In this episode of the book club reads in our Rye off Collab series, we have 6 fellow bookworms here to discuss our mid-year reads; The Last Encore by Julia Butler. An erotic literature that was messy but spends the last hundred pages untying the knots, the Last Encore is something that catches you off guard for bizarre reasons. 

We decided to tackle this book as they cover certain sexualized taboos together with certain questions about the complexity of life together with certain eye-opening historical elements that are definitely worth a read. 

I decided to make this an episode after hearing from a friend that we should just accept things as it is and I feel the opposite way, hence the need for an outlet. Being a victim of bullying, I know silence doesn't empower nor it does help us to cope in the long run. Sometimes we have to voice out what's ok and what's not.

By having the courage to form a clear and active conversation, we are able to create a more wholesome community that allows us to thrive, reason, and move forward. Moreover, because the community needs more voice and unity than ever, I feel that all the more they should be heard. We need more awareness of the differences of the world; from sexuality to mental health, we need to seek towards being more accepting and embracing each and everyone and their uniqueness.

Today we have Lycando and Chilli with us, as we dive into the hero cinematic universe, starting with Marvel! Most of us have a passion for Marvel, ever since the success of ironman, they really literally did take off; from a dying comic company to now a huge studio that has to join the likes of mainstream movie pop culture. 

It was the story of Marvel and iron man 1, that really got me into Marvel, as we shared about what we think of the marvel formula, our thoughts on different phases and also other movies as well from there, to DC and also how other adaptation companies (like CW) as well. It was nice to have conversations with like-minded nerds, sharing our love for films, so come join us if you like!

I decided to do an episode to discuss the side effects of Sertraline. Dealing with side effects isn't always the smoothest as I have to struggle to function, get work done and also create a lot of disruption in my life.

I would also be sharing a bit more on how I am currently dealing with these side effects. With this episode, I wish to raise more mental health awareness and to shed more light in regards to using medication for depression. 

In this episode of Rye off Collab, I hung out with Lycando where we discuss and talk about Singapore Literature. We came across this impressive book by Leonora Liow, titled Moth Stories. We discussed each and every story in the chapter, offering our point of view, sharing how we relate to each of them, and sometimes going a little person. 

I like how each character are so uniquely different that it offers a fresh new perspective with each different chapters, with each page bringing in a breath of fresh air.

Showing up. 

That's what everyone said when we embark on our first step of having habits. Habits have been proven to be so much more useful in the long run, as we could learn so much and grow from these seemingly trivial daily task of repetition. However with habits comes discipline, and many more. And since I'm on the journey to work on being better, more consciously I decided to tackle this and try be better. 

I'll be sharing 3 things that works for me:

I'm no saint as I still succumbed to distractions and bad habits, but what matters is that we try... right?

Happiness is always a conscious thing, and recently I am alittle more responsible in trying to be happy. Yes, trying to be happy, for happiness is not difficult and it just needs work. Sometimes we do have to work on ourselves to be happy, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I'll like to share 3 steps that I'd found useful for me:

Never forget to take care of yourself and your mental health <3 

We're always made to stay in our comfort zone. From preferring the sheets to hitting the gym, and choosing our favourite snacks to eating healthy greens, our brains are always wired for instant gratification.

But sometimes we do have to take control of our mind with awareness ourselves to bring ourselves onto a more enriching and fulfilling journey through learning and growth to become better versions of ourselves. 

I finally decided to face my anxiety, and my low self-esteem and to force myself to start learning a new system of video content creation. This would be the time where I would kickstart my humble YouTube journey and I'm happy to share them with you here.

In this episode of our collab series, we discussed both the film and the book, Never let me go. We didn't exactly manage to get a lot in the book club to finish the book, hence we decided to join this with the film itself instead. Diving deep into the universe and concept; what is considered ethical and what is not? Does the line gets blurred over time when humans just want to survive?

I just ended my first therapy session, In this episode I'll like to share what I'd learn and how I felt after visiting my psychologist as he is currently helping me to deal with PTSD. Let's not forget to be kind to ourselves.