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NOW | 3 June 2026

Think of a Now page as what one would tell a friend they haven't seen in awhile.

Living: Six months since I went back to a monthly salary of zero and have been clawing through month by month to pay rent, which was raised back up in a global energy crisis. This realities this phase brings comes with unbearable relational grief. Allah sent me some relief a few weeks ago, where after 7 years apart I was able to spend time with two kindred souls I did not think I would ever get to see again.

Reading: Rodrigo Nunes (2021) Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal. I've been seeking out books published before 2022-2023 to cleanse my palate and stay sane from reading so much of the ghostwritten generated text that emerged everywhere from 2022 onwards.

Listening: Leyla Ebrahimi - I'm Sorry Maria

Making: I'm retelling stories from the Qur'ān the way I wish someone would tell them to me in the moment we are in. It was a project I started this Ramadhan to get back into writing stories from the most healing starting point I could think of. First up is the first androgyne and their first hater Satan, then Noah and building a world that loves you back, and then Lut and living in a death cult.

Hyperfocusing: Playing Go / Baduk with my anchor partner to practice what C. Thi Nguyen calls "agency yoga."

Some of what I've saved

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This year, I've also started curated my reading highlights from the words of others by theme in the series Full Moon Forage.
  1. Capitalism should be understood as a religion, said Walter Benjamin in 1931
  2. Nothing we can say anything meaningful about can be described as organisationless, said Rodrigo Nunes in 2021
  3. Organising is the work of making things work by adjusting between more or less centralisation as conditions change, said Rodrigo Nunes in 2021
  4. Dominant nodes of power fear queer friendships, said Foucault in 1997
  5. Entertainment is mass comms warfare designed to conquer our convictions, said media studies professor Jared Ball in 2025
  6. Bali's first tourist hotel went up in Seminyak after 80,000 were killed on beaches and forests in 1966, said Vincent Bevins in 2020
  7. Lying is most harmful for the liar, even white lies are not harmless or neutral, said Robyn Humphrys in 2026
  8. When we know how to be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape, said bell hooks in 1999
  9. You become radicalised when you are willing to practice doing differently with others, not just thinking differently, said Ismatu Gwendolyn in 2025
  10. Friendship is a polyvalent intimacy that defies hierarchy, formalisation, and state sanction in its unwieldiness, said Sophie K Rosa in 2023

This is a /now page inspired by Al Ibrahim, who was inspired by Derek Sivers, who said to think of a Now page as what one would tell a friend they haven't seen in a year.

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Liy is a tropical cryptid in Southeast Asia foraging for narrative resources from the periphery to prepare for precarious futures. This is an ad-free space outside of the algo. If you're new here (hello!) or need a refresher, start here for house rules. Here is what I am up to now. I spend time thinking out of my zettelkasten notes system and sharing curated playlists from my time travels. Consider subscribing (it's free!) to read more and stay in touch: I only send out letters a few times a year. If you valued something here, say so (if we have access to each other) or I would really appreciate if you buy me a coffee— that sends me a sign to keep going.