Siblings

Siblings are peculiar, each bringing out a different side of you. You could get along perfectly well with one of them and somehow feel nothing but bitterness towards the other. The state of sibling relationships somehow never stays the same for long either. One moment, you’re at each other’s throats and the next you’re comforting them, causing internal emotional conflict. These make sibling relationships seem more complex than they really are.Someone who is an only child may seem to want

July 25, 2022 | BY Mikaela Robino Aquino, local university student

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My sister, my friend

People always say that an elder sibling should look after the younger ones, however, is it true? My answer is – maybe, but for me, it is totally wrong. There is a person always taking care of me, cooking for me, chatting with me, shopping with me, doing activities with me……and solving my problems when I encounter difficulties, so up to here, can you guess what our relationship is – a friend or an elder sibling? Actually, this person is my younger sister, who is also an “elder

July 25, 2022 | BY Yuki Lei

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Were your parents happy or something?

Attachment styles & happily ever afters In an episode of the American sitcom Friends, Chandler, who has commitment issues due to family trauma, tries to talk Phoebe’s boyfriend Gary out of moving in with her because if he moved in with her, “Phoebe will always be there”. When Gary responded, “I know! I can’t wait!” Chandler immediately asked, “Were your parents happy or something?”One might wonder how being in a loving committed relationship is associated with a person’s

July 18, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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A child’s attachment to transitional objects

Sometime last month, a really good friend of mine and I went out for lunch together, and he brought his two-year-old daughter Benny with him. After some time, more people started coming into the restaurant we were in and Benny started asking for something in fragmented words as the noise and the chaos of an unfamiliar environment started to bother her. “Wu! Wu!” the two-year-old repeatedly cried out, to which my friend would gently say “I know, I know, daddy’s looking for it” as he

July 18, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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Effective learning: an experience

When I was a student, I always wondered what the best way to learn was. This question became more frequent as I compared myself to some of my classmates, some of whom seemed to get through a number of subjects effortlessly. In an attempt to answer this frequently recurring question, I asked various people at different points of my life about what they thought was an effective way to learn, all of whom provided different answers and offered different experiences.One of the most memorable answers

July 4, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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Learning can be fun

Being a reporter in the local English-language media, English has become the main language of my work, but honestly, I am not good at English, which has even been classified as bad by my teachers. But why would I choose a job requiring me to write in English as my career? That is because I believe things can be improved by learning. In fact, I have been learning English since I was in secondary school.I graduated from an “English language” secondary school, which required students to learn

July 4, 2022 | BY Yuki Lei

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Paying on the first date: is it just the guy’s role?

There are roles that, as far as I can remember, have always been assumed by, or assigned to, guys. Although the world has come a long way since saying that a particular role can only be taken up by a specific gender, the traditional perception that the guy should pay on a first date scenario, at least to me, has mostly stayed the same. A guy paying on the first date is often seen and depicted as a chivalrous gesture. It is, in my opinion, a gentleman’s act that is not simply aimed at

June 27, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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When going out, go Dutch

“To go Dutch”, according to Webster’s Dictionary, means to go to a movie, restaurant or any activity that involves spending as a group with each person paying for his or her own ticket, food, or other expenditures. In Chinese, the same behaviour is referred to as “AA”, an acronym for “algebraic average”, which means dividing the bill according to how many people were involved in the event. Splitting the bill is getting more common these days as the idea of gender equality becomes

June 27, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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The importance of a good father

On a crowded bus ride home a few weeks ago, a man, seemingly excited that someone had answered his call as he remained unbothered by the crowd, sat beside me. Being so close, I could not help but overhear the conversation that unfolded.The man, under the guise of a tough exterior, was patiently and affectionately explaining to his teenage daughter living overseas the things that she should be looking out for when going to a concert. Each word had purpose, defining care and concern. From warning

June 20, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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My dad

Despite his age, my dad still has black hair so full that it looks like he should be in a shampoo commercial. He is a retired engineer but he spends most of his time in the laboratory as he has recently found an atom that is faster than light, which could lead to the possibility of time travel. He is like any other father, and has high hopes for his son and daughter, hoping that one of us could finish his project of turning lightning into electricity.If you think my dad was disappointed that

June 20, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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Nightmares

In the early hours of the morning, a large, rabid dog began aggressively chasing me through a dark alleyway. Foam dripped from its mouth as it ran after me, driven by a blind rage that I could not understand. I tried my best to keep my distance, but there was no way I could outrun madness.I ran and I ran, my lungs burning as I felt myself desperately gasping for air, with fear and adrenaline being the only things that kept me going. The situation worsened, however, when my path for escape met

June 6, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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Dreams

Recently I watched two movies: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Everything Everywhere All at Once. I am not going to review the movies here, but only discuss how the two movies use “dreams” as the theme. Still, spoiler alert.Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sees dreams as a vision of a parallel universe. According to the movie, our dreams show our lives in other parallel universes. While we may not actually prove the existence of multiverses, the movie,

June 6, 2022 | BY William Chan

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Searching for home and identity

It was a warm Sunday afternoon when two of my closest friends and I sat in a busy café, with our conversation disappearing into the chatter and calls for orders, and the sounds of utensils as people dug into their plates of food. We were all fully engaged in our conversation, when I became silent as it veered towards the topic of childhood, a topic that was at least fruitful for my friends as they continued to share joy in talking about the various adventures and misadventures that they had as

May 23, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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Home-fluid

My name is Prisca and I am from Vancouver, Hong Kong, Montreal, and Macau (chronological order). Actually, I am not from Montreal because I only studied there for four years and my French sounds like gibberish but it holds better memories than any other city. Actually, I am not from Macau either as I only lived here for two years, but have been receiving money from the government for 15 years. Actually, I am not from Hong Kong either because I have not been there for two years and I don’t

May 23, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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