And allowed my true self to be born. — When I met Linda at the shophouse I was already drunk. I was only twenty years old then, twenty and terrified of women. I had just got out of two terrible relationships and had no desire to get into another, so when Linda invited me to spend the night with…

“She’s mad but she’s magic; there’s no lie in her fire.” — Dear Mama, I love you. Throughout our 27 years together on this Earth, I’ve never once told you this one, simple fact — but here it is, out in the open, out in the air. Where do I begin? I’ve never once said the big L word to you, partially because I’m Asian — and…

This writing shit pays. Sometimes… — A couple of days ago I was a guest speaker at a writer’s festival. It was the sort of festival where everyone sat around in purposefully dimmed rooms, asking and answering self-important questions and trying very hard to sound smart — that is to say, it was like every gathering…

Words matter more than you think. — Everyone had a crush on Sheryl in school. She was beautiful and athletic. Vice-captain of the women’s basketball team, she boasted large eyes, a buxom body, and long, lean legs, tanned a nutty gold from the sun. To accentuate those legs, Sheryl wore shorts. She had an excuse for those…

And now I’m an established author. — The incident above happened after I got fired from a reality TV show called The Apprentice, and it happened at the upscale hotel that was rented for me. We were, all of us, in the same room: my friend Hashvind, my former fling Jeraldine, and two staff members who were…

Be careful who you associate with — I almost got stabbed in a nightclub in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. I was with a beautiful girl who was the source of the trouble. Elizabeth was very nice— when she was sober. But when she was drunk she transformed from a woman you’d consider bringing home to your family to the…

Where your money goes, fake friends follow. — My family used to be rich — relatively speaking. We had a very nice apartment. The apartment had many rooms. In the living room was a balcony. The balcony had a nice view as well as a plasma TV — a very expensive fad and something of a status symbol at the time. There were many…

She was very beautiful but the terror wasn’t worth it. — I hate nightclubs. The premises are loud, the drinks are expensive, and more often than not they’re full of aggressive strangers who are drunk because they were stupid enough to purchase said drinks. That’s the way I feel about them, and that’s what I told my ex Elizabeth when she…

His words were seared in my memory. — Here in Singapore, where I live, Money is a very big deal — and what’s more, some of us can be very upfront about it. My best friend’s Dad was one such individual. My best friend growing up was this boy named Jackie. We’d met each other, like so many young children do, because of proximity — his…