how to slow down time
a list for dummies
this week’s Thought (singular)
something endearing about remembering an old friend’s landline number
a very warm welcome to all new readers. i love new readers so much that whenever i get an email about a new reader, i manifest that they successfully stay awake for the entirety of the night safari. thank you for joining us. may you catch sight of all the white tigers and leopards that have been promised and may you be immediately jolted awake if you accidentally doze off.
hi
since i moved out, all my visits home have flown by. it doesn’t matter if i’m there for a week or for two days, every single one of them has ended in the blink of an eye. one second i’m greeting my parents and the next i’m waiting to board my flight back. however, i have identified a few ways of ensuring that the eye-blink is slightly slower. without further ado, i present to you (please imagine me dramatically unrolling a very long parchment) -
How to Slow Down Time: A List for Dummies
you can’t. you can try but you will never be fully successful. it will always feel too quick, and it will always feel like too less. but again, you can try.
spend as long as you can at home. each time you step out, the speed of the clock increases.
by nature, afternoons are slow. seek peace during them. stay indoors. stay in your room and watch time feel endless. sit with family and feel the seconds start to drag. this morning is so far away, and it will take days for 5pm to come around.
visit museums, art galleries, plays, classical concerts. time stands still in places of creativity and expression. there’s no room for speed in art, no need for urgency in feeling and accessing the part of you that finds peace when surrounded by genuine and visceral artistry. stand in front of a painting, allow yourself the luxury of gently and languidly examining every line and shadow, send a mental thank you note to the artist, and with a deep exhale, feel time extend beyond whatever boundary it was held captive in.
indulge in routine. balcony tea. shower before bed. that one boba shop. each time you do something that was a habit before you moved out, the clock resets itself.
nights are long, especially when you’re awake. don’t sleep. i’m serious, minimise your sleep time. stay up and read in bed with the window open. let the midnight silence in. by the time 2am comes around, you’ll feel like you’ve lived in your room your whole life, and that your whole life is still left ahead of you until the sun comes up.
step out with no agenda. loiter, loaf, wander, roam. use public transport, seek shelter from the sun in a café, notice yourself waiting at a signal to cross the road, pull a silly face at your reflection in a display window. every time you do something a bit kooky when you’re alone, you make your time a bit more precious, and in that, a bit more distended.
pack each day with variety. meet friends you’ve made in different places, family who are at varying degrees of closeness - grandparents for breakfast, school friends for lunch, an aunt for evening tea, college friends for dinner. travel across the city to meet them, end to end. do different things to stimulate different delights. get a new tattoo, try out the bakery down the street, sit in a park you’ve never been to before and observe the squirrels playing in the trees, visit a handicraft exhibition. lie in bed at the end of the day, and marvel at the fact that it was actually only 16 hours ago that you were eating breakfast at your grandparent’s house. lie in bed at the end of the day and marvel at the fact that you managed to do so much, almost as if time itself ceased to exist and all that mattered was the people, the joy, the exhilaration. lament that the day ended, but marvel at the fact that the ending seemed to take so long to happen.
maybe one day i’ll write something about homesickness, and how it gnaws. but for now, when i’m at home, all i can seem to think about is making each day feel lengthy and snail-paced. please feel free to contribute to this list, and feel welcome to share any tips in general for those of us who wish to hit the brakes for a little bit.
A Picture!
English Recitation Competition
Sissy, Aaron Smith
I can’t remember my dad calling me a sissy, but he definitely told me not to be a sissy. I secretly (or not so secretly) liked all the sissy things. We had a hunting dog named Sissy. Really: Sissy. My father nicknamed my sister: Sissy. Still, he says, “How’s Sissy?” and calls her Sissy when she goes home to visit him. Belinda (Sissy) is one of the toughest people I know. My sissy (sister) has kicked someone’s ass, which isn’t sissy- ish, I guess, though I want to redefine sissy into something fabulous, tough, tender, “sissy- tough.” Drag queens are damn tough and sissies. I’m pretty fucking tough and a big, big sissy, too. And kind. Tough and kind and happy: a sissy.
Rain Fugue, Jessie Redmon Fauset
Winter tempest, winter rain, Hurtling down with might and main, You but make me hug my hearth, Laughing, sheltered from your wrath. Now I woo my dancing fire, Piling, piling drift-wood higher. Books and friends and pictures old, Hearten while you pound and scold!
I Have a Time Machine, Brenda Shaughnessy
I thought I'd find myself an old woman by now, traveling so light in time. But I haven't gotten far at all. Strange not to be able to pick up the pace as I'd like; the past is so horribly fast.
The Good Side of the Internet
(subscribe to my standalone publication The Good Side of the Internet for consolidated and extra links at the end of each month!)
Life Is a Particle Time Is a Wave (animated short film)
In an attempt to ease his sadness, a widowed watchmaker spends his remaining days in solitude, distracting himself with repetitive activities to pass the time. Broken, like the old watches he repairs, he searches for ways to mend his soul and body, looking for meaning and respite in the ebb of time that remains, as his own death nears with every tick of the clock.
#CoreCore videos are becoming more popular on TikTok. What exactly are they?
The videos juxtapose images and video from various mediums and set them to emotional, rousing musical scores.
On Seinfeld and the Mundane Fantasy World of the Three-Camera Sitcom
“I’d trade every vacation I’ve ever taken for a life of drop-ins with friends and family and a refrigerator that magically replenishes itself.”
he boot too big from
Or, a tour through the atrocities of Emperor Caligula of Ancient Rome.
Liquid animations ✨ (video)
Animations done on my DSi and 3DS about liquids, I always try my best to animate it with all the limitation the program have!
this week’s Song
Ufaq by Anand Bhaskar Collective
find all shared songs here.
thank you for reading, and see you next week <3
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