The Irony — Instant notifications reminders of our addiction to instant gratification, reminders of our need for validation, reminders of our fear of isolation. Instant notifications letting strangers fragment our life we hit rock-bottom but we can still swipe. Instant notifications, our own chronic work-in-progressness, the unfinished business of enoughness, pending further notification. Instant notifications, the least human reminder of our humanness, the irony.

Days Like This — Days like this, there to remind you that, two hours in the gym nine in the office and a French class owe you nothing no thing. Days like this, there to remind you nothing no thing can make you feel enough. Days like this, there to remind you enoughness is your birthright, there to remind you nobody but yourself can take it away from you. Days like this, there to remind you enoughness is on you, there to remind you enoughness is your superpower.

An anecdote for men — March 8, 2023, Women’s Day. Today at the gym, “Master the pull up” workshop. Was it a pun-intended kind of coincidence? I don’t know, but there were three women to every man attending. Before starting on the bar, the trainer — a caring Greek guy — passed around the liquid…

Me as I happen “I think of everyone every time everywhere all at once”, never — ever — had I written anything more accurate about myself. I do not think this is such a “fantastic skill to have”, but I understand why people would say that, and if your name…

for true colors — I long for photos forever tattooed on a sensitive film and printed on paper that dries, yellows, and wrinkles with me. I long for photos taken when nobody had the time to get changed, fix their hair, and strike a pose. I long to see humanity in its true colors, vulnerability, and love. Compassion is in the eye of the beholder. Perfection is sad, filters are cowards, and posing is a lie.

Old quests — Cranes and skyscrapers replaced bell-towers and minarets, Promised-land shortchanged for real estate, The chronic scaffolding promising a better life on Earth, The relentless drilling numbing all our senses, Nails and pins crucifying everything together, Our modern skylines tell the story of our restless search for God mistaking new heights for heavens.

Always — À la carte over all you can eat anytime, A handful over plentiful no questions asked, Hope over certainty no strings attached, Quality old over cheap new no second thoughts, Avalanche rolling over thin-ice skating to the bottom, Kindness over rightfulness on repeat, Flood over drought if extreme must.

Maslow’s pyramid has gone full circle — A-venti-skinny-hazelnut-vanilla-latte-with-cream. Sorry ma’am, we run out of hazelnut. Oh nooo. Tsunami-size eye-rolling. Forget it. Leaves the scene of the crime. True story. A mouthful of an order, full of needs and expectations, condensed in a branded cup with her initials, the drink equivalent of the LVs tattooed on her bag, there not to be consumed but to scream look-at-me, I-am-worthy. Six dollars is a reasonable price for a morning confidence boost, yet — to work — one has to be unapologetic about it.

Perfecting the past — Rearview mirror Fiddle Angle it To perfection Objects in mirror Are closer than they appear Capture everything left behind But yourself Stuck in retrospection.