Category Archives: Uncategorized

  In my desperate search for things to write this note and neatly wrap up the new year, I realized I have forsaken 20 years of my Buddhist practice and all of my struggles with depression and anxiety. I wish I could always reflect on things and neatly wrap them up with a bow, butContinue reading “Before the Dawn – Part 2”

” It’s always darkest before the dawn” Everyone on social media and at work is encouraging each other to “Reflect on 2021”. I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. I don’t know if I processed 2021 (or even 2020) enough to reflect on it without breaking down and panic cry over a tubContinue reading “Before the dawn – Part 1”

(I wrote this note in 2017. It’s still relevant, and still as loving, today.)  “I am not as my father”  was the first thing I thought,  when I drove down the icy roads,  in Grande Prairie, a city so foreign.   I was lost.  I felt alone.  I am not as my father,  for I knowContinue reading “Not as my father”

This is probably the first time in the past 18 months that I felt things are (almost) back to “normal”.  I traveled again, even just for a short amount of time, to see dear friends and friends I have not seen in a long time. I created arts again, photography, painting, and some random writings.Continue reading “Next to Normal”

  The universe wants me to know I made the right choices.  As I touched down at Vancouver airport, the first notification on my phone showed a heavy rainfall warning. It’s called “The Pineapple Express”, said the locals, but generally, November is the rainiest month of the year. My friend said, gleefully, “You put onContinue reading “November Rain”

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”