2024 Week 1 Update

Today’s quote is a Navajo proverb, which is a message about the futility of trying to change or enlighten someone who is intentionally ignorant or resistant to the truth. The quote suggests that the person is not unaware or uninformed but is consciously pretending to be so. This implies a deliberate choice to remain ignorant or avoid facing certain truths. The act of pretending to be asleep symbolises a resistance to being awakened, both metaphorically and literally. It implies a refusal to acknowledge or confront uncomfortable realities, even when presented with opportunities for awareness or change. The proverb implies that attempting to enlighten or awaken someone who is feigning ignorance is futile. Just as you cannot rouse someone who is pretending to be asleep, you cannot make someone understand or accept the truth if they are intentionally avoiding it. In essence, the quote encourages discernment in recognising when efforts to enlighten or influence someone are likely to be in vain. It highlights the importance of engaging in meaningful conversations with those who are open to understanding and learning, rather than expending energy on those who are intentionally resistant to change or awareness.

I went and had my fifth COVID vaccine on Friday and I am still feeling the effects. While I am ok physically, my body is feeling a peculiar sense of tiredness, and I am sleepy all the time. This means that I have not written anything this weekend. But I guess once in a while, we need to have days where we don’t do anything and just relax.

GG will start her second semester next week while BB is still at camp. Life is as usual for them, so there’s nothing to add here.

Have a great week ahead and stay positive! 

In My Hands Today…

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus news stories circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas–entrepreneurs, teachers, politicians, and journalists–struggle to make them “stick.”

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds–from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony–draw their power from the same six traits.

Made to Stick will transform the way you communicate. It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice.

In My Hands Today…

Dear Wife – Kimberly Belle

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Beth Murphy is on the run…

For nearly a year, Beth has been planning for this day. A day some people might call any other Wednesday, but Beth prefers to see it as her new beginning–one with a new look, new name and new city. Beth has given her plan significant thought, because one small slip and her violent husband will find her.

Sabine Hardison is missing…

A couple hundred miles away, Jeffrey returns home from a work trip to find his wife, Sabine, is missing. Wherever she is, she’s taken almost nothing with her. Her abandoned car is the only evidence the police have, and all signs point to foul play.

As the police search for leads, the case becomes more and more convoluted. Sabine’s carefully laid plans for her future indicate trouble at home, and a husband who would be better off with her gone. The detective on the case will stop at nothing to find out what happened and bring this missing woman home. Where is Sabine? And who is Beth? The only thing that’s certain is that someone is lying and the truth won’t stay buried for long.

In My Hands Today…

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han

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To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed.

But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh.

As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

In My Hands Today…

My Lovely Wife – Samantha Downing

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Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbors, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.