Indeed, my mind has been expanded in ways I cannot fathom

In case you haven’t found out, ikigai refers to the sweet spot where your passion, ability, profession and vocation are aligned!

Forgiving others means being kind to yourself

Oh my goodness, you are like me. Suddenly every photo n writing I have done prior to SN has turned into a sats-stacking opportunity!

Hang in there. MSM will be over soon!

Not really, but I really enjoyed reading the Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. All Maths lovers should read it!

Started “The Housekeeper and the Professor” last December and finished it today. If I had concentrated fully on it, I could have finished it much earlier but you know, life happens. It’s a testimony to the power of Yoko Ogawa’s storytelling that I knew that I would definitely finish her book. As the title suggests, this book centres around the relationship between a retired Maths professor and his housekeeper. Yoko Ogawa undoubtedly fleshed up her characters with complexities. The Maths professor met with an accident, which left him with a working memory of 80 minutes. The housekeeper is a single mother who struggles to raise her 10-year-old son who is nicknamed Root. I think this book pays homage to the resilience of the human spirit. Even though the Professor forgets his housekeeper every morning, somehow they have come up with coping mechanisms - so well that Root regularly comes to hang out after school. The Professor is aghast that the boy is a latchkey kid and insists that the housekeeper brings him along. In short, they are a surrogate family of three. I guess one reason why it took me so long to finish this book is that nothing major ever happens. No drama, just everyday events. (I cannot even use ‘vicissitudes of life’, much as I want to flaunt my vocabulary because this is not that kind of book.) Going to the barber, watching a live baseball match, celebrating Root’s birthday - not the climatic plot we have come to expect from page-turners. Still, this is a book about relationships, which is something the Japanese do so well. The housekeeper grows to care about Maths through interactions with the Professor and ponders hard to solve various Maths problems. At one point, she even goes to the library to do research. The Professor is fiercely protective of Root and encourages Root to think critically and arrive at an original method of solving Maths questions. The mother-son pair do everything they can to not inform the Professor that his baseball idol has actually retired donkey years ago. The process in which they learn to support one another is heartwarming to read. I really hope there would be a movie adaptation one day.

Cool. Because I’m like that too. I like to give a sense of closure to chats so that I don’t leave the other person hanging. The thing is, sometimes I’m preoccupied with stuff at that point in time or am just not in the mood to type. So I don’t always follow up until later. By then, the momentum will be disrupted because the other person has moved on. My bad.

I think with the 10k zap, I wanna give more attention to the comments I zap and leave more elaborated responses. It’s also to see if Stackers respond to me when I reply a couple of days later. I kinda think Stackers have the patience and stamina for on-off conversations.

And you had me googling the meaning of malfeasance. Never came across this word in squeaky clean, albeit stifling Singapore hahaha

1984 is one of my favourite books. Will check Propaganda out

I do think the good vibes here so far bring out the best in people

All the time

Your energy is amazing haha

Gonna start off next week being smarter!

I agree. I treat the sats here as a fun source of extra income

Yes. Especially when it comes to spelling long words. Haha. I get my students to recognise patterns so that spelling becomes less daunting for them

Sorry to reply so late. I’m feeling the second point these days. I sleep on mattresses with my two children and boy, can they sometimes roll over to my side at night! Trying to stay upbeat about this haha

Yeehaw! 🤠

Money no enough

Cutting bamboo actually hastens its growth because a cut bamboo stalk will simply unfurl new leaves

I have had those sparks of brilliance too when I had to stop my son from going into full-blast tantrum mode. It’s amazing how our instincts take over our conscious mind when push comes to shove haha

You get my highest default zap amount! Such an adorable story

Well I’m here for the zaps and knowledge. I don’t think I need to separate them, especially when I use the zaps for beer money 🍻 haha

In case you didn’t know about the origin of bring home the bacon

Source: National Geographic Almanac for Kids, 2017