Happiness isn’t possible, and that’s fine.

I think the internet and Hollywood really did a number on our happiness. Think about it. Is it the happiness we always think about? Because I think our culture wants us to chase something that is overstated. Like love. When characters fall in love in the movies, it’s a whirlwind of emotions. It’s an intense, […]

Ipseity

People often say, when you’re in the midst of a romantic quandary, that you need some time to be single. That maybe some time away from the pursuit of someone’s affections might do you some good. It’s an easy lesson to ignore, I mean, it sounds so boring. You mean I have to actually sit […]

A 31-year-old man attempts online dating: A cautionary tale.

Its 2am here and Brixton from my bed is as silent as anything. Outside, distant cars create an echoey soundscape and the penetrating light of my phone swallows up my face like a flood light. Its a sleepless night tonight. Just me and the disillusioned glow of a dating app to keep me company. Faces […]

On being alone and not being upset about it.

The summer of 2017 was a really hot one. I know this because my then girlfriend and I hauled everything we own across several streets in Clapham, up several flights of stairs in a flat before dumping it all on the floor of our empty front room. I held several boxes in my clutches, a […]

Yawning (and how I learned to stop worrying and love sleeping pills)

Life is cruel. You lay your head on the pillow at night and try to go to sleep and your minds synapses start to flare up like a dirty engine, sick with oil, spewing out flames in time with your brains wild flexing. The possibility of a good night’s sleep ebbs away. Thoughts incoherent and […]

London Alternative Market: BDSM, but not as you know it.

LAM or the London Alternative Market is disappointing. But it’s not disappointing for reasons you might expect. It’s disappointing by just how normal everything seems. It’s not disappointing because it’s gross. It doesn’t disappoint because it’s a toxic environment or because it’s overpoweringly intimidating. Nope, it’s actually just pretty normal.

On Dad’s and Christmas

As we approach Christmas I find myself thinking about my father an awful lot. The feelings are often confused and bittersweet and it doesn’t help when each year only seems to pile on more confusions and contradictions. After just a few years of this, the plumbing upstairs is well and truly blocked. I never grant […]

Gentrification and the Victoria Line: Authenticity is a marketing buzzword.

There’s a lot of crowds packed into a heaving tube train at 1am on weekends. People are smartly dressed and drunk. A man with a 5 o’clock shadow staggers on, swerving into people as though they were bowling skittles. He holds on to nearby handholds for dear life but the jerky movements of the tube […]

All Quiet on the Western Front

It’s been a little quiet around here, hasn’t it? The funeral march of life sometimes demands you to put your attention elsewhere. I think I’ve been doing that for a little while. There’s going to be changes around here. For the longest time, Digital Brain has been a place for me to write about nerd […]