Reading Naval's post about being 'incompressible' got me thinking about the quiet stories we tell ourselves—and how they might be our best defense against algorithms

My son's casual comment during our nightly Wordle ritual led to a surprising discovery: I am supposedly a 'Xennial'. This sent me down a path of reminiscence, thinking about the long, quiet afternoons of my childhood and boredom.

A couple of days back, I found myself thinking about names in fiction—how much weight they carry, how much they whisper before a character ever acts.

Hell, mate! If you're not wearing a helmet… and there are cops nearby. Hell, mate! If you're wearing a helmet under a Virgo sky at noon in Chennai…

Watched Jurassic World Rebirth, 2025 - ★★★½

Finished reading The Reluctant Dungeon by Lise Eclaire - ★★★★

A late-night movie with Max wound up turning into a vignette about the weight of small words and how children teach their parents more than we ever imagine.

Watched Superman (2025) ★★★★

I closed my laptop, walked a dozen steps, and plopped myself on the bed, when the words “I'm a big, big girl in a small, small world” appeared in my head, complete with a piano soundtrack. I didn’t know the artist, but a quick search led me to the song (earworm::Big Big World by Emilia)...

A silver hair drifts to the floor, a loss is loss, whether of color or of presence.

{.aligncenter} But 1 a.m. is a very known friend of mine 😂

{.aligncenter} My navigator got fed up with traffic and decided to drive virtually.

Aging is when the grey hairs colonize your head and beard, but your ear hair stays defiantly black. Nature has a sick sense of humor.

A folder called Arena. A game with no save option. And the first time I learned to disappear into something completely...

Messaging apps force one identity everywhere. I want different profiles per group—'Xavier (Max's dad)' in school chats, just 'Xavier' elsewhere. Let me contain multitudes digitally.

Revisiting my personal mission statement led to a simple but powerful insight: the difference between apparent value — what people notice immediately — and discovered value — the deeper benefits they appreciate later. This reflection reshaped how I think about communicating impact, both personally and professionally.

After nearly 50 weeks away from full-time work, I’m returning with a clearer sense of what I value—conversation, collaboration, and the small creative digressions that make a workday feel alive.

A 100-day streak

Rainy New Year, broken corkscrew, good Merlot anyway. Sometimes that's enough. Happy New Year to all.

Forty-six. Not chasing the clouds anymore. Letting them drift.

That beautiful sky is just an oven in disguise! 😂

Watched Kung Fu Hustle (2004) with Max. And we loved it…

{.aligncenter} IndiGo achieved what my teachers couldn't: getting me to sit at the front.

If the em dash is the AI’s 'Lion's Claw,' then our messy, unpolished flaws are the only fingerprints we have left to prove we aren’t bots.

Watched தாய் கிழவி, 2026 - ★★★★

Watched Project Hail Mary with Max and we both loved it…

Finished Reading Absolute Batman Vol. 1: The Zoo by Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Gabriel Hernandez Walta - ★★★★

Rewatched The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure last night with Max on our couch and we couldn't stop laughing. Sometimes the best movie experiences happen at home.

Watched this with Max as he wanted to catch another movie. Last year we had seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom exactly a year back.