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One topic, all years Everything filed under Personal Lore

101 posts filed here so far.
Two children seen from behind sit on a cracked concrete sea wall above a flooded river delta with half-submerged stilt-house roofs and palm tops, one holding a snow globe up to the sun, while bare glacier-less mountains with dead spruce forests and mine terraces shimmer in the heat

Seven of Nine, Unfortunately New post Is our home ready?

Seven of nine planetary boundaries breached, 65 conflicts, record arms budgets - and a would-be dad asking whether our home is ready for his kids.
A man lies on his back on the tiled floor of a dim apartment at dawn, arms and legs outstretched, a phone face-down beside his hand, an air conditioner on the wall and a hazy city skyline in the window behind him

Four Days of Almost My son-but-not-son

A paternity test, four days of waiting, a night on the floor - a Sài Gòn story about the child that wasn't mine, and the ones I still want.
A sunlit, empty teenage bedroom in a rural Bavarian house, drawn in flat ligne claire style: an unmade single bed with late afternoon sun falling across it, an open window with a lifting curtain, a desk with an old CRT monitor, and a black t-shirt crumpled on the floorboards

Class of 2005 F*CK YOU – two words, no argument

The bug in the system - Heartstopper landed 20 years too late for a queer kid at a Bavarian village school. Six years, two carved words, what came after.
A lone figure sleeps on a rise of sand while a vivid full-colour dreamed landscape of dunes, ruined towers and drifting lights unfurls from their head and fades to bare line drawing at the frame edges.

The Render Runs At Night My mind runs on MIDI

A mind with no mental images, a render engine that only wakes at night - and a creativity that never actually left.
A childhood at the end of the water

Where the Roads Don't Reach A childhood at the end of the water

Cà Mau childhood by lamplight - a wooden house at the roadless edge of the Mekong Delta, where boats wear eyes and the dead wait in the water.
He said yes, and the sky agreed

A Powerful Coincidence He said yes, and the sky agreed

Proposal on a wild Vũng Tàu dune, a yes, two gold rings - and a rainbow cloud with impossible timing. The same-sex marriage quest begins.
On losing Phương: A love letter in retrospect

Letter To Phương On losing Phương: A love letter in retrospect

Phương checked out on November 24, 2024. A love letter in retrospect - about a friend, a comet, and a life lived at full throttle.
Illustration in the Sable / Mœbius style: a lone figure walks a quiet tree-lined canal path at twilight through a modern green suburban district, sleek glowing apartment towers reflected in the still water, a distant city glow on the horizon.

Best Year This Decade 2023: a year of serenity, growth, and anticipation for what’s next

2023 was spectacular - arguably the best year since 2017. New beginnings in suburbia, serenity, growth, and anticipation for what's next.
No shorts allowed: Lessons from an Odyssey nobody asks for

No Shorts Allowed No shorts allowed: Lessons from an Odyssey nobody asks for

A friend drugged in a Sài Gòn pub - lessons from an odyssey nobody asks for. About safety, trust, and the ugly side of nightlife.
The adventure of aging: delightful and breathtaking

Growing Old Gracefully The adventure of aging: delightful and breathtaking

Aging as adventure - while the world worships eternal youth, getting older can be delightful and breathtaking. A contrarian take.