What’s a moment when you realized you were officially an adult?
I was the youngest of my siblings; my sister was the eldest, my brother was the middle, and the youngest was me.
So I didn’t have to play the adult much.
It wasn’t until I cradled my first baby in my arms that I felt both the beauty of motherhood and the weight of its responsibilities. And since that day, I realised it was time to play the adult.
As a full time mother, I played the adult with its different characters, moods, and shapes.
Yes, I played the kind nurse, the angry doctor, the mad teacher, the patient counsellor, the strict inspector, the loyal lawyer, the secret keeper, the watching owl, and so many others.
But the youngest sibling in me always finds a time and a space, to laugh, to play, and to have fun with family, friends, and even her own-self, with no adult roles to play.
At the beginning of 2026, I set my reading challenge target to sixty books.
A month or two later, I reduced it to thirty.
I thought it was better to achieve the target than to lose track of it.
This wasn’t cheating, was it?
But at least, I’ve been honest with myself.
So over the last two, no three, days, I finished a wonderful book, and it happened to be the thirtieth one.
This means my 2026 reading challenge is officially fulfilled.
Now I can read more, without any pressure.
My best reading challenge score was seventy-eight books in 2023,
and I was so happy with that big harvest.
But honestly, I’m not sure if I had followed the same strategy back then.
I mean if I had started with a target of thirty and ended up finishing seventy-eight books.
Things didn’t work with the same enthusiasm over the last few years, though.
Why? I wonder sometimes.
But, I do know why.
Mainly because of my stubbornness.
Once I set my mind to read a book, I want to finish it; even if I don’t like it, even if it gives me a headache, and even if it bores me to tears.
And I discovered another reason; the high target I set for myself.
Whenever I planned to read more books, I ended up reading far less than expected.
But we do learn from our mistakes.
So, I will stick to my old strategy; start with less and end up reading more.
And perhaps, for stubbornness, I’ll pretend to forget about the books I don’t like until the end of the year. Then I can say, “sorry but your time is out.”
So… well done, me, for achieving my reading target in August.
And I will let you know how many more books I finish by the end of this year.
First, because I finally finished The Sea Keeper’s Daughters, and it turned out to be a unique story.
Second, because I have a plan, and a promise, to read a list of more books this month.
It’s a bit embarrassing to gather the harvest of only one book at the end of the month.
But of course, July understands my situation: the holiday, the jet lag, the cold, and the house chores that never end.
And August looks, so far, supportive and considerate.
Third, because the weather is nice so far.
It’s been rainy, a bit windy over the last few days, but that’s better. Actually, that’s a blessing, after the heat wave that lasted until the end of July.
Fourth, because I finally made my coconut frozen-yogurt ice cream with four simple ingredients: coconut milk, yogurt, shredded coconut, and honey. And, it turns out like something from another world.
There are more reasons to welcome August, but that’s enough for now.
Why do you think there is a villain in almost every story?
Because without one, the story would not only be boring, but also unrealistic.
There is a bad apple everywhere in life, and real life is such a big story.
So…this person who stirs problems, spread lies, wounds others, behaves this way mainly for their own benefit.
After all the hard efforts and plights the villain weaves and plots, they gain no real prize, only a bloated self-satisfaction.
They could do far worse things, of course, but let’s stop at this level.
Do you think a villain has any good point?
A good point for being mean, sneaky, and evil!
Perhaps this good point is possible in fiction, where the writer is the sole weaver of the character. In fiction, the only “good point” a villain can offer is a memorable warning sign — a danger zone marked with a quiet Please Be Careful note.
In real life, things are different. The villain chooses to be a villain, chooses the path of Abel, Scar, and… Voldemort.
There is no good point they can have, or pretend to have.
Is there any good point left after choosing to be the bad apple?
Honestly, I didn’t really notice the difference nor did I try to register the moment.
Over the last few days, the day wasn’t only long, it was also hot; too hot to care about the addition of a few more minutes.
The Uk sun has no equivalent, even the Egyptian sun would shy away before it.
Really, this English sun goes straight into your eyes, and you can’t escape it.
It feels so close, like your shadow following you everywhere.
And these days, it likes to linger until ten pm.
This cheeky yellow-orange sun hangs in the sky and smiles at you as if to say, it’s still too early to go to bed.
‘But it’s almost ten,’ you moan, wanting so much to push it down.
Instead, you yawn, rub your eyes, and yawn again.
And then, you start scrolling online.
Everyone is talking about the heat, turning it into a heatwave with warnings and precautions.
And people start complaining.
Why?
Because it is so hot.
But we have been crying our eyes out because of the long winter and the cold spring.
We have been longing for some warmth and some sunshine.
Yes, the sun has been more generous, but it’s finally summertime, with its short nights, long days, and this memorable longest day which I barely noticed.
Pure and Simple 