A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Robert Anson Heinlein

This page highlights my general feelings on the subjects listed. If a title below is linked, then I have written a post that discusses the topic in more detail. Otherwise, I will write more about that subject sometime. 讀萬卷書不如行萬里路

On Business – I have founded and ran three technology consumer and business services companies that developed software, animated media, and trained tech professionals for industry certifications. Much of my experience in business comes from those adventures – and misadventures [this isn’t a process that always brings out the best in me]. While there are many similarities in all businesses generally, some applications may be truer in one industry than in others.

On Success – They say it takes about 25 years to become an overnight success. So while resolute in the effort, I’m not in a hurry for popular accomplishment. Finding meaning in the approach and process of work is as important as outcomes to me, and prioritizing healthy relationships alongside my career pursuits is non-negotiable. In both friendship and business, I am growth and long-term minded even when it means forgoing obvious quick wins that ultimately undermine broader principles.

On Humanity & Causes – I regard Business as important as Charity because innovations solve human problems and enhance standards of living, see an excerpt. I am also more inclined toward children and juveniles in destitution, and programs that offer sustainable paths to break the cycle rather than momentarily alleviate it. However, I believe both short and long-term solutions are equal partners in the process.

On Writing – Much of my journals both offline and online are seldom about chronicling events or activities that have passed. I write more as a way to think out loud without particular commitment to the thoughts explored. I embrace learning as an ongoing process and are always open to changing my mind with new-found knowledge. As such, every article I write is living i.e. can change over time with new insight and reinterpretation. Where necessary for privacy, I do throw in fictional elements to protect details. Also, a few articles are limited with a passcode intended for a smaller circle but, over time and comfort, I intend for all contents to eventually be public. Portrait photos of me on this site are deliberately grayscale to reflect the somber losses of relationships and time during the often solitary journey toward who I am today.

On Faith and Spirituality ― The tenets of my faith are: (i) my relationship with God is founded first on an intimate personal fellowship. Dogma and institutions of all kinds are categorically secondary to my devotion. (ii) God is secure – has to be if really Almighty. Therefore, the Being shouldn’t require the neediness usually put around it by people. If needing us to create its own sense of existence, then that Being isn’t fit for what we deem it to be. On the other hand, if this Being is Absolute as repeatedly ascribed, then it shouldn’t be intimidated or compelled by defiance, despite our self-importance. Read More »

On Politics – I am apolitical in the sense that I neither identify with any one political ideology exclusively nor deem such ideals the only means to build and resolve society. However, I am fully engaged in current discourses and world affairs, bearing in mind that real-life events are seldom as black and white as we often like to imagine them to be: we live in a world that is messy with complexities practically impossible to grasp or scrupulously redress and survival for only the fittest, seemingly nature’s penchant, is as distasteful as the coercion to conformity by a majority. 樹倒猢猻散 Since governments are ultimately a product of people, I cheer a little more on individual maturity than I do on public programs – even though reckoning both as equally important. In the long run, I think better individual values in multiple will effect a better government – regardless of its size. As far as popular support goes, I am in favor of i) societies where civil power is broadly diffused with ample checks and balances on direction and leadership over societies where civil power is concentrated and dictatorial (Nigeria used to be a totalitarian state, so my low preference for this form of government comes from first-hand experience.); ii) societies where all citizens are equal before the law, and procedures are clear enough to apply to everyone fairly. iii) As one myself, I am pro-immigration. While it might be understandable that people who left their homelands to resettle and colonize others tend to be most particular about others migrating into their place of occupation and empire, our entire human history, akin to most other animals, is based upon migrations – peacefully and forcefully. I believe people should be bound by customs and laws, not by borders for which most populations aren’t even aboriginal. I wish for a day when people can move freely around the world’s rich assortment of experiences and be allowed at least a fighting chance at survival wherever they eventually choose to call home and help build up. Such a day would ideally be one where migrants and frontiers do not thereafter make life uncomfortable for their host communities or seek to violently displace and resettle the host nations that once coexisted with them. On nationalism and patriotism, I favor neither. I wouldn’t be what I am today, left only to any single country alone or blood kin. I have benefitted and flourished under the love and care of many cultures, arts, peoples, tastes, and knowledge. As a result, I identify with each and care just as much about what happens in remote places of the world as I do wherever I reside. Our lives, histories, and stories are often far more intertwined with each other than we tend to take into account. I embrace the shared identity of everyone foremost as human beings, and my patriotism is with the collective human race and our home planet, Earth. Read More »

On Race and Ethnic Relations – I admire Martin Luther King Jr.’s accomplishments and spirit. However, my personal predilection is more akin to Malcolm X. If loved and accepted, I love and accept back – live and let live. When mistreated or stigmatized, I decide whether or not the situation merits continued engagement and will move on whenever the circumstances are not significant to my interests or values. Otherwise, I defend myself whatever the outcome, and may well be defeated in the end, but will not be intimidated. Generally, I find most conversations that prattle about black marginalization or white privilege disingenuous because of the coy self-congratulations often connoted, therefore reinforcing and perpetuating the same delusion they claim to condemn. Save us ​the​ self-righteousness, vanity only looks good on dead people. If you indeed have something concrete to help move humanity forward, then speak through your acts. Moreover, the vilest racial slurs ever hauled at me have come from people who are themselves ethnic or gender minorities, and the people most likely to insidiously interject racial allusions out of nowhere into conversations or suggest concern for their personal safety in the context of my race are usually liberals. I have also been offhandedly prejudged as lazy by nonentities of all shades and kin who have never themselves done anything substantial at scale. These animosities from both ideological hypocrites and even people not dissimilar reinforce that racism isn’t about unenlightenment or just history, but rather one more point of human difference capitalized on by individuals as well as societies to project their own vulnerabilities and insecurities about other people both similar and dissimilar to themselves. If we all had the [exact] same skin color but different hair or eye colors, there would still be discrimination… in fact, there is. If we all had the [exact] same skin tone but different heights or weights, there would still be discrimination… in fact, there is. Humanity is a creative race. If there is any physical trait or difference to be found, we will find it – and then both adore and stereotype it. People have and show prejudice for the slightest variation in their fellows, even when it is as superficial as a tattoo. Whichever you are: Olive, Brown, Pink, Yellow, Mutt; be unapologetically you and have your self-respect. Be your own man/woman beyond the evanescent solidarities of other people. Do not condone anybody demeaning you categorically even when they do so “charitably”, otherwise you will feel entitled to treat others similarly. Reaffirming your sense of self always, even when it condemns you to a harder life, is more worthwhile and actualized than most people, including your patronizers, will ever know. Regard yourself as foremost a person always: not a color, gender, class, ethnicity, statistic, or privilege. You are gorgeous, and legitimately a sister and brother.

On Criticism – A hallmark of life is the variety of our individual experiences. This diversity is the cradle of creativity and how we’re able to appreciate the world in expressions and forms different from our own, and that’s good. It also means that opinions are necessarily manifold, and even though acknowledging the sensitive emotions around criticism, I make an effort to keep an open mind even on the most fundamental subjects. Regarding personal criticisms, while people are prominent in my appreciation of life, their approval isn’t necessary. When you summarily dislike me, that’s ok because you’re probably not my type either. Even though a gentleman to some extent, I am no Boy Scout, and becoming one isn’t exactly on my list. Communing and cherishing the people in our world is a quintessential element of my engagement in life, but it just isn’t where I define myself. It shouldn’t be for anyone. | See an Excerpt »

Embarrassing (?) Or Authentic (?) Reveals: Birth middle name was Cyriacus, or was it Cyracus? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Despite my highest esteem for relationships, I value independence more. I tend to show a lot of vulnerability in friendships as a gesture of good faith – bad fits often mistake this authenticity for weakness or some misguided opportunity to assume dominance and patronize… this usually doesn’t end well for either of us:/. I allow ample benefit of the doubt when dealing with people but will stay with an informed decision once made. I’ve known life when people defined my role and told me who I am… I’ve also known life where I tell people who I am as well as the role I choose… I much prefer the latter, despite its unpopularity and the tendency to be misunderstood as merely being proud. Having experienced derogation for a significant portion of my early life, especially within my childhood household where the judicial rule was “the older sibling is right irrespective of facts and must never be faulted in front of younger siblings” (I am the lastborn of six, so do the math on pent-up outrage), I tend to overcompensate for this as an adult by a weariness for any authority or charge over me that feels unearned, and a low tolerance for disparaging environments and people who thrive on making others feel overly self-conscious or constantly on the defensive. I do not condescend any human being no matter their size or station and likewise have a short fuse for being condescended or typecasted. It’s probably possible that I am a neat freak – unable to function and physiologically distressed around clutter or untidy surroundings. Takes me no more than two hours for a quick shower, usually at random hours of day or night. Even when inclined to contribute somehow, I do not bid publicly in fundraisers or auctions because I consider the process manipulative of people’s insecurities. I hate reunions. Personality tests categorize me as ENFJ-A. Texting top speed is 1word/minute, even when my life depends on it. I generally maintain some distance from my phone and email, especially at home, and the ringer is almost always on Silent/Vibrate mode. However, I mostly reply to messages promptly when seen regardless of the time of day or night, and do not delay an answer for effect when I have the information. I never dine for the “dining experience”, I dine for the food.

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