Well Singapore is a country with limited natural attractions. Makes sense to embellish our airport to 1) attract the tourist dollar n 2) entertain the locals haha

I don’t know if teenagers still spend the night over at the airport, but it was a thing during my growing up years

Welcome! Learning forward to learning a Swahili word or two from you!

Where’s your cigar? lol

Kids have a way of making you paranoid in regard to mortality haha

Happiness Journal 20/6/24

Took both children all the way to Changi Airport T3 so that they could play to their heart’s content at the giant inflatable Miffy bouncy castle.

Except that I didn’t anticipate the height requirement. So, my younger daughter was denied entry.

Given her go-getter temperament, I braced myself for her non-stop shrieking that betrayed her formidable lung power. To my enormous relief, she just stood there outside the entrance, never demanding, just waiting contentedly for her elder brother. How lucky I was!

Serendipitously, I had been given a bubble bottle from the ramen restaurant where we had our lunch. Gotta love those child-friendly Japanese restaurants for their value-added gesture of providing a toy in their kid’s meals. I passed the bottle to the daughter, to her utter delight. What could have turned out to be a sibling equality crisis was thus de-escalated into a non-event.

Wow, I was like you. I moved to Japan because I couldn’t imagine living in my motherland all my life.

But I didn’t have the balls to venture to a third country, like you.

Is your wifey from Bulgaria?

Wasn’t expecting such an introspective read on how the choices you made/didn’t make shaped you to be the person you are today. Thanks for sharing

😱

Last year, my wife was driving us around in her hometown. The kids fell asleep and we just chatted. I got reminded of the impulse that prompted me to marry her in the first place.

My son is kind and thoughtful towards others. My daughter finds joy in everything, and her laughter is infectious.

Just last Saturday, I managed to go out on a Saturday evening to watch a concert with my high school friend. I can count with two hands the number of occasions I have had a night off since parenthood. So that night was rare and precious! I’m sure my vibes will take on greater positivity once I get to restore my equilibrium.

That’s true what you said about kids. No one has ever put it across to me in that way before. It had an impact

Do you sometimes feel conflicted between your native cultural mindset and that of your adopted country?

Great that you realise that happiness doesn’t arise from having material possessions. I don’t own a car, either - such a money sink!

Cheers

In Chinese, we have a saying: 人定胜天　(Ren ding sheng tian). Literal translation: Humans will always win God’s will

What made you leave UK in the first place?

Let me be the Devil’s Advocate. Does BTC really let us off the hook and release us from the hedonistic threadmill? Or are we still hustling to stack more and more sats?

I totally agree. I have come to learn that I won’t perform optimally at work if I know that I have angered my wife and will come home to a thick tension-filled atmosphere

Wah how do you remember something from a year ago?

I struggle to remember what I did last week!

You caught my attention. Fish is good; I especially liked fish and chips. Wrote about my love affair here

I agree. And I think in the rough n tumble of life, sometimes see you later’s don’t quite materialise. Which I think is sadder than a proper farewell

Thanks for the article. @Aardvark taught me Irish goodbye, and I’m a tad disappointed that this mannerism isn’t solely attributed to the Irish haha

I think it’s amazing that your territory is taking on a life of its own and doesn’t require you to give it sustenance and prominence. Well done!