Welcome to Sweena's Blog!

  It's mid October, and it genuinely feels surreal that there's only 3 months left until the end of the year. I remember at the beginning of the year, how I was saying how so much has happened but we haven't hit the mid year mark yet. I might have jinxed it, I have a tendency to do that especially when it has to do with time. But in all seriousness, where has this year gone? I know you're probably reading this and thinking to yourself 'Sweena, you say this basically in every single post'. And yes, you're probably right, but let me just point out the obvious. I'm just trying to ease myself back into writing a blog post since it really has been a hot min. I hope that you've all been taking care of yourselves as much as you can.  Now, how have I been? I don't know how I've been, truth to be told. I have just been trying to really figure shit out. I truly feel as if I've been going in circles the last two years, as if I don't really know ...

You all probably know by now that I love reading and love to talk about books. But one of my favourite things to do is recommending books to other people. I've been meaning to write a blog recommending books for people who would like to get into reading, read more or are in a reading slump and just don't know what to pick up next. Please bare in mind, that I only read fiction. I haven't read enough non fiction books to be able to recommend some to people, maybe in a few years time if I ever get into them! I  honestly wasn't sure how to curate this list, so I spent some time going through Goodreads and looking at the books that I've read in the last few years trying to see which books would cater to people. Fantasy Fantasy is my favourite genre and the one I constantly pick up. I'm pretty sure majority of the books I've read in my lifetime (which is not that long) is fantasy. But I know with the world building and all the fun but complicated politics, it can ...

Hi all, it's been a while. I feel like this is a regular opening sentence for my posts, but HI!  First of all, can you even believe that it's the last month of 2023? It makes no sense to me as to how fast this year has gone because, I genuinely  can't even recall what happened before August. But at the same time, it's kind of refreshing that this is the time to start winding down, and just prepare for a well deserved fresh start.  It's been 5 years since I started this blog, and honestly when I began I didn't know what direction I was going to take it but here we are. Starting this blog is probably the best decision I've made. It's a nice outlet to come back to every now and then when I just want to word vomit and it's also just always nice, when someone randomly stumbles across my blog and just sends a message. It makes my day. But as I look back at the beginning of this blog and just the person I was when I started - I began to realise that part of...

but there are still many paths to choose from " Growing up, I had many dreams that I wanted to achieve. Some, have been accomplished but there are some that I'm just not that passionate about anymore to try since I never started and accomplish or I just can't remember. But I used to always aim for something and once I started it, I would always try to accomplish even if I lost a bit of passion along the way. But these days, it feels like I'm not really sure what I'm aiming for and what my goals or dreams are. There are so many dreams out there but I can't help but wonder why there isn't a dream that I want. I feel like a my last few posts have kind of been repetitive and in a way this blog has become a small space for me to kind of just vent and whoever reads it, reads it. It helps, in a way. I'm entering my mid-twenties and I guess I can't help but feel lost and I'm just constantly trying to find my way. There's hasn't been any highs o...

Hello, it's been a while. Is it too late to say Happy New Year? Either way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Crazy how we're already in our fourth month into 2023, time seems to be flying and I can't seem to keep up. But if you were to ask me how I've been or what I've been up to the last few months I would not be able to tell you.  I've been in a bit of a slump which is why it's been quiet on this blog and even on my guitar page and for that I apologise, but hopefully I'll be up and running soon and post one or two things this year. But this slump has kind of got me thinking and then I skimmed through ' Portrait of a Thief ' and I came across a few quotes which sparked some inspiration to write this post. And the topic of today's blog is : art and the different forms.  Whilst skimming through the book, I had noticed that I had underlined this quote: "Will, who had always art, who saw beauty and wanted it, to make or to consume or to just be around....

I feel like everybody who knows me, would know at this point that I love reading. Through every book that I read, I feel as if I meet new people or a group of people that I would never actually meet in real life and I learn so much from them. When I'm reading a book, it feels as if these fictional characters are temporary friends - people just passing by, everything that they go through, I also go through. But there are also times where I'm reading from a characters perspective and I feel as if I'm looking at a reflection of myself, and I'm able to take a breather and think to myself 'Okay, I'm not the only one'. And honestly, after graduating, reading and seeing characters go through certain situations although they're fictional, when you feel so isolated it makes you feel sort of sane.  A few months ago, I read a book called ' Portrait of a Thief ' by Grace D. Li. It's a book that I still think and can't stop thinking about. In this boo...

                                                            "...But a dream within a dream?" I recently re-read a poem by Edgar Allan Poe called 'A Dream Within a Dream' and it got me thinking (again - no surprise there, haha) about the last two years and how everything has changed. How the norm of our every day lives have changed and how the old 'normal' seems so foreign and far away as it was never reality. Do you ever just sit and question whether this is what life is nowadays? Because, yeah me too. The poem by Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favourite poems ever and one that I often go back to because of how much the words bring comfort to me and in a way also motivates me, especially when I feel lost or confused. Through this poem, Edgar Allan Poe expresses so beautifully the doubt and uncertainty that you can feel about reality and even...

Growing up, a question that I've always asked myself and to be honest, still ask myself is "Who I'm I?" "What do I culturally identify as?" For a while, especially whilst I've been at uni, I know that I would have answered 'Tamil' without any hesitation. But when Census Day came around and I had to fill in the question 'What is your national identity' or something, I honestly felt as if I was in high school going through a cultural identity crisis all over again and it's been bugging me since.  When I was filling out the question, I kept going back and changing the answer. Initially I put Tamil, but went back and changed to French, and the cycle kind of just repeated itself until eventually I just settled with Tamil. But it got to a point where I was just like, I kinda wish I didn't just put just Tamil and I put French too. And I'll briefly explain why. Being born in France and having most of my childhood there, I feel like I ...

how we've all been throughout 2020 Since I've started this blog, it's been kind of my thing to do a quick recap as to how the year has been for me, so that I could look back on it in the future and just see how much has changed in general but also how I have changed.  As the year comes to an end,  I think it's fair to say that 2020 has been extremely funky and just filled with lots of uncertainty. We don't know when everything is going to go back to 'normal', so we just have to learn and adapt to the new 'norm' that we've been having to experience for the past year. But, let's be honest. It's been tough. This year has been full of ups and downs. But with everything that has happened this year, I can honestly say that I've learnt a lot. Not just about everything that has gone on in society and in the world but also about myself. Throughout this pandemic, one of the major things I've learnt is that you really can't keep looking ...

When I started this blog two years ago, I've said this so many times but it's because I felt  unaccomplished and I wanted to change that. So I decided to do it in a way that I was most comfortable with, to write everything down as a way to express myself when I felt like I couldn't. Find a way to share my thoughts, in the hopes that someone might feel the same way and start a conversation.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I hate small talk and that one of my favourite things to do is to have debates and just have a good old conversation about anything and everything. Not only that but at the time, it was and still is in some way, a good distraction.  So starting a blog in the hopes to start conversations, to me, just made sense.  The first time that I really shared my blog to everybody and not just small group of people was after I had published my ‘ Embrace your culture ’ post. When I saw the amount of positive feedback that I had gotten, it...

problem of evil Dictionary result for colourism meaning: the problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God. The existence of moral evil and natural evil causes a great amount of debate amongst philosophers, especially as it questions the nature of God. Moral evil is caused by human beings through actions whilst natural evil is caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.. There are many arguments that can be proposed, whether it's in favour of the statement or not.  For example, many individuals would argue that if God really was omnibenevolent , omnipotent and omniscient. Then why would he allow evil to exist? St Augustine argued that the existence of evil is the result of the Original Sin. Whilst Irenaeus would have a different approach and argue that the main reason as to why God would allow evil to exist is because there's a purpose for it. He will still rea...

Like a lot of people during the last few months, being at home and not doing much has really allowed me to reflect on not only life in general, but myself. I've always wanted to be the best version of myself and everyday I work towards that goal, even when I reach a stumbling block, no matter how many steps back I'll take. I will try to make sure that I'm back on the path that I came off of. But my fears will always hold me back, no matter how many times I try to keep moving forwards. Now, what do I fear the most? I believe that I fear a lot of things and that's fine. Because they're usually pretty small and generic and doesn't affect me the way my   biggest fears do. So what are my biggest fears? Well, I have two. The first one is being myself and the second one is  failure . These two fears have held me back for so many years and I feel as if I don't overcome these fears, I'll miss out on many more opportunities.  Why is being myself a fear of mine? I...

I recently read a blog post about the new decade being the most important decade of our lives for a lot us. We're going to be graduating, getting our dream jobs, getting married and maybe even starting a family. And no joke, after I had read this post I just sat there proper deeping it. The upcoming years are going to be insane and full of obstacles that we're going to have to face but it's always important to remind yourself that you've got to always put yourself no matter what but also that there's no rush to get everything done within a certain age or time. we're all growing old I feel like we've always been given these 'deadlines' to achieve certain things, maybe there's more pressure in Asian communities but it's always been the idea that as soon as you finish university at the age of 21, it's start your job and get married as soon as you can. Especially as there's this weird thing that Tamils believe that the older you ge...

HELLOOOOO FRIENDSSSSSSSSSSS Helloooo!! I know it's been a big fat minute, but here I am! Back better than ever, with a recap of 2019.   How crazy is it that 2019 is coming to an end, what's even crazier is that a whole decade is coming to an end and there's honestly so much that I've learnt throughout the last ten years. When I think about where I was at the beginning of 2019 to where I am now it honestly baffles me but as sappy as it's going to sound, I am proud of the person that I have become. And for those who are reading this and have known me for years would know that me, feeling proud of myself is a very rare occasion. I am also content with how everything is finally working out, it's been a long and overwhelmingly hard journey to get to this sense of satisfaction that I have been feeling lately but we've finally gotten there lads, so WAHEYYY!  me celebrating 24/7 There are many things that I have realised and learnt this year, but ...

"working hard is important but feeling good is important too" steven universe For a lot of us who are still in education, whether it's full-time or part-time, you have probably started your Easter holidays and that only means one thing. Exam season is around the corner. Now, there are probably many different ways that we're all going to be using the next few weeks. It can either be trying to cram 6 months worth of content into two weeks and hope for the best or be chilling and taking it slow or even just having midlife crisis' every now and then which is the path, for some reason my wonderful brain (hope you sense the sarcasm), usually decides to take during this glorious time of the academic year. And I'm not going to generalise and write on behalf of everyone else but I know that for me, this time of the year is usually just a bit worse than the rest of the year. I mean I'm already a mess from September until now but once Easter holidays show up, ...