RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

 Keeping this here for posterity.  I had the link to the paper in FB, but the website has been taken down. The paper doesn't exist anymore. Had to take a snapshot on scribd until I check in all my gadgets for the downloaded copy of the paper.

18 Feb, 2025. It's been almost a month and half since then, but ...I had the time of my life in a Greenday concert, in Malaysia. They had closed with this song (one of my favourites from long ago) and it was an apt farewell. Let  us just forget the Good Riddance part of the song. It had rained for most of the evening in varying degrees. Not to the extent of cats and dogs, but still enough to keep a warm sort of sliminess inside your poncho, between your damp t-shirt, and jeans,  fogged up glassess and partially wet hair. We had tried to get seats in the seated area, but couldn't go through during the frantic attempts to buy it when sales for the tickets opened. Everything was worth it though. Even the flu that attacked all 3 of us (Around 3 days of fever and a cough that lasted for a month or so) I had been interested in Greenday's music since I was in my teens. A fan, perhaps, if you could call it that with my limited access to music. Back then Minority was my favourite so...

 Possible spoilers ahead The story continues then... a breakup, an interest of sorts on a fellow classmate, and suddenly, an unexpected twist in Cath's ' love life' Now, I was really invested.  I spent all my breaks reading the book during the day. I was using my phone to read, so it was relatively easy. I was reading while having dinner, during waiting time between medical tests (Had a scheduled medical checkup sponsored by my employer) Despite Cath's sudden interesting love story, she still had to face other issues. After all, a good story has to have challenges thrown at the protagonist from time to time, and as the reader you root for her. You hope gets a happy ending in the end. You hope she finally sits down and finishes the assignment she has to do. You want her to be happy until the end of the book, or if there's a sequel, you root for he to succeed till the end.  End of Review.  Seems more like a summary though. But like I said, I haven't written for a ...

I'm old, sort of. BUT I have a thing for YA books. My most recent purchase on Google Play books was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I read the free sample, was intrigued enough that I purchased the book once I was done. I even followed the authors advice to skip the introduction and meet her there later.  I first read a Rainbow Rowell book almost 10 years ago (Eleanor and Park) I wasn't exactly young enough for YA back then too, but that story was compelling as well. I'll get to that a bit later SPOILER ALERTS, I think Like the author, I think if you want to read the book, don't bother with my review. I'm not in the mood for filtering what could or could not be spoilers due to the lack of practice in writing my thoughts and opinions for many years.  It's set in 2011/2012. The story starts with an introduction to Cather (or Cath as she prefers), our young female protagonist. She's 18, is a freshman and at that point has just entererd  her dormroom where she mistak...

Time for the Annual Appraisal again.  It's a cloudy Sunday afternoon, and I had just finished giving scores to my subordinates on their personal KPI performance for the year. It's the task I hate most, even more than figuring out what KPI's to assign in the first place.  Why on a Sunday, though? Because it's supposed to be private and confidential, and despite the physical distancing at the office, there's just way too many distractions. So I dedicate a day on the weekend to review them and compile my results before the dreaded interview sessions.  Now, while I think KPI's help you to focus on things you need to do, I also think they discourage people from doing other jobs that need to be done, but doesn't have impact on their KPI. You also cannot give a person too many KPI's because then nothing will get done. Then there's also adjusting expectations so that everyone in your department falls nicely into the bell curve.  I've read articles before...

  It was Halloween, and although Malaysian culture does not involve trick or treating, we acknowledge that it is fun to enjoy all things scary. The afternoon was warm and sultry and I was heading back home after spending some time with my parents and sister. The radio was tuned to my favourite radio station, and I was just in time to enjoy a special show they had about horror books in which listeners contributed to their favourite horror stories, stories which probably disturbed them the most. This got me thinking about the horror books I read growing up...    Now, while I love horror, I'm what you could call a scaredy-cat. Images of what I just read jump out at me when I'm alone facing the window or looking into the mirror. Sounds which are usually normal seem amplified in their scariness after I've read or watched something scary.  The first horror book I read by myself was one I found in a box in my grandma's house when I was a kid. I wasn't sure whose books ...

This is an attempt to write without filters. Pauses between sentences and ideas will be kept to a minimum. Spelling errors will be there, but hopefully edited out before it gets posted. There probably will be grammar mistakes. Repeated first words in sentences. Sentences that hang unashamedly. I might even start a sentence with "Because" or "And". Because I can This is an attempt to write without giving thought to the beauty of the sentence. There will be no effort to make it roll on the reader's tongue or make them smile in the beauty of the structure of the sentence or how it sounds. That comes much later. Lengths will vary. There will be no uniformity. Adverbs will be abused and misused. Why write badly? I thought I could write. And I did, once upon a time 10 years ago. I had stories which I thought I could tell, because they needed to be documented. Life's experiences were good enough. There was always something funny amidst all the drama if you kn...