Evermore Album Review

 

Dear Grandkid,

I would be 80  I guess if I am still alive by the time you are reading this letter. I decided to write a letter to my next generation to tell what exactly happened in 2020. I warned you that this letter might be involving the events and stories that you wish you would never hear. I don’t know your age now cos I don’t know which year you would be born. But still, I guess you would be teenagers who want to rebel to your parents. If you inherit my genes, I bet you would be very good looking and smart. Trust me, your granny is such kind of lady who is independent, smart and very good looking. If your mom or your dad is not that good looking, it would be your grandpa’s fault. 

 

Well, 2020 is really about nothing but social distancing. You cannot hug or talk or smile or interact with other people without wearing masks. If your parents are born in this year, they might be thinking masks are like cloths to cover private part. But noooooo! It’s because of Corona Virus aka Covid 19. Mouths should not be covered by mask every time. It doesn’t matter where it started but it effected to everyone around the world. Your granny dreamed to travel to Italy during the long holidays in April but it was ruined by Covid 19. I was really disappointed and angry when the Covid 19 was spread in Italy. Italy is my dream place to travel because I love their culture, their landscaping, their fashions, and everything. Don’t ask if your granny likes Italian handsome guys because I do. I even read a lot about roman history, watched movies such as “Under the Tuscan Sun”, “Letter to Juliet” just to live in the moment. But it was all ruined. 

 

Once I decided to go to Italy instead of Greece, the covid 19 went to Italy before I arrived. So I had to cancel my dream trip and it hurt me a lot. In 2020, your granny was about to have longest holidays in her entire life. She was dreaming a lot to go to Europe cos she was never been there. But it didn’t happen as she planned. So, kid, life is about uncertainty. You cannot predict what would happen next. So live in the moment. Don’t worry too much like I used to. Don’t think too much like I used to. I am still worrying a lot about everything, thinking too much a lot by the time I am writing this letter to you too. But I want you to know that those are useless. This is what I need to fix. So, please don’t inherit that kinda gene from me. You will be living in hell if you get it from me. 

 

I am sure you would be learning about Donald Trump in your history subject in school. I want to assure that he is a total douchebag like he seemed. He created lots of chaos when he was president. Because of him, your granny was busy a lot last year. Well, this is another story that I would write. I hate him a lot and you must hate him too because you are my grand kid. 

 

2020 is still a joke for everyone. Everything just shut down and people are forced to stay at home in the very first three months of 2020. When Iranian General was killed by American airstrike, the whole world thought there would be Third World War. Because Iran was claiming that they would take revenge. So, the world was preparing for that. But good thing is Iran is in middle east and USA is in America. We are in Asia. By the way, kid, learn about geography. There’s so many people I saw who don’t know where Pacific Ocean is, where Canada is. You must be smart in that subject in school cos your great grandmother is a Geography teacher. Your great grandfather graduated with Geography major too. Because of this two great grandparents, I needed to learn a lot about longitude and latitude, where is north pole, where is south pole, how many states in our countries and such kind of things. Cos they asked me frequently and if I didn’t answer pretty well, they deducted my pocket money. So, if I am still alive by the time you’re learning Geography, I will do the same. So, brace yourself. 

 

Let’s go back to rumor Third World War. Everyone was scared. They scared if the whole world economy collapsed. They scared if the petroleum price would go up. They scared if they died. But after a few weeks, Covid 19 won over that Third World War rumor. It went to Iran and Italy and the rest of the world. Funny! Cos everyone was forced to stay at home. They didn’t have to go to work. Everyone was forced to work at home as well.  That’s absurd. 

 

People who used to think the worst thing in the world was California wild fire and Australian wild fire and the thirsty Koala realized that the worst thing in the world was Covid 19 cos you couldn’t know if you would die or live during this period. You couldn’t know if you were infected as the symptoms were really complicated. What people in Myanmar did at that time? We were waiting the time when it arrived. Everyone knew it would come to us cos it traveled the whole world cos it didn’t have to pay the flight tickets fees and no visa needed. When our government announced negative cases for like a month, everyone didn’t believe it cos it took time a lot to come to us.  People around the world did panic buying including our people when we heard the rumor cases. You know what most people bought during their panic buying? Toilet paper! 

 

Finally, it arrived on 23^rd March only a day after I came back from Kalaw. I even fell down from my seat when I learned the positive patients visited Kalaw and they came back Yangon with the same airline with me. But thankfully, they flew by morning flight and I flew back by evening flight. What a relief. At that moment, I even thought how to be alive during the isolation period in hospital.

Then the longest holidays came in April. We had curfew and no one could go out after 10 PM. During that time, driving on the lane was the best. No traffic. It’s kinda adventure to go back home before 10 PM from office sometimes when I had overtime. At first, I thought staying in Yangon without going anywhere in April would be the worst thing that I could imagine. But it was not as bad as I thought. It was fine. So, when you had long holidays or long break, it is not a bad idea to stay at home and spend your time reading, writing, watching movies. It can actually make you relax. So, you should do at some point of your life cos I will also do again.

I always planned to go somewhere in April every year cos it’s kinda rare moment for me to have at least a week long holidays. But not being able to go somewhere fancy is also all right. You can stay at home and utilize your 24 hours whatever you like. That is the moment that you can reflect yourself. So, take a break, stay at home and give yourself a chance to do whatever you want. That is self-reflection and you will know more a lot about yourself. I spent reading my diary from teenage and early 20s. Then I realized that people could change a lot. Cos the person I was in those teenage years and early 20s and the person that I am right now are totally different. Different purposes, different mindset, different personality as well. You know what kid? I don’t know how old you are right now. That’s why I am not sure if I can say this word cos it’s PG 13. “Nobody dies a Virgin. Life fucks us all”. Okay? It’s not what your granny said. It’s what the legendary musician Kurt Cobain said. I don’t know who would be famous in your time. But Kurt Cobain is your grand uncle’s favorite artist. 

 

I just wonder who would be the biggest movie stars and musicians in your time. I also wonder if you like the movies from my time. Cos whenever I watched the movies from 1950s, I couldn’t relate to the dialogue and the acting as well. Different style from our time. That is why I am not sure if you like Titanic, Troy and all Brad Pitt’s movies. But I bet you would agree Brad Pitt is really handsome when you watch his movies.  

 

Kid, I do wish you wouldn’t be facing such kind of Covid 19 diseases in your generation. That’s scary. You need to wear masks and you cannot see each other’s smiles. You cannot hug people as well. That’s pretty sucks. I don’t really know when this period will be over. By the time I am writing this letter, we have second wave in Myanmar.  Your granny is scared a lot about Covid 19. 

 

Kid, please live your life on your own term. Even if your parents tell you what to do and how to do, please follow your instincts and guts. You know what to do in your heart. Trust me. If you believe something bad will happen, it will happen. So, you need to train your mind and you need to know the way to connect your mind as well. I don’t know what kind of disease will be trending in your time. But in 2020, Covid 19 is the most trending disease. 

 

You know how I try to keep my sanity during this period? I just tell myself that I need to be alive cos I haven’t published my novel yet. To be a writer is my biggest dream and it will ever be. I want to touch millions of people’s heart by my novel. That is what I really do. Maybe your generation knows me as a writer instead of business person. Maybe you will be proud of me because your granny is a writer. I may not be a writer yet when I write this letter to you, but I promise that I would be one one day. 

 

Listen kid, don’t ever discriminate someone because of their skin color.  Every human being is the same. You may be black or you may be white or you maybe yellow. I don’t know what kind of skin color you would be possessing. But never ever feel ashamed of it and never ever discriminate someone because of their skin color. In 2020, people are against racists and they will keep doing the same. I do hope, things will be getting better in your generation. There’s always beauty in different color. 

 

You know what I still hope? I hope you live in Mars; living and surviving there. I dreamed to travel to other planet after watching “Passengers”. I dreamed to live in Mars as well. That is the reason Elon Musk becomes my hero. Cos I believe that he would be the one who can bring all of us; the adventurers to Mars and create our lives in different place. Of cos, there wouldn’t be Covid 19 on Mars.  You cannot imagine how we survive during this time. But thankfully, we had less cases than in others countries. That is the biggest relief ever. Economy is downsizing and I don’t know when it will be recover. I don’t know when we all can travel to the place that we want to go. But I can tell you that I will be surviving until your parents deliver you to the earth.

Just a reminder, wear the mask and wash your hands!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

Your Amazing Granny Khwin