a day in the life of piano monkey

it came with a little 'ding' from the phone. i scratched my eyes to see what the day brought already! it was only about 7am. from mom. on a cheery yellow background. '... and i called big auntie and she said yeouido auntie has gone to heaven. it wouldve been around night time here. she was asleep. i feel a bit lost for words.' my mom has many siblings. and as kiddies, we didnt call them by names, like proper little koreans. we called them by nicknames. the first, the eldest aunt was called big auntie. her second sister lived in fancy house in yeouido (thats gangnam style for you, haha).  then there's the only boy in the mix, so he was just called uncle. then pharmacy auntie (she operated pharmacy and is certified eastern traditional medicine practitioner), then bupyeong auntie (who lived in bupyeong). when i was little, we were quite close. dad being the only child, most of our family activities were with mom's family; dad had cousins and stuff, but i

california desert super bloom, from WIRED mag* tis the canadian thanksgiving weekend. how did we get here already? 79 days till christmas, if you are counting *slightly uncomfortable. it's been a questionable, brutal, demoralising and difficult summer to autumn transition for the world. las vegas shooting. the biblical hurricanes. persecution of rohingyas in myanmar/bangladesh border.  yemen cholera and starvation. north korea military conflict. crackdown by spanish government on catala independence vote.  continued military assault in syria. complacency around my own community. biases that are so deep that one cannot see it themselves. it is easy to feel dejected. defeated. even here in toronto. the comfortable and wealthy six. yyz. home. (i understand i live quite a sheltered life here in toronto, as i tend to work in the section of the city that is very wealthy and stable- university education is not cheap, and therefore this community has so much unseen we