I Have Bookworms

Millenial at play, Gen-X in the workplace

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I always told myself that when life finally slowed down, I’d return to my old self and start reading again. Now that I’m here in Finland, with more time than I’ve had in years, I’ve realized something strange: having time and having the mind for something are completely different things.

But let's see, I'm 10 books away from completing my reading challenger for this year.

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"One might think it's a bad thing to not know things you think you know, but think again, because I know that once you think you know a thing it becomes relevant to you and you are ready to learn."

Sami Nyyssölä, Learn Finnish Without Studying

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Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic Episode Reaction

Please tell me I’m not the only one holding back big boy tears for 26 minutes while watching the Finding Harry exclusive look today. You can feel the whole team pushing really hard to build something fresh, yet closer to what we’ve always imagined when the books finally step off the page and onto the screen. As a big fan of the books, and someone who still wants to relive the imagination that pulled me in the first time, this project feels like a wish finally granted.

My only problem was that they could've made it longer, they could interview all single crew from all the departments and I will listen to them all!

Saw myself in Paapa Essiedu’s comments about the books dropping when we were still in school, racing to finish reading it before your friends could spoil anything. Honestly, I don’t see what all the backlash toward him is about.

I'm now a middle-aged man and all I can say is, "Can we just all be kids again?"

[sahind]

HBO'S HARRY POTTER and the Philosopher's Stone (2026-)

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Another morning in Suomi

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Dream recollection (from a 2 hour nap)

I was attending a medical convention with colleagues. As the event was wrapping up, the organizers flashed a QR code for the post-test, attendance, and evaluation. I missed it because my seatmate wouldn’t stop talking.

When I asked around if anyone managed to take a photo of the QR, everyone said they hadn’t. Someone even sent me a picture, but it turned out to be the ECG strip we were supposed to interpret for the post-test. I told them, “I can read the strip, but how am I supposed to log the answer?!”

While I was waiting in mild frustration, a band started playing Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. To my surprise, my med school batchmate was at the piano, casually playing like it was some kind of reunion gig.

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"People never believe in volcanoes until the lava actually overtakes them."

George Santayana

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A typical Murakami masterpiece: quiet, profound, and deeply human. I saw a lot of myself in Tsukuru—the grit, the sense of being lost, and the weight of unspoken loneliness. The novel is a story of friendship fractured, of bittersweet reunions, and of the painful truths that time forces us to face. The final chapter felt like an act of introspection, pushing the reader to linger on their own unresolved questions. The ending, true to Murakami’s style, is left open and unfinished, much like life itself.

PS. The chapter dedicated to Shinjuku Station stood out for me. The way Murakami described the sheer scale, the currents of people, and the quiet melancholy that lingers in a place so full of movement made me want to go back to Japan and experience it again with new eyes.

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Visited the oldest Chinatown in the world.

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"No matter how quiet and conformist a person's life seems, there's always a time in the past when they reached an impasse. A time when they went a little crazy."

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami

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As a pediatrician working in a developing country, I see tuberculosis in all its forms - pulmonary, extrapulmonary, latent, drug-resistant - almost daily. Everything is Tuberculosis doesn’t just validate that frontline experience; it deepens it. The book expands the conversation from the clinical to the historical, social, and economic dimensions of TB. It dissects how this disease has shaped global policies, stigmas, and even cultural identities, especially in under-resourced settings.

It’s sobering to realize how much of what we call “normal” in public health and patient care is shaped by the legacy of TB. This book challenged me to think more critically not just about diagnostics and treatment, but also about structural inequities that perpetuate disease.

John Green is my favorite author, fiction or nonfiction, and Everything is Tuberculosis only cements that. A must-read for any clinician who wants to see beyond the sputum smear and understand why, in many places, everything still is tuberculosis.

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Why?

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library @ The Orchard, SG

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"If you fail to live your dream, it doesn't mean you're a failure. And I don't think living your dream means you've succeeded either. All I want is to do the best I can at the job I have right now."

Baek Yi-jin, Twenty Five Twenty One

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Japan is a nation where centuries-old traditions blend seamlessly with cutting-edge innovation, yet it remains grounded in humility and respect. From the quiet bow of a stranger to the meticulous attention to detail in every aspect of life, Japan's progress is matched only by its profound sense of cultural integrity. It’s not just a destination; it’s an experience that embodies balance, harmony, and purpose. It’s Japan for a reason.

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A Dream, Half-Awake

I must’ve dozed off while reading Sputnik Sweetheart, somewhere in that passage where the protagonist walks a mountain path toward the beach—quiet, familiar, the one his friend visited every day before she vanished.

In my dream, I was conducting a medical consult inside a nipa hut by the sea. The air felt thick—dense with sun, salt, and the soft crackle of something unspoken. Outside, a group of friends had gathered, their music blaring from a Bluetooth speaker. The song wasn’t anything I recognized, but it seemed to vibrate through the bamboo walls, through the quiet pulse of the clinic.

I stepped out, frustrated, and shouted, “Paano ko matatapos ang clinic kung ganito? Di kami magkarinigan!”

My voice came out louder than I expected, yet it felt like no one really heard it. The sea just kept breathing in and out, indifferent.

Then I woke up.

Or maybe I didn’t.

Funny how the mind works. I hadn’t read fiction in seven months—seven months of charts, diagnoses, and routines—and then, after just a few pages of Murakami, my subconscious builds a dream clinic on a beach.

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Instax SG 2023