Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 20
December 15, 2020
Word of the Week #246:
So, as I mentioned a couple of weeks back, I’m kind of experiencing a frog infestation in, well, my bathroom.
Back then, I expected it to have been a random, unexpected happenstance. Since then, it has become pretty clear that that is not the case.
Now, if I enter the bathroom, I EXPECT to find a frog staring right into eyes.
If I don’t find one immediately, I look for one. Odds are, it’s hiding just out of sight. If I know where it is, I won’t be spooked.
That’s the new normal, I guess. Looking for frogs in my bathroom so that I don’t accidentally step on them or grab them… again…
It’s weird how our definition of normal can change so fast and so inconspicuously. It is how we are built. It is how we survive change.
And yet, we need to keep reminding ourselves how “usual” and “normal” are not the same things.
There are some things we should not consider normal, no matter how usual they are.
Frogs in my bathroom.
Toxic relationships.
Abusive spouses.
Fascistic governments.
Unprecedented pandemics.
No matter how much we may get used to these things, we must continue to remind ourselves that this is not how things are supposed to be.
We all remember the story of the frog who kept sitting in the gradually heating pot of water, kept getting used to it, and did not consider it necessary to jump until it was already too late, right?
Frog… getting boiled alive… Ugh, that brings back visuals.
Anyway, NOT NORMAL.
__ATA.cmd.push(function() {
__ATA.initDynamicSlot({
id: 'atatags-26942-5fd8f5c93b42a',
location: 120,
formFactor: '001',
label: {
text: 'Advertisements',
},
creative: {
reportAd: {
text: 'Report this ad',
},
privacySettings: {
text: 'Privacy settings',
}
}
});
});
December 8, 2020
Word of the Week #245:
Gah…
I’m so worn out…
It’s so weird. I’m always reminding everyone about the importance of hydration, particularly in the winter.
And yet, somehow or the other, I never seem to be able to stay hydrated.
And without the right hydration, everything else that you’re doing well tends to go out the window.
Gah…
Maybe I should just sleep…
And wake up dry as a bone buried 68 years ago in the middle of the Sahara…
December 1, 2020
Word of the Week #244:
Normally, I like to note things down as soon as they come to my head, be it story ideas, jokes, interesting analogies, recipes, whatever it may be.
I have often found that writing things down helps me solidify them in my head.
And, whenever I don’t, the thoughts just vanish from my head into the ether.
That is what happened to me this week. I remember having an amazing analogy of how working in the publishing industry has changed my perspective towards books, but I didn’t write it down, and now I have no idea what it was.
Who knows what else I may have lost in the ether this way?
What million—or billion—dollar ideas? What genre-defining stories? What paradigm-shifting revelations?
Well, there is no way to know.
There is one thing, however, that I do know:
I forgot to dry the laundry.
That’s gonna stink.
Literally.
Should have written it down, man…
Huh.
Laundry on a winter evening. Fun.
Why do have a feeling that this is going to be a long winter…
November 24, 2020
Word of the Week #243:
So, apparently, I can no longer buy my allergy meds without a negative COVID test.
That’s just great.
Exactly what the doctor ordered, right?
Looks like this is going to be a long winter.
November 17, 2020
Word of the Week #242:
So… I killed a frog…
It was deeply unsettling.
Oh, I don’t want to talk about it.
Just… It kinda startled me when I was in the shower, and apparently, in a fight-or-flight situation, I fight.
More than anything, what unsettles me is how calculated I managed to be in that situation. It was like my millennia of hunter instincts and decades of knowledge combined to unleash something I had not explored in my real life.
I mean, sure, it was just a frog, but still…
Anyway…
November 10, 2020
Word of the Week #241:
You know what you should try?
Compare people’s behaviour with their and their friends’ pet to that with strays.
It can be quite revealing.
November 3, 2020
Word of the Week #240:
NOTE:
Just because a cloud has a silver lining does not mean it isn’t dark.
Just because someone survived a crisis and came out stronger does not mean it wasn’t a crisis.
We might be better off as a species if we stopped calling others’ crises “blessings in disguise”.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?
No. What doesn’t kill you doesn’t kill you. It can still leave you maimed. Broken. Just barely hanging on.
Let us stop trivialising and delegitimising crises, both present and past.
Let us just stop claiming this pandemic—which has already caused over 1 million deaths, infected over 45 million people, and affected nearly every living human—was the “best thing that could have happened” in any context whatsoever.
Let us live our lives with some sense and sensibility. That should not be too much to ask, or at least one would hope.
October 27, 2020
Word of the Week #239:
As this blog grows longer and longer, and new posts keep piling upon the old, it is fun to look at how the tone of my writing has evolved over these few years.
As I began, I believe most of my early posts were much more sincere and focused on my craft. Plus, there just were more of them, as I had the time and energy to devote to them… until I suddenly didn’t.
Soon, the posts took a sharper turn towards activism. One would think the writer was trying to fix the entire world over a few clicks of his keys. Maybe he was, but that didn’t work, so that phase of the blog didn’t last too long either.
After that, I just started talking. About myself. About together was on my mind or in my heart at the moment. I think that phase has been the most rewarding as a writer.
And lately, within this third phase, I feel like I have just been coming here and bragging about how amazing I am and how well I am doing. That is always fun, right?
What will happen next? Who knows. After all, we do live in interesting times.
Still, let’s keep having some more fun while the light lasts.
October 20, 2020
Word of the Week #238:
One of the most important things we need to learn is pace.
There are times to slow down and take every step with precise measurement, and there are times to leap and bound towards the goal.
I feel like I have gotten good at doing either when it is obvious which of the two is required in any given situation.
You know what are the things that—in my opinion—are the most helpful.
First, of course, is composure. As hurried as you are, it is vital to keep a level head on your shoulder. Even as the clock is winding down and the buzzer is about to sound, if you use all the time you have in the right direction, more often than not, you will handle things.
So, how do you stay calm and composed in crunch time?
Preparation.
If you know what to do, how, when, and how much time it normally takes, actually doing it becomes a lot easier.
So, composure and preparation…
What else do we need?
I’ll tell you what I do have: Confidence.
If I start writing a blog post at 11:41 PM and it is due at 12:00 AM, I know I can get it done WITH TIME TO SPARE?
Why do I know that?
Because I have done that in the past, and I will do it again.
What can I say… I’m just that good.
Now, is that bragging? Some might say so, often with a whiny but cute drawl.
But me?
I have confidence in sunshine,
—Sound of Music (1965)
I have confidence in rain.
I have confidence that spring will come again!
Besides what you see I have confidence in me.
October 12, 2020
Word of the Week #237:
I have always thought that presenting your art is a lot like presenting your bare body.
Some people like to show off what they’ve got to everyone in the world, some wouldn’t look at it themselves if they could help it, and most of us are somewhere in the middle. We may show some parts to some, other parts to others.
It can be daunting, right?
After all, everyone is a critic.
“I liked this. I hated that. I get what you were trying to do with this thing, but it doesn’t really work for me.”
That is not what we want to hear, right?
You wouldn’t want people to pay TOO MUCH attention. Who doesn’t have some insecurities, after all, right?
And yet, people paying too little attention is almost worst, isn’t it?
It’s just… exhausting…
So, how do I handle it?
Well, when I do figure it out, I’ll let you know. For now, I’ll just keep scampering.
