September

It’s been a helluva month. When August ended, we literally had no idea what was coming next. Seriously. Waking up on the morning of August 31, we really didn’t know what the future was going to hold for us. All we knew for sure was that Rasa had her PhD defense coming up on the 21st of September, and that was causing enough stress on its own.

Continue reading “September”

On Judging English Competitions

HostingSeveral years ago, back when I was regularly attending pub quiz, I met a woman who was the head of a primary school. Being a native English speaker, she had asked me if I could possibly come and be part of a jury for an annual English/speech competition the school hosted. Naturally, I said yes and have been doing it now for several years. In addition, I’ve also done some recording for her as the voice on the audio portions for grammar school English books (and, I was just informed, the English teacher in the books was named for me!) Continue reading “On Judging English Competitions”

2017 in Review

new-year-wishes_650x400_515145419822017… what a year it’s been.

It’s certainly been a year of firsts. During the summer we took Monki on her first big trip, where she met most of her father’s side of the family for the first time. She was a trooper when it came to flying extended distances and experiencing new things! I even got the chance to write it up for the magazine, which was cool. Continue reading “2017 in Review”

The death of reading is threatening the soul – The Washington Post

So there was this article a few weeks back in The Washington Post: The death of reading is threatening the soul. Pretty heady stuff. Their subhead is Commitment to reading is an ongoing battle.

And I read it at a most opportune time.  Continue reading “The death of reading is threatening the soul – The Washington Post”

DAVID: Father’s Day

David_6_16.jpgHappy Father’s Day!! As this is my last year of NOT being a father, we decided to take a little time and seek some advice from the best father I know – mine!

This short interview is a condensed form of a conversation we had (and I assume we will continue to have).

Thanks, Pop! You mean the world to me!

And hey, since the world of print is limiting, here’s a couple of bonus shots of us from when I was a wee one:
Continue reading “DAVID: Father’s Day”

Well… we have a pronoun

MonkiRasa and I have a mixed household. Aside from coming from two different generations and two different cultures with two different languages, we also have mixed views on social media. For myself, I’m fairly active on Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads among others. I have no problem with letting the world know where I am or what I think of that place. Rasa, on the other hand, has no social media footprint at all. In the technological world of our AI Overlords, she doesn’t exist (outside of this blog where, for all you know, she might just be a matrix-like construction of my imagination). Continue reading “Well… we have a pronoun”