advice

I Ran 167 Days In A Row And I Don’t Recommend It

/ Stuart Danker / 22 Comments
A compilation of Stuart's IG Story archive

My IG Story archive is just videos of me running.

It’s not that I don’t want you to run. I don’t recommend it because you should find something that resonates with you. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with a little introduction.

So I’m the type of person who’d adopt a new habit, just because. No warning, no prep, and boom—suddenly I’m on a meditating streak.

That’s how I quit my one-pack-a-day smoking habit. I just decided I wanted to stop smoking. That’s how I turned vegetarian for a couple of years.

And as of 12 June 2024, I’ve officially run five kilometres a day, 167 days in a row. Some days I walked (pulled my back). Some days I ran circles in my room (COVID quarantine). But ever since I told myself I’d cover a certain amount of distance every day, I found myself unable to stop.

Do I want to run a marathon someday? Nope. Am I looking to lose weight? Never. So why the hell am I doing this?

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Why I’ve Lost Interest In Words And What I’m Doing About It

/ Stuart Danker / 64 Comments

So I lost interest in words for a bit. No writing, reading, or even listening to words, except when work is involved. It was just one thing after the other: a new job, a newborn, my old procrastination habit. You know, the usual.

But it’s coming up to 16 months since landing a full-time job, and I’ve realised I hadn’t written for myself since. 

Do you know how much time 16 months is? I could’ve written just 250 words a day and I’d have two novels by now. I could’ve spent twenty minutes a day learning a new language and have mastered a fourth language. I could’ve laid one brick a day and built a tiny little ledge. Okay, this one’s not so impressive, but I’d have my very own ledge. Alas, all that potential is now gone.

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So I Wore All Black For A Year To Improve My Social Skills

/ Stuart Danker / 41 Comments
Stuart in black tee doing stand-up comedy

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. My pre-all-black days.

I’ve always worn a black T-shirt for as far as I can remember. Scroll back through my Instagram account and you’ll probably catch the rogue grey or white, but I’ve always leaned more toward black clothes.

I have to credit my genesis story to the series Californication. Hank Moody was a true inspiration to the budding writer that was yours truly, and so I adopted the fictional character’s wardrobe, as well as the philosophy of a personal uniform.

But then came the next level—the day I decided to wear all black. Every day.

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I’m Not Cut Out To Be A Magazine Editor Because Of These Responsibilities

/ Stuart Danker / 51 Comments

Ever since I joined the publishing industry, I aspired to be an editor. I just needed the writing skills, and I had a decent serving of that.

I pictured myself catching typos and lecturing writers on how they could improve their style. I’d be perched at my desk, approving or rejecting pitches like I was swiping on Tinder. Every once in a while, I’d throw out words like ‘pagination’ or ‘masthead’.

Turns out, I had totally misjudged that role. As a deputy editor for a lifestyle magazine, I get a first-hand look at what my boss does, and I’m quickly learning the many reasons why I might not want to be an editor, ever.

The first reason? I’m bad at dealing with people. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here are some of the other ‘interesting’ things an editor needs to do.

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This artist is dropping bombs about writing

/ Stuart Danker / 8 Comments

Ideas are about confluence. I believe it’s Neil Gaiman who said that. I can’t come up with quotes like that. That’s because I don’t typically insert ten-dollar words like confluence into my everyday speech.

And that’s despite the fact that I live in Kuala Lumpur (which literally means muddy confluence in Malay), but I digress.

Anyway, in my spare time, I watch sketchbook videos so I can fancy myself an artist. That’s when I came across this talented Singaporean’s video and found myself upon a confluence.

Chroma Moma’s (who shall henceforth be known as CM) thoughts on art mirrored mine on writing, and that was how this post was born.

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