“Aiya” is Sinhala meaning “big brother.” The word for little brother is “mulli.” While neither my brother nor I grew up especially steeped in Sinhala culture, we do use the Sinhala rather than English words to refer to one another. Since I am the older brother, my brother calls me…

I’m close to the end. Motorbiking Vietnam has been an incredible journey. This country has taught me to have more faith in most people, including myself. In my travels through this country I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and honesty of strangers. I say this with caution, knowing that…

I’m about halfway through my first motorcycling journey across Vietnam. In some ways this trip has been what I expected. It has been challenging and fun. In others ways it has been a surprise. I chose my timing carefully to maximize the odds of good weather, but the weather hasn’t…

Looking back at what I wrote at the beginning of 2022, the brevity and aloofness of my writing precisely foreshadowed what ended up being a wandering and repetitive, albeit crucial year. It was crucial because it was the year that serendipity reigned and forced me to surrender. I entered 2022…

At least since the advent of our contemporary understanding of time, space, and the concept of universes, many have dreamed of an alternate world in which their life is nearly identical, but different in one or a few key ways. Often these fantasies are a slight upgrade from the lives…

Yesterday night it was Thursday and today morning when I woke up it was Saturday. If that isn’t time travel, I don’t know what it is. This need not have broken any natural laws however. There is a simple explanation for what happened: I flew across the international date line…

Yesterday for the first time since childhood. I’m not counting speaking and panels. That’s just talking. Performing is creative expression. I spent the week at a retreat and at the end I did a performance that involved speaking, singing, and dancing. It was more sermon than theater, but a performance…

It goes without saying that too much of a good thing can be bad. Eating one cookie may taste good but eating twelve cookies would probably make you sick. Eating a cookie every now and then is probably fine but eating cookies everyday might make you diabetic in the long…

I appreciate facility with language. Having enthusiastically studied Latin for four years in high school and reading a book a month, if not a week, since, I consider myself to have a good vocabulary. When I come across an English word I’ve never seen, my typical response is delight, because…