Writing about lifestyle experiments and creative projects.

And sharing my favorite apps, books, travel recommendations, and more.

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Favorite Things 2022

Index fund investing, PJs, parenting books, a 4000-kilometer road trip, raw everything, the no-tipping experiment, and a few more 2022 favorites.

The Fear List

Over the years, I’ve used my fears to create unordinary life memories and become stronger. Until now, though, most of my fears were about doing things.

Favorite Things 2021

The best purchase I made under $100, the books that left a mark, the one big thing that defined the year, and more favorite things of 2021.

The Making of Slow Retreats

The little bets that led to Slow Retreats and the program of the Reset Edition with daily practices, workshops, and tools revealed.

The Story of Us

The story of how G and I met and fell in love (pt.1). And got married. (pt.2)

Everything I Never Told You

A short backstory to my life with anecdotes I never shared before about love, family, friendship, school, and work.

Favorite Things 2020

The best purchase I made under $100, a definitive list of my all-time hair favorites, the book that changed plenty, a skill I loved learning, and more favorite things of 2020.

Happily Ever After

If it weren’t for witnesses, I would think it a lie A story of Tyler and me but actually just me all along It’s how we cursed our friends with make-believe of something far and fairy and ever after Even I still fail to grasp how true you are Watch 🎬 Fight Club You Might […]

The Knitting Club

In a couple of days, city life as I knew it would change, and the government would implement increased measures to help slow the spread of the Coronavirus. It was Saturday, April 4th, and I was out for my morning stroll at the Marina Bay. I was listening to an episode of The Tim Ferriss […]

Mirha Left

The other day, I deleted all my WhatsApp conversations. I even left inactive group chats, and risked whatever judgment people would lay upon me as they’d find that: “Mirha left.” My craving for a clean slate trumped my desire for social acceptance, and yet, I still squinted each time I tapped clear chat, and felt […]

Found in Nothing (and My Latest Tokyo Favorites)

This time my fear of missing out prevails, and I open the door, which minutes ago existed merely as a symbol, the or in an intense, repetitive narrative, to enter or not to enter. A faint smell of tobacco hits me, and I try to place it, hopping through my memory map of cigarette smells. […]

Favorite Things 2019

In 2019, I created an impromptu web dev track, and like that, went on to teach code in Bali and Barcelona, to work with a designer who became a friend, and ended up with an open-source project by surprise, even though it was part of the design. Poppy became my first published story of fiction. […]

Everything I Know About Fasting and Going Keto

“Cancer..” she dropped while her eyes betrayed that she shouldn’t have. “She didn’t.” I thought. “Cancer!?” I bit back. “Uhm, nope, thank you. I’m just here for a pap smear.” I tried staring her out. But beneath my gaze, I noticed that I was holding my breath. I hoped she wouldn’t. Or maybe that she […]

Slow Coffee

When I was younger, my dad used to make me “white coffees.” From the adult’s coffee pot, he’d pour a splash of the brew in my mug, then flood it with hot milk, and stir in a spoon or two of sugar. I’d drink the liquid caramel with pride and savory French toast doused in […]

Poppy

“One more,” they whispered. Please, their ink-black eyes urged in silence. I looked across the field of poppies where now thousands of goldfinches had gathered. Their red faces blended so well with the flowers that I could only distinguish one from the other when the birds fluffed their feathers, causing ripples across the field, just […]

Leap of Code

I have a moving image in my mind. The bottom half of it is taken up by sand, the color reminiscent of Cappuccino, a camel which I once befriended on another land of fine particles. The sky fills the top bit, and in between the two elements, there’s a shade of mantle green, HSL(124, 7%, […]

Favorite Things 2018

In 2018, I spent the first few weeks of the year in a coding boot camp. There were palm trees and surf sessions, but also so much code that I nevertheless cried. I found a job, and with that became both a web developer and one of those success stories that I used to distrust. […]

From War with Love

I don’t remember much from the war. I’ve only ever owned a few memories. Barely moving still lifes of which I can’t even say how much they imitate the reality of my past. They could be carbon copies of what happened or constructions drawn from stories and photographs. But this is all I got. Sarajevo, […]

Love in a Time Machine

We step into a white, rickety-looking Mercedes. And I love that it doesn’t look any better than it does. Our driver is an old man with a thick, silver mustache and 1.5 thumbs. It’s clear from the start that he won’t be talking much, but so won’t you and I. The silence is plenty. The […]

The 10-Step Korean Skin Care Routine

With a solid layer of dirt on my face and between my toes, I walked into my hostel dorm. When straight away, in the far right corner, I saw a big yellow tube on the sink. From up close it read ‘cleansing volcano something.’ I took the cleansing part as a sign, and then, I […]

Beautiful Stranger

I saw him from a distance. His amber-blonde curls and sun-painted face drew me in. His freckles made him look older than he was, I observed. Australian, I guessed. He was sitting on a bench, waiting for his friends, I imagined. There was ample space around him, a plain background, and the right sort of […]

Not My Kind of Pie

The exercise read: “Draw a pie chart of your resilience.” In retrospect, I’m thinking, maybe I misunderstood it. Perhaps I didn’t need to go that far. But I had a hard time starting at “resilience,” so I went the other way around, and dove into my memories, looking for the hardships of my past. The […]

California Pit Stops

When I was younger, I was desperate for some independence. I revolted against my world, my parents; I roared for space. But my parents, unable to trust me with what I needed, instead, did what they had been taught and tightened the reins even more. I moved out when I was 18. The distance helped. […]

Favorite Things 2017

In 2017, I did an acting workshop, a kombucha workshop, and three tea workshops. I took a singing class and a pottery class. And was left with a deformed espresso cup. After five bloody years, I finished The Spin-Off Project. And figured out what I want to do for the next five of my life. […]

Like Love Exploding

As if standing in a nightscape blessed by Bob Ross himself. Above us a circle of friendly treetops and shades of darkness I was yet to see. Stars. Around, us. And nothing but silence. A sound so intense I can almost hear it. Hugged by life. Hearts wide open. We dance. Who loves like this […]

Tunes Between Friends

While other teenagers played video games or perfected their eyeliner skills, I watched music channels. When people ask me how come I have an American-English accent, my guess is MTV did it. At the age of 15, I spent most of my pocket money and whatever I earned serving high teas (at a Leonidas lunchroom) […]

Kill Your Monsters

All I wanted was to know how to draw. But the ink just didn’t seem to flow from my fingertips as it did from the hands of other kids. And it’s not that any of my art teachers ever told me that I was bad at drawing. They didn’t need to; their disinterest said plenty. […]

10 Things to Do in Melbourne

Hilly bike rides from pub to pub. Fireplaces and future-talks. Winter romance at its best. That’s where it first found us, Melbourne’s magic. It’s an awe that takes time to reveal itself–be patient. Don’t look for it. It’s not in one place, although it might follow you to one of the below ten. 🏃🏻‍♀️ 1. […]

Best Friends

We raced through the rain, hill up. Clunky helmets wobbling, down. Another crossing. The last block. More smudged still lifes of light and laughter. We halted, dismounted, locked our bikes. And right there, right that. The locking of the bike. I had done it before, many times. In a similar winter cold, under the same […]

Hello, World!

In pursuit of finding out what I want to do for a living, I experimented with 12 different lifestyles in the last five years. I tried being a polyglot, artist, kiteboarder, philanthropist, dancer, entrepreneur, reader, snowboarder, traveler, meditator, surfer and photographer. In the process, and while documenting my experiences at thespinoffproject.com, I developed my fondness […]