Author Archives: jasonh52gmailcom

I realized this morning on my last day in Ottawa that I have never actively wanted to move towards something or arrive somewhere with thoughtfulness, preparation, and with prior research for scouting. I moved to Singapore when I was 18 because I wanted a better education and a life outside of Vietnam. I had noContinue reading “Nomadland”

Picture this. A 36-year-old standing in the middle of a busy Ottawa junction – smiling ears to ears. He remembered this feeling of 15 years ago when he was first here. A student from Penn. On a shoestring budget. No smartphone. No GPS. Just a sense of endless wonder and a fearless wish for #pureadventures. Continue reading “The unexplainable internal conflict of a nomad”

 The only constant in life is change. So, as you can imagine, when the change comes unintended, and it comes with the burden of the unchanging, for a restless heart, it’s… confusing.  I made up my mind about moving out East for a job, after 6 months of struggling to find an opportunity that wouldContinue reading “(Un)Change”

  Ahh, Canadian Thanksgiving, too polite to compete with American Thanksgiving, too cold to be in November, and with much smaller food portion size.  It is hard to be thankful 20 months into the pandemic, wondering “Why are we still here?” and “We have the vaccine, now what?” Humanity is collectively failing on its ownContinue reading “Being thankful”

  So in a joke to my coworkers, I said “Well, I’m almost 40 so you gen-Zers can just suck it”. The fact is, 36 is still a way yet, but rounding up and exaggerating is my jam. We’re in a culture obsessed with youth and beauty. So I’d be lying if I said I’mContinue reading “Ageless”

If you are in Canada/are Canadians, by now, you would be familiar with this story: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/751-unmarked-graves-discovered-near-former-indigenous-school-canada-180978064/   There are no hot takes here (well, aside from the racist ones, thanks, National Post). But there are calmer, nuanced take that I have seen, such as this https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6815509761619062784/  I’ve reflected a lot (and discussed a lot with people on bothContinue reading “Meditation: On Canada, love, and injustice”

Happy Summer Solstice! There’s this duality about Solstice that always gets me. Winter Solstice is the day when the days start getting longer. So while it’s the darkest day in Canadian winter, it offers the most hope. Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, with the most sunlight, but it offers a hintContinue reading “Happiness is an act of defiance”

  It must be a sign of a mid-life crisis, but a lot of my dispensable income lately has come into toys and games. Pokemon, collectibles, games, and Lego. Lots of Lego. Collectible Lego. Many of my woke babes out of concern often ask me if I want to reclaim my name or the partContinue reading “Reclaiming Lego”

 I know it’s not quite as romantic as one would imagine putting your husband and the pandemic in the same sentence. But hey, love transcends all grammatical barriers.  The past 15 months of the pandemic, job changes, global racism wakening, world ending, life-altering, earth-shattering events, the only constant in my life has been waking upContinue reading “The garden, the husband, and the pandemic”

 John Donne proclaimed “No Man Is an Island” in an uplifting saying that we so often stole without attribution. With Covid, and work from home, and bubbles, and the political climate that we are in now, I am not so sure.  The truth is, it feels increasingly like an island lately. I work from homeContinue reading “Men and Islands”