While I had been determined to keep my mantra, “Just get through the year” for 2022, life seems to have other plans – the primary being to get rid of many of my “unattractive qualities” as much as possible before I enter Season 31, Episode 1.

From August 29, masks will be optional in Singapore – still mandatory in public transport and healthcare settings – but optional otherwise.

A dump-everything-and-go tote for when I’m running errands. Two “work” bags: a roomy caramel that can hold my iPad, notebook, and then some and a sleek black that can only hold the iPad.

The beach is one of my least favourite places in the world. I find the unexplored depths of our oceans a nightmare and the water, whether it’s loud and crashing or deathly still, haunting. But something I’ve enjoyed since childhood is building sandcastles.

The sound of my alarm wakes me to the blur of the day. I rotate my head, stretch my shoulders and pull myself to sit up for five minutes. A new day. It’s time to start a new day. My current thing is to do a Wordle, a Sudoku, and a Wordle Waffle in the morning.

One of the things that blew my mind in my twenties was, “‘No’ is a complete sentence.” You’re telling me I can just say “No”? And everything will be fine? I pushed it to the back of my mind and let it simmer there for a few years, gently stirring it once in a while:

My parents brought me to Singapore in 1994. I remember nothing of that day. I remember nothing of that time. My mum says I never threw a tantrum about the shock of moving.

I let myself home, ready to call it a day from holding it all together. I notice Amma is not in the kitchen like she usually is. I find her in their bedroom, like I expected

The first thing you should know about travelling back home is there will always be a part of you that is nostalgic for the life you could have lived if you had stayed. It romanticises it. Idealises it.

You saw the title, I’m sure you can get a rough idea of where this is going to go. Tamil movies in 2021. Jai Bhim is currently declared as the best Indian film, it missed an Oscar nomination by *that* much.