ben says if Nick wants to keep his relationship with Charlie quiet, Nick “should probably stop acting so gay” for Charlie. On another day, he says he doesn’t think Nick wants to ever come out, and as a boyfriend, Nick is just as bad as him. Now that they’re not spending much time together during class — as all tragic star-crossed lovers are — Charlie rejoins the rugby team. Charlie invites his friends, including Nick and Imogen, for a sleepover, during which Nick comes out to Imogen. Imo...

Ahh… Heartstopper is so cute. I haven’t been watching it earlier because I’m a busy adult. Definitely not because I’m too old for it. But the fact that the TV series is adapted from a webcomic just makes it even more charming. I love the fun drawings that pop up on the screen every time something important is happening: the butterflies, the flying leaves, the buzzing electricity. This story was created to make people happy. The series aired its third and latest season last October. Instead of a fourth season, it will conclude with a movie, which will start filming in June, I heard. I’m blogging the series by season — it’s my study notes — because, as usual, I'd have forgotten most of this by the time the movie rolls out. So, let’s recap what happens in season 1. The kids The schools are Truham (for boys) and Higgs (for girls). The original friend group consists of Charlie Spring, Tao Xu, Isaac Henderson (and his books) and Elle Argent. And there’s also Tori, Charlie’s...

Be Careful What You Wish For (2014) It is Sebastian who survives the car accident. He skips Cambridge and starts working as a personal assistant to Cedric Hardcastle, the chairman of Farthings Bank, and starts dating Samantha Sullivan. Harry’s novels climb the bestseller lists, and Emma becomes the Barrington Shipping's chairman. Meanwhile, Giles gets remarried to Gwyneth Hughes. His plan to be the Labour Party's leader, however, is sabotaged. Jessica gets engaged to Clive Bingham and is offered a postgraduate place at the Royal Academy Schools. But she's also struggling with her mental health. When Don Pedro destroys her art and uses Virginia to reveal her parentage, she commits suicide. The family gains new friends in the Binghams and Hardcastles, but old enemies and new -- Don Pedro, Alex Fisher and Virginia -- unite. Don Pedro plots to sabotage Barrington's new MV Buckingham, and the book ends with a bomb going off. Mightier than the Sword (2015) Ha...

As if Jeffrey Archer needed the introduction or promotion. But it is my responsibility to tell you that I read 14 of his books in the past two and a half years. Four. Teen. Archer’s books are like 20 seasons of reality TV. People always say how great a storyteller he is. The baffling thing is, the stories are almost of the same formula: there would be two friends, a number of nemeses, close voting, years of a chronicle, and language that feels like it’s from the 1920s, probably. But familiarity and routine are easy and comforting, I guess. So there I was, reading one book after another in the Harry Clifton and William Warwick series as if I'd never heard of this storyline before. I’m done with Archer for now. I need a new genre recommendation, please -- every couple of years, I’d have this problem. That said, I'm posting the summary for each of the books in the two series. I think blogging them makes me remember these stories. Is it important, though, that we remembe...

4 January, 2024.  By now I'd done five days of the antibiotics. The coughing seemed to reduce, but it was still strong especially at night and in the morning. I did the scan at the first private hospital I went to last week. And it was an emotional experience. My mother had her surgery, scans and early rounds of doctor appointments there. As if I'd gone one day since her passing not thinking about her, but being in the room, thinking how she had also been there for her scans, was rough. This was probably the same machine that she used. How scared was she? But she was strong. She was probably not as scared as I was. Also, I'm scared of needles. Every time needles are involved, I'd be emotional. The report was out within two hours. I read and googled it but didn't understand a thing. So I requested to see a doctor there. I couldn't wait 19 January for Public Hospital A for this. I'd go crazy by then. So, the doctor explained it to me. There was atelec...

So, this was me, four months after losing my mother to uterine cancer. At about the same time, we also lost two uncles (one of them not blood-related) to cancer. It was three funerals to the same disease in a span of five weeks. In 2020, we lost an aunt (not blood-related) to lung cancer. 29 December, 2023. Friday, 4PM. Still at the GP. The doctor couldn't tell what the white spot was and said they needed to send the x-ray to Public Hospital A for investigation, which would take three weeks. Three weeks. While my coughing was getting worse. I asked to bring it to the hospital myself, but she said, no. If this was something bad, what good would waiting for three weeks do for me?? But this was a Friday before the long New Year's weekend. I ran to two private hospitals' EDs, trying to find a specialist who could give me an answer, and there was none. But the staff at the second hospital suggested that I go to Public Hospital A's ED; there's always a specialis...

This time last year, at 1AM, I just came back from the ED (don't worry, it was a green zone) on one of the many doctor visits and health scares that I've had in the past 14 months. It started with a cold in early November, which came with a low-grade fever but seemed to take more days than usual to go away. Surprisingly, I had another one in early December. And the second one was a doozy. 6 December, 2023. I had severe diarrhea and vomiting late at night that I couldn't pinpoint the cause of, except that I had KFC for dinner that night. I don't think that was it. But it was bad. Probably one of the worst that I've ever experienced in my life. Luckily, it was only for a few hours. After a few trips to the bathroom, I was ok. The next morning, the coughing started, which was also bad. It was dry and strong, and it wouldn't stop. It got worse in the next five days. Eventually, it felt like I was coughing every five minutes. And I started to have a chest p...

Directed by the same director, Edward Berger, Conclave brought me to this movie. So, the beautiful, painting-like cinematography and the attention to details as a way of storytelling are no surprise. But this third movie adaptation of the book , in short, is just omg brutal 🫠. I could only watch it a few minutes at a time. The year is 1917. Seventeen-year-old Paul joins the German Army alongside his friends Ludwig, Albert and Franz to fight in WWI. Once they reach the front line, the merciless reality of the trench warfare snaps the naivete and enthusiasm out of them. It brings nothing but gory and heartbreaking deaths in a stupid formula: you cross to the other side's trenches and kill every single man in them. Then the other side will do the same to you. Eighteen months later, these kids are seasoned soldiers. They have lost friends and make new friends and sometimes get to leave the trenches for five minutes, where we'll be reminded of the humanity on both sides. Thes...

I love Vatican movies . And Conclave is my new favourite -- superb score, stunning cinematography, regal wardrobe, perfect lineup, chef's kiss acting, gasp-inducing twist. But is it possible for us to get a different plot in the future -- you know, other than this usual electing-a-new-pope thing -- like an elaborate affair or a legal thriller or a post-apocalyptic chaos or a romantic comedy inside the Vatican? I mean, will it be tricky with the approval ? Do these movies need to be approved ? So, Conclave starts with the death of the pope. Three weeks later, the College of Cardinals, led by the Dean, Thomas Lawrence, gathers to elect a new pope. The main contenders in the beginning are Bellini, a liberal; Tremblay, a moderate; and Tedesco and Adeyemi, two conservatives. I never knew that the candidates for the pope are identified by these political ideologies. It's like watching the US presidential election all over again. “If we liberals are not united, Tedesco w...