Oops. Did something catch your attention? Something interesting? Annoying? Maybe even disturbing?
If so, I am glad to hear it. That’s the whole point of this “journey-journal” (I wonder if the two words are linguistic cousins?).
What you will find
tanfrancis sits at the intersection of many roads. Some lead to personal reinvention and reflection. Some to history, philosophy and even useful superstitionology. The Second Act is an important path for us who are retired or planning for retirement. And secret passages to find the way out (or into) of our interior castles and the dark places within us.
Since man does not live by bread alone, some will explore food stories and good stories while at the table.
And there will be Letters: to a season, to a person, to a moment.
Occasionally, we may stray from our collective journey. But I think that’s fine. Life should be colourful and unpredictable. And above all, interesting.
What’s important is that tanfrancis be worthy of your time and attention.
Who am I?
I often wonder about this as well. Copywriter. Marketing guy. Hawker. Jesuit novice (briefly in a past life). Zen dabbler (on Saturday mornings). Father of two. Singaporean-Chinese-Australian. Somewhere in his second act. Villager in an Eco Village. So many masks for so many lives.
When I ran a restaurant (Lot 8) for five years in near-total silence and solitude most of the time, one of those began to surface, and the many conversations in my head eventually found their way onto these pages.
These are my conscience and my thoughts. Fears and aspirations. The voices of my ancestors, my angels and my demons. Glimpses into the dark nights of the soul. Mirror and beacon. You may recognise some too, and you may not even like some of what you recognise.
This is who I am.
An invitation to stay for a while
In these pages, I see us having a pot of Oolong, sitting across from each other, talking about small gods and big ideas, about Eastern philosophy and Chinese gastronomy, about ugly delicious and dumpling economics. I appreciate your presence even as I write.
So, pull up a chair. Rest. And have some tea.
Your friend and servant,
Francis
What else am I working on?
The Intelligent Playbook is a separate publication for people who want to use AI but aren’t tech experts. The Intelligent Playbook was written because I want to learn about A.I. and write about it. I think it is a very useful and practical toolkit. You can find it at The Intelligent Playbook.
