(2024: I believe this was a wordvomit i tried to write but gave up on halfway.)

Starting a second vomit hot on the heels of the last one and I have this feeling of tiredness. Like “what, another one? really?” Yes, really! Let’s do this! I know we’ve done many more in the past. I’m looking around everything now. I’ve been wanting to do memoirs, I have some on my blog, some on my notes, some in my evernote. I feel like I should specialize. Should I move all my memoirs to evernote? I want to be making progress on my goals. I have a book of essays I’ve been planning to write, called Naughty Boy. What’s the next step for that? Done is better than perfect. Let’s get it done.

Loitering. Yeah let’s write about loitering. I know just the picture that I’m going to use. Annnnd I’m done! Posted it on Facebook and Twitter. I now have 3 essays from Naughty Boy that are live. I suppose I should take the rest of this vomit to think about how I’m going to handle the rest of the essays. What do I want to say? I already feel like I’ve repeated myself a little bit too much. “Oh, I had to read under the table, I was stifled and oppressed and had to figure out a way to find my voice”. Okay, yeah, I’ve said that in 3 essays now, basically. What else can I say? I don’t want to keep saying this. 

I want to hit them with something different. Something that’s not about me. Something about the media would be a good one. I used to blog so much about the Straits Times, would be nice to turn that into an essay. How Singlish Got Commoditized would be a little too easy. I should really look through my old blog archives for inspiration, maybe? Why reinvent the wheel? I’ve already talked about playing in a band. Should I talk about girls? I think I’d like to talk about what secondary school life was like, what I liked about it. Maybe the difference between secondary school and JC? I’m a bit bored of all of that at the moment. The Internet? Feels too big picture and foundational-ly, maybe I’ll include that later. Those are essays maybe I don’t have to post on Facebook.

Oh, I’d like to talk about my depression at some point. I think I was depressed. Would be interesting to hear what my parents have to say about that one. I’ll be writing about my girlfriend (now wife) eventually at some point, too. The things that I’m avoiding because they’re uncomfortable are probably the ones I should get out of my system as quickly as I can.

I’m getting sleepy. Let’s blaze through this. I’ve been bouncing around my archives. I can’t do this, I’m going to sleep.

✱

NaughtyBoy Foreward (Mar2019)

“That one person could invent so much innocent mischief in one life Is surely an inspiration!” – Ralph Leighton, on physicist Richard Feynman

Why should anybody read this book? Why are you writing this? Who is it for? 

I grew up in Singapore in the 90s and 00s. A tall, skinny, nerdy misfit of a boy, who never quite fit in anywhere. I’m writing this particularly for a younger version of myself, and for other kids like him. It’s a book I wish I had access to as a teenager. 

I also believe that any sincere, honest perspective is worth reading. All anybody can really ever say is “this is how I see things from where I’m standing, given my background and perspective.” 

I believe this book should be of interest to… 

Singaporeans curious about an alternate perspective that isn’t antagonistic 

Outsiders… 

Misfits… 

I don’t expect this book to be “successful”. I remember what Obama wrote when he first wrote Dreams From My Father. (tk) I just want to tell my story. Stories are how we make sense of ourselves, and of the world around us. I hope my story makes sense to you. 

Visa