The Anatomy of My Thoughts = Rowan-ism

I cried in the shower today because of a little poem I read, right as I woke up. Its on @milliemoonhouse 's Instagram.  At first I didn't know why I was crying then I gave it some more thought. "I fall in love, I fall to my knees, I'll love you more if you catch me, I'll still love you more if you change your mind." I don't know who wrote it. Its like taking that leap of faith. Its about acknowledging that vulnerability and possibility that you won't stop loving that person even after your chance is through and he or she has changed his mind. The prospect is utterly sweet but immensely frightening. Maybe I'm projecting, but hey, the brain works in mysterious ways. It makes me sad. I see it as a tragedy of unrequited love coupled with the inability to move on beyond it, but of course, that is only if the poem's protagonist changes his/her mind. It is a completely different story if he/she doesn't. See how the little thi...

Its easy for me to get carried away sometimes, I am after all a hopeless romantic. Sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking that maybe, there is a chance that there is more than hedonism involved. I get carried away into thinking that I have managed to do more than hijack the pleasure systems in my brain and I am not just a mindless mouse pressing the pleasure button over and over again leading to my ultimate and eventual self destruction. A mouse may ignore food. My self esteem erodes away if I don't get the high I am used to - as the feedback loop breaks down. I hate that idea, but sometimes the highs and lows that come with talking to someone makes me feel that way. Inattention produces a low. Reciprocation produces a high. Maybe I am just a mouse. Maybe not. Is there anything wrong with being a mouse? I guess that depends in where you are in your life. I recently reread my open letter " Dear My Blank " and maybe being a mouse isn't such a good idea at the...

My aunt recently sent me this picture. Look at me and how cute I was! For all of you who can't guess which one I am, I'm the child on the left. See when I look at this picture, it doesn't just remind me of that day, it reminds me of my childhood and how unusual it was. If you look closely, the beads on my dress are slightly different from my cousin's. It was made in a rush, later than the others' because I had flown back from somewhere to attend the wedding. My childhood was unusual because in my formative years (3-8) I was constantly being shipped between my grand aunt and my parents and for years after, I would spend my time studying in HK/Singapore and "playing" in the Philippines. Any vacation time I had, I would spend in the motherland. As a result, I never really made many local friends. As a child I longed for stability. I hated going back and forth and living my life with one foot in either country. I had no friends back in the Philippines ...

Now this post may be a bit overdue but recent events have come to light that reminded me that we still have a ways to go as women. It was International Woman's Day and here's what I have to say: Women are objectified, and yes so are men. Is there something wrong with that? I don't think there is if the individual does it voluntarily. Showing one's body parts should not be seen as a demeaning thing. It is empowering to own your sex appeal. The same is true should you send nudes or what have you to a partner, where a significant level of privacy is expected. There has been a recent scandal involving the distribution of revenge porn on a US Navy Facebook group. See, THAT is not right. THAT is a violation of trust and that is the deliberate breach of someone else's privacy to humiliate someone. These men victimise these women by sharing and distributing their nudes. This makes me angry. Just because you end a relationship with someone, it doesn't mean that that ...

   I may not know exactly where I'm going, but I know where I've been. I met with my university classmate and his wife on Tuesday for dinner and the conversation reminded me how much I loved what I was studying. We talked about how outdated the things we had learnt in school had been and about the many avenues for research that had yet to be explored. It was awesome. Despite the 2 years of relative brain inactivity, I was surprised to know that I could still participate in the debate. "I still got it," I thought, and I wanted then and there to join in on his cause, even as a lackey lab rat just puttering on towards an eventual discovery. It awakened a hunger I had not experienced for 2 years. I envied how passionate he was and remembered a time when I too would dream of seeing my scientific cause fulfilled. I feel like I am yet again at a crossroads. The big 30 is approaching and there are many things I have yet to...

I ran away to Penang on my birthday and it was just what I needed.   I met new people. Lots of backpackers who made me rethink how I should live my life. Many of them had quit their jobs to travel the world. Some worked side jobs as bartenders or at their hostels for free lodging. It opened my eyes to the possibilities. Life doesn't always have to me some member of an institution. I'm not saying that lifestyle is for me, especially not now, but I admire the bravery it took to drop the norm and just succumb to experiencing various cultures with a wealth of experience to gain.   You can have your cake and eat it too, otherwise what was the point?   Needless to say, if you follow me on social media, you would know that I had a blast.   It was refreashing and in stark contrast to my day to day life in the bowels of this institution. I met challenges in the form of a gruelling hike in Doc Martens and met relief when taken on a scenic boat ride t...

In Greek mythology, people had double of everything. 4 hands, 4 legs, 2 faces, but Zeus was afraid of our coming into power so he split us in two, thus condemning us to a lifetime in search of our other half. The intimacy I crave cannot be fulfilled solely by passionate and tender intertwinings between the sheets.   I want a partner in every sense of the word, someone with whom I can share more than every inch of my flesh, but also the deepest innermost workings of my mind without fear of judgment or persecution. I want him to be able to do the same. I thirst for someone to bounce ideas off of, to help me understand the world better or at least how to make the most of it, someone with the same hungers and dreams, someone who feeds my soul. I'm supposed to get my ass out there to look for him or maybe even a her, but I can't bear it, at least not yet. So instead, here I sit in the isolation of my mind. Sometimes its peaceful and content, s...

For my birthday, I want to have enough dough to go back to school. A friend told me that I should get a gofundme page to help fund University. I find this idea unsettling. I don't feel comfortable letting people invest in me. Perhaps its a self esteem thing. If I get funded by other people, I'm going to be held accountable for my grades and I'll disappoint a boat load of people if I fail. Secondly asking for money feels wrong because I am able-bodied and capable of earning it myself. (At least that's what I tell myself) There's a whole lot of people needing charity more that I am. Asking for money means I have given up on trying to obtain it myself. I refuse to admit defeat. I think I can do it myself. My aunt offered to lend me money to finish school too, but I couldn't take it from her. She already does a lot to help out my folks and taking any form of loan doesn't sit well with me. We already owe her so much and I don't want to burden her furth...

Life isn't a puzzle or an exam question that requires solving. Granted there are bits of it that require pure logic but most of the time, our lives consists of stories we tell ourselves. Sometimes when it comes to interpersonal relationships, I fall into the trap of thinking that there was one thing... a single point in it in which the fracture originates. Life isn't an impact analysis of failure points upon failure points. Looking back on things and breaking them apart just to look through each of thr pieces again doesn't make you less prone to doing it again. It just hurts more as you relive each moment in painstaking detail searching for the one moment when it all went wrong.  With people, its never just one thing though. Its the amulgamation of many things. So stop reliving the bad, the good and the ugly. Just take new things as they are, bright and shiny - and something to learn from. Coming from me... man. This is a big deal. I always break things down. I am done ...

I've been trying different things lately and it seems to be helping me peek out of this rut that I am in. I've tried kickboxing, pole dancing and even aerial hoop. Surprise surprise, I sprained my knee. How typical of me. Well at least I'm no longer miserable. Sure, he seems to dwell on my mind more often than usual - I'm not quite sure why. It makes me sad. I miss him. I wish I didn't. I don't know what made him special but he was. I wish things ended differently. Well, lesson learned. I just hope that isn't the last time I feel that way about someone. Well at least I know for sure I'm over A. Clearly this year isn't a very good one for me. Hopefully the next one will be better.