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2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | The Vatican's official astronomer, Brother Guy Consolmagno, has given an interview in which he discusses the Vatican's thinking on what to do if alien intelligence is discovered: We find an intelligent civilization and there's no way in creation we can communicate with them because they're so alien to us. We can't talk to dolphins now. In which case, we'll never know. Second scenario: We find the intelligent civilization. We can communicate. We discover that they have the two essentials that theologians talk about for the human soul, intelligence and free will. They know who they are, they're self-aware, and they're able to do something about it. I think dogs are self-aware, but they don't have a whole lot of free will. Maybe computers are the same sort of thing. Human beings have to have both... A third scenario: We find a dozen civilizations out there, and a bunch of Jehovah's witnesses go up and convert them all. At the end of the day, every civilization is Christian, except the human race is still not too sure about this. I mean, anything's possible. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | From the urlLink Shrine of the Holy Whapping : You know you're a Catholic nerd when you watch the trailer for Van Helsing and you immediately notice they got the screen on the St. Peter's confessional wrong. I've got one like that! You know you're an Orthodox nerd when you watch the Bond film 'Goldeneye' and notice the inside of the Cathedral that's supposed to be in Moscow is actually the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in London. The golden mosaics are a dead giveaway actually - so typically Greek. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Not a comforting read. (I'd say VERY WORRYING - Ed.) Again, from urlLink Gerard Serafin : And another longer piece about a new book by Italian firebrand, Oriana Fallaci, urlLink La Forza della Ragione (The Force of Reason) . '..The last chapters of The Force of Reason are dedicated to explaining why Europe's three main political and social forces (Left, Right, and the Church) gave in to what she calls 'the Islamic invasion.' While Fallaci accuses the Left and Right mostly of ignorance and opportunism, her harshest words are left for the Church. Fallaci has been known throughout her long career for her strong anti-clericalism (she is a long-time leftist, daughter of an Italian partisan who fought the Fascists), but describes herself as a 'Christian atheist.' While stating that she does not believe in God, she claims that the West cannot ignore its Christian origin and identity. Even if we deny God's existence, Fallaci says, Christianity has shaped the Western world. It defines 'who we are, where we are coming from, and where we are going.' But the Church, she says, is not able — or worse, not willing — to defend Christianity. Fallaci accuses the Church of helping the expansion of the 'Islamic empire,' lobbying for more Muslims to come to Europe. She points out that Christianity offers its churches as shelters to Muslim immigrants, who immediately turn them into mosques, as it has happened repeatedly in France and Italy. It continuously apologizes for the Crusades, but never expects an apology for what Muslims are doing now to Christians in Sudan or Indonesia.' |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | A chance encounter with an Iraqi priest. When the conversation turned to life in Iraq, Father Hermiz explained that the majority of Christians there support America's effort. Yet he described what he referred to as a contradiction: The Christians are pleased that Saddam is gone, yet they felt safer under Saddam. This is because Saddam did not bother Christians so long as they kept to themselves. While this meant that Christians could not openly proselytize, it nonetheless allowed them to maintain churches and hold services without fear of government reprisal. Since Saddam's fall, however, Father Hermiz lamented that one church in Baghdad has been bombed, and the Christians are scared. His parishioners are concerned about the Shias, who they fear will not adhere to Saddam's 'don't bother us, and we won't bother you' policy. While Father Hermiz expressed fear about extremists like Muqtada al-Sadr weeks before the Mehdi Army clashed with American forces, he also expressed fear about the seemingly moderate Ayatollah Sistani and his followers. The priest asserted, 'If [an] imam like Sistani says, 'Go and kill yourself,' they will do it without question.' [ urlLink link from urlLink Gerard Serafin ] |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | What is your name?: Edward. Are you named after anyone?: Not as far as I know. What's your screename?: InfernoXV. Would you name a child of yours after you?: Gods, no. If you were born a member of the opposite sex what would your name be?: Don't know. Anything but Edwardine. If you could switch names with a friend who would it be?: Nerses Nersessian Are there any mispronounciations/typos that ppl do w/ your name constantly?: Not in writing, but in speech - 'Eh-wart' Would you drop your last name if you became famous?: Absolutely not Basics Your gender:: Male Straight/Gay/Bi:: I'm a people person ;) Single?: Single If not, do you want to be?: We'll see what comes alon Birthdate:: 21 September 1977 Your age:: 16 for the tenth year running Age you act:: 17 Age you wish you were:: 18 Your height:: 5'10' Eye color:: Dark Brown Happy with it?: Unless I can get fiery red... I'll stick with it. Hair color:: Rootes: Dark black-brown speckled with white. Tips: Blue and lighter brown Happy with it?: Not really, I'm redoing the blue dye to have blue all over! Lefty/righty/ambidextrous:: Ambisinistrous Your living arrangement:: With parents Your family:: Very close, very weird, very us. Have any pets?: Do favoured human slaves count? Whats your job?: Dilettante, mostly. I also work for a Chinese semi-Governmental Satellite company based in Peking. Piercings?: Pierced right earlobe twice, but always got lazy so they closed up. Tattoos?: No, but been tempted to get Ethiopian-style crosses done on forehead, hands, back and arms Obsessions?: Plenty Addictions?: Chocolate Do you speak another language?: Shanghainese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Ancient Greek and Latin Have a favorite quote?: 'Television, my dear, is for appearing on, not watching' - Noel Coward Do you have a webpage?: http://infernoxv.blogspot.com and http://home.pacific.net.sg/~kyrie (but that's REALLY outdated, haven't touched it since 1998 so it's really off) Deep Thoughts About Life and You in it Do you live in the moment?: I live (if such a human verb may be used) beyond the constraints of time, in another dimension. In otherwords, I'm a space cadet to the Nth power. Do you consider yourself tolerant of others?: Absolutely. I can tolerate anything except stupidity. I feel sorry for parents of stupid people, they should've raised cabbages instead, at least those could be eaten or sold. Do you have any secrets?: My cupboard is an ossorium. Do you hate yourself?: Don't be silly. Do you like your handwriting?: When writing the roman alphabet, no. Writing Chinese and Greek, it's quite nice. Do you have any bad habits?: Sloth. Gluttony. Lust. Pride. What is the compliment you get from most people?: 'You're such a bitch' If a movie was made about your life, what would it be called?: Drama Queen What's your biggest fear?: Being penniless comes to mind first, but then I realise I fear having no friends and being untrue to myself more. Can you sing?: Divinely. Do you ever pretend to be someone else just to look cool?: Once. Are you a loner?: Yes and no. What are your #1 priorities in life?: Heh. I get lectured often by friends and family for not having my priorities right, so I'll pass on this one. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?: Absolutely. Are you a daredevil?: Only in certain things. I don't see the point in Bungee-jumping, for a start. Is there anything you fear or hate about yourself?: My dark side. Are you passive or agressive?: Aggressive Do you have a journal?: What do you think you're reading? What is your greatest strength and weakness?: Greatest Strength: Intelligence (Loyalty comes second). Greatest Weakness: Pride (Boys comes a close second) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?: My arrogance and pride. Do you think you are emotionally strong?: To a extent. Is there anything you regret doing/not doing in life?: Yes. Do you think life has been good so far?: Not terribly good in some aspects, but corkingly good in others. What is the most important lesson you've learned from life?: Trust not in the goodness and humanity of men. What do you like the most about your body?: My hands - they're artist's hands. My Eyes. And least?: MY BIG FAT ASS. actually all the other fat bits too. I'd love to have an olympic swimmer's body, but that apparently only comes in a package with a single-digit IQ, pity. Do you think you are good looking?: Not really. Are you confident?: Yeah. What is the fictional character you are most like?: Le Vicomte de Valmont Are you perceived wrongly?: I'm Miss-Understood! *sobs dramatically and waves arms* Do You... Smoke?: A pipe. Cherry Tobacco preferably. Do drugs?: Chocolate. Pot doesn't do anything for me. Read the newspaper?: Yes, but I find I get better variety and mode depth from various online news sources. Pray?: Not often enough, alas. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Go to church?: See above. Talk to strangers who IM you?: Only if they're goodlooking. Failing that, they better be extremely smart or charming. If none of those, SHOO! Sleep with stuffed animals?: I used to have a purple dragon and a teddy bear on my bed till I was 22, but then realised I was allergic to the fur, so they went =( Take walks in the rain?: Don't be silly, I'd catch cold. Talk to people even though you hate them?: Yes. It's part of being a courtier. Drive?: Uh no. I can't drive. I ride a horse splendidly though. Like to drive fast?: Can't drive. I love being on a horse at top speed though. Would or Have You Ever? Liked your voice?: I adore it. Hurt yourself?: I have. Silly me. Been out of the country?: Yes. Eaten something that made other people sick?: Yes, and I turned out fine. Been in love?: Yes. *sound of heart breaking softly in the background* Done drugs?: Yes, but they never did anything for me. Gone skinny dipping?: Me? Oh please, it's called Fatty Dipping in my case. Had a medical emergency?: Yes. Had surgery?: Yes. Ran away from home?: Of course not. I can't carry all my matching luggage on my own. Played strip poker?: Yeah. *GRIN* Gotten beaten up?: Never have, but it's a distinct possibility, seeing as I'm a bit of a rake. Beaten someone up?: Not since I was in college. Been picked on?: All the time in school. Been on stage?: I'm an actor. All the world's a stage. Next question. Slept outdoors?: London, with my friend Shaun visiting from Wales. On a park bench, to be precise. Thought about suicide?: Yes, but always realised it was silly. Pulled an all nighter?: Often. If yes, what is your record?: I might tell you privately if you ask nicely. Gone one day without food?: Yes, I have. It's called fasting. Talked on the phone all night?: When I was in love... Slept together with the opposite sex w/o actually having sex?: Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! *jumps up and down excitedly* Slept all day?: Yup. back in College, one cold winter - all day and night. Though it was broken up with short toilet and food breaks. Killed someone?: No, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it. Made out with a stranger?: Yes Had sex with a stranger?: Ha. Nice try. Thought you're going crazy?: I don't recall ever being sane. Kissed the same sex?: *arches right eyebrow* You SURE you know me? Done anything sexual with the same sex?: *raises both eyebrows* Ha! Been betrayed?: Yes. Had a dream that came true?: Yes. It was comforting. Broken the law?: Often and with pleasure. Met a famous person?: It all depends on one's definition of famous. Have you ever killed an animal by accident?: Yes. On purpose?: In the Bio lab for dissection purposes, so yes to that one. Vermin and bugs don't count, do they? Told a secret you swore you wouldn't tell?: You mean like the time Mark.... Stolen anything?: Do hearts count? Been on radio/tv?: Heh. Yes to both. Film too. Been in a mosh-pit?: Gods, no. Had a nervous breakdown?: Almost. Bungee jumped?: Nope, pointless. Had a dream that kept coming back?: Yes, though I can't remember what it was. Beliefs Belive in life on other planets?: There must be intelligent life somewhere. Miracles?: Absoutely. I've seen them happen. Astrology?: No, but it amuses me. Magic?: I pull weird things out of my hat all the time. God?: Glory to Holy Consubstantial Life-Creating and Undivided Trinity! Satan?: Vade Satana! Santa?: Uh, yes, if you count Santa Maria and all the Saints. Ghosts?: The Holy Ghost - yes. The spooky sort - I've seen them, so yes. Luck?: Strictly speaking, no. Love at first sight?: No. But Lust at first sight, definitely. Yin and yang (that good cant exist w/o bad)?: Of course. Witches?: Have you met my ex's mother? Easter bunny?: Never had bunny at Easter. Easter Lamb's very tasty though =) Believe its possible to remain faithful forever?: In theory, but not for me. Believe theres a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow?: In theory. Do you wish on stars?: Only as a bit of poetic licence. Deep Theological Questions Do you believe in the traditional view of Heaven and Hell?: Yes. Do you think God has a gender?: Theoretically, He has no gender. Which sounds like a total oxymoron, because 'He' is a masculine pronoun. Do you believe in organized religion?: Eastern Orthodoxy is anything but organised. Where do you think we go when we die?: If you're good or repentant, heaven. If you're bad or unrepentant, Texas. Friends Do you have any gay/lesbian friends?: A plethora. Who is your best friend?: Right now, I'm not sure I have one. Who's the one person that knows most about you?: Ha. It'd have to depend on the period of life in question. What's the best advice that anyone has ever given to you?: 'Always be true to yourself and your conscience' Your favourite inside joke?: Not being able to tell a platypus from a duck. Thing you're picked on most about?: Being over-fussy with details. Who's your longest known friend?: Gosh. Adrian, who was born on the same day and in the same hospital as I. Newest?: Justin Lee. Shyest?: Mark Huang. Funniest?: Graeme! Sweetest?: Right now, Jason Ong Kay Jin. Closest?: Oooh. That's a hard one. Weirdest?: They're all weird. Smartest?: Anthony Lim, Esq. Ditziest?: Graeme! Friends you miss being close to the most?: Endriko. Andrij. James Johnson. Last person you talked to online?: Yip Kai Who do you talk to most online?: Too many to count Who are you on the phone with most?: I don't do phone chats. Who do you trust most?: Anthony Lim. Who listens to your problems?: Angela Taylor. She's a gem, a substitute mum. Who do you fight most with?: No one right now, thank goodness. Who's the nicest?: Andrij, to whom I owe a debt of kindness. Who's the most outgoing?: Cheryl Ho. Who's the best singer?: Gani Abdul Karim, but he's professional. Who's on your shit-list?: The village Idiot. Have you ever thought of having sex with a friend?: Oh yes. OH YES. Who's your second family?: Christendom. Do you always feel understood?: I'm Miss-Understood, get it? Who's the loudest friend?: Alexander Phua! Do you trust others easily?: Quite. I allow most people into the privy chamber and the edge of the inner sanctum perhaps too easily. Any further is rare. Bedchamber however is far more accessible... Who's house were you last at?: Dominic's. Name one person who's arms you feel safe in:: Jason Wee. Or Justin Soo. Two of the few really sorted friends I have. Do your friends know you?: To varying degrees. Friend that lives farthest away:: Geographically, Eest US: Bob, Phil, Peter, Alexander Yao. By Timezone, West Coast US: Brian, Love and All That Do you consider love a mistake?: 'Love moves the sun and other stars', Dante tells us. I'm inclined to agree. What do you find romantic?: Acts of gallantry. Turn-on?: Intelligence, wit, charm. Failing that, a body that looks killer in tiny speedoes. Turn-off?: Stupidity. Crass people. Bad table manners. First kiss?: At the age of fifteen. It was remarkbly unremarkable, entirely forgettable if it wasn't my first. If someone u had no interest in had interest in dating u how would u feel?: Flattered, but not quite sure I'd react positively about it. Do you prefer knowing someone before dating them or going: No, the mystery and excitement of getting to know a person adds to the fun. Have u ever wished it was more socially acceptable 4 a girl 2 ask a guy out: Not a relevant question. Have you ever been romantically attracted to someone physically unattractiv: Yes. Do you think the opposite sex finds you good looking?: Do I care? What is best about the opposite sex?: Empathy, so sorely lacking in most men. What is the worst thing about the opposite sex?: They're competition. What's the last present someone gave you?: A Ukrainian Pop CD. Are you in love?: No. Do you consider your significant other hot?: Moot question, considering I haven't got one right now. However, the previous one was scorching. Who Was the Last Person... That haunted you?: Lim Zhi You wanted to kill?: The Village Idiot That you laughed at?: The Village Idiot That laughed at you?: Jason Ng That turned you on?: Lim Zhi You went shopping with?: Benjamin Lim Yi That broke your heart?: The Brat Prince To disappoint you?: The Brat Prince To ask you out?: Cheryl Ho To make you cry?: The Brat Prince To brighten up your day?: Benjamin Lim Yi That you thought about?: Justin Lee You saw a movie with?: Dominic Wan You talked to on the phone?: Andrew Liew You talked to through IM/ICQ?: Angela Taylor You saw?: Mum You lost?: The Brat Prince. Then again, he lost me, so maybe he doesn't really count. Right This Moment... Are you going out?: Tomorrow Will it be with your significant other?: Heavens No. Or some random person?: She's a buddy. What are you wearing right now?: Shorts, King's College London Teeshirt. Body part you're touching right now:: Right Ear What are you worried about right now?: I haven't a clue who might be reading this. What book are you reading?: Magic and Mystery in Ancient Egypt, by Christian Jacq. What's on your mousepad?: I don't use a mousepad. Use 5 words to describe how you're feeling:: I could use some ice-cream. Are you bored?: Ever so slightly, but this survey is vaguely interesting. Are you tired?: Taking a nap in a bit. Are you talking to anyone online?: Angela Taylor Are you talking to anyone on the phone?: Nope. Are you lonely or content?: Surprisingly content, considering my love life's been blanker yet more stable than it's been in years. Are you listening to music?: Annie Lennox's 'No More I Love You's' urlLink Really Long Survey (over 200) brought to you by urlLink BZOINK! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | How does one deal with people who are over-familiar with one? It's one thing about Singaporeans that drives my family and me up the wall. People ringing me on behalf of companies call me 'Edward'. Counter staff and service personnel call me 'Edward'. 30year-old real estate agents call my father (who is 72 this year by the way) 'David'. How does one tell these people, 'MISTER Yong to you', without sounding churlish and snobbish? I don't like this over-familiarity. In non-business and non-professional contexts, I'd never dream of being called 'Mr Yong'. However, I take exception to servants and ESPECIALLY employees of the Government calling me by my first name. Where did this horrible phenomenon come from? America, no doubt, where they maintain an illusion of equality and pretend everyone is equal in a social context. It seems to be used by folk who haven't had a proper education (they probably studied Business or the Sciences or something like that), and who think it's awfully progressive and clever to be on a first-name basis with their customers and superiors. They don't seem to realise it's 'cringe-making', as my Scottish friend Angela puts it. I think it's plain rude. Is it too much to ask for that respectful distance? I'd never dream of calling a senior, superior or anyone I'm performing a service for by their first name unless given permission to do so and even then I'd be uncomfortable doing so. It's the way I was brought up. - It seems several superstitions regarding what is unlucky in English-speaking lands date only to the Protestant Deformation. The number 13 was considered lucky in Mediaeval England, as it stood for Christ and the Apostles. To this day, a 'Baker's Dozen' means 13. Walking under a ladder was also considered lucky - a triangle symbolises the Holy Trinity. These changed when the Puritans took over and persecuted those who clung to the Old Faith - they made these old cultural things into unlucky things. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | I've just introduced a counter on my blog, it's that little number one sees on the left column below the 'If you have problems viewing the Chinese, Greek or Cyrillic characers'. It's a useful thing from urlLink www.sitemeter.com which, aside from letting one know the number of visitors, allows one to see the pages from which one's visitors surf into one's blog, as well as their domains. I'm only slightly surprised to see that 33.3% of my readers are from Singapore, and that a good percentage are from other English-speaking countries (if Singapore may be deemed an English-speaking country). What *does* surprise me is the 3.33% that comes from 'United States Government' - the .gov addresses. I know some of the readers of this blog, but apparently there are plenty I don't. Thanks for dropping by and do say hello, be it on the tagboard or comments field! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | '... I devoted myself singly, amid a crowd of subjects, to a knowledge of antiquity: for this age of ours I have always found distasteful, so that, had it not been for the love of those dear to me, I should have preferred to have been born in any other.' - Petrarch , Letter to Posterity . |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | from urlLink Serge : Yes, the Muppet that's a man in a bird costume. Considering the kind of place it is - only putatively RC and Democratic Party or neocon Republican, but mostly jocks and new-money frat boys and sorority girls - it fits. OK, he won't make his speech in character, but still... |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | The answer to all of Martin Luther's legitimate complaints was in the urlLink Catholic tradition all along, certainly in the urlLink East - from urlLink Serge . In his entry, Serge puts it quite eloquently. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | urlLink Latte art urlLink Coffeegeek.com has all sorts of interesting things to read, like urlLink how to make a shot in the dark , how to make an urlLink espresso con panna , and even — be still my beating heart! — how to make urlLink latte art . On to the latte art directions, then: Much like rubbing your tummy and tapping your head, pouring latte art requires that you do two things at the same time. Pour the milk at a consistent and even rate AND shake the pitcher side to side with the even tempo of a metronome. Use a wide mouth cup. Ideally I like a smaller size (6oz) but some might find a larger 12oz size to work better. The trick is with the wide mouth you will more easily see the design develop and if anything the wide mouth can assist in its development. [ urlLink continue ] urlLink Please look after this woman From Ananova: urlLink Husband helps wife with secret note . A husband helped his pregnant wife get a seat on a bus by pinning a note on her back without her knowing before she went out. Nanguo Morning Post says the Nanning woman, known as Wang, was surprised to be offered a seat as soon as she got on a bus, and to see all the passengers smiling at her. She was finally shown the note on her back which read: 'Please look after the pregnant woman.' I wonder if Wang's husband has read A Bear Called Paddington. (The sign around Paddington's neck said 'Please look after this bear.') Incidentally, Nanning is in China! - Ed urlLink Mini-airship hovers inside cathedral From Reuters: urlLink Mini-airship hovers inside ancient cathedral . Researchers have sent up a mini-airship inside one of Britain's most ancient cathedrals to inspect stained-glass windows and inaccessible stonework. The metre-long radio-controlled craft carried digital cameras to allow staff to monitor the condition of the cathedral's 14th-century windows, all of which survived a 1984 fire that gutted the south transept. 'Compared to the cost of erecting scaffolding it is very cheap,' said York Minster Collections Manager Louise Hampson on Tuesday. 'It's remarkably unobtrusive,' she added. 'Because it's almost silent, it's been possible to have services in the side chapel while it has been flying around.' [ urlLink continue ] urlLink Prehistoric Irish pipes found From abc.net.au: urlLink Wooden pipe find excites Irish archaeologists . Archaeologists are dancing with delight after discovering a set of musical pipes believed to have been used 4,000 years ago by prehistoric man in Ireland, making them the world's oldest wooden instruments. Archaeologists discovered the six wooden pipes, which are not joined, during excavations of a housing development site near the coastal town of Greystones, south of Dublin. Experts have been able to play a series of notes, including E flat, A flat and F natural, on the yew wood pipes. [ urlLink continue ] |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | link from Andrij: HUDDERSFIELD, England (Reuters) - Seven men who enjoyed duck and caviar at more than 22,000 feet in the Himalayas pitched a claim for the record highest altitude formal dinner. One Australian and six British men made it to the top of the 23,113-feet Tibetan peak Lhakpa Ri near Mount Everest carrying tables, chairs and white tie dinner suits earlier this month. Gales forced them back to 22,326 feet for the sumptuous meal. 'Great party,' team leader Henry Shelford said Tuesday by telephone after returning to Britain. 'Shame about the atmosphere.' [ urlLink Full Story ] |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | urlLink Marijuana Party of Canada - I'm not kidding. Thanks Andrij, for the link! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | What kind of drink (alcoholic and/or non alcoholic) are you? by urlLink cum_on_bitch Your name: Your age: You are a: glass of milk Created with the ORIGINAL urlLink MemeGen ! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | The Mahometans who beheaded an American on video last week, as they did the unspeakable deed, cried 'Allahu Akbar!' or 'God is Great!'. My first thought was, you'd never find Christians doing anything of that sort. After all, it seems impossible to imagine Jesuits beheading pagans while crying 'In Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti!' and glorifying the Trinity. Then again, I thought for a bit and realised that there HAVE been instances of Christians committing murder while gleefully singing praises to the Trinity. I thought of the Crusaders storming into Albi Cathedral, while Mass was in progress, cutting down the congregation of mixed Catholics and Albigensian heretics as they processed toward the altar, singing 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' 'Come Holy Spirit', slaying even the priests at the altar. I thought of the Catholic Croats torturing and murdering Orthodox Serbs in the early 20th Century. I thought of the Auto-da-Fes and witchburnings. Granted, these have been ridiculously exaggerated by historians hostile to the church through the ages, but still, even one error is too many. Let's not even mention Catholics vs Protestants in Ireland. The bloodshed during the Protestant Deformation. Then it occured to me. Violence done in the name of the Trinity tends to be against other Christians, not against non-Christians. Not a very encouraging thought, but there you go. Still, I'm encouraged by the fact that Christ advocated non-violence and pacifism. Mahomet on the other hand, is so violent in the Koran, ordering mass murder and inciting his followers to hate... that were he alive today, he would be arraigned as a war criminal. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Link from urlLink Mixolydian Mode : A cache of articles on science and Middle Earth! urlLink Elvish technology urlLink Just how sharp are Legolas' eyes? urlLink Do balrogs have wings? urlLink What is mithril? urlLink How do you make a palantir? urlLink How tall is a mallorn? These and many other articles can be found urlLink here . |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | You saw urlLink The Exorcist in 30 Seconds . Now watch urlLink The Shining , as done by bunnies. (link via urlLink Mixolydian Mode ) |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Someone asked me today if I was honoured to get the starring role in urlLink Army Daze so many years ago. I was reminded of the little conversation that transpired between Ong Keng Sen the director and myself one day. Ed : 'Keng Sen, I wanted to thank you for the opportunity of working with you. It's been really educational. I'm curious though - what made you choose me over the other guys who tried out for the role?' Keng Sen : 'Well, Edward, to be honest, most of the guys who came to audition for the part of Malcolm looked like they came to audition for Ah-Beng.' Ha! In case anybody's bored enough, Andrew Gan, who played my younger brother in the film, has a page of credits on the film urlLink here . There's also a none-too-laudatory review from urlLink The Flying Inkpot . The film is NOT available on DVD, nor in any stores as far as I know anymore. Thank goodness. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | urlLink Your past life diagnosis : I don't know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation. You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Central Africa around the year 825. Your profession was that of a handicraftsman or mechanic. Your brief psychological profile in your past life: Seeker of truth and wisdom. You could have seen your future lives. Others perceived you as an idealist illuminating path to future. The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation: Your lesson is the development and expansion of your mental consciousness. Find a good teacher and spend a good part of your time and energy on learning from his wisdom. Do you remember now? |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | urlLink Which Member of the Endless Are You ? |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | 'There is furthermore a sentence in your letter more fitting for a stupid boy than a bishop. You excommunicated us all if we appointed another bishop to the see of Rome, and yet gave us power to celebrate the mass and ordain clerical functionaries. You said: 'You have no power to ordain no one.' We always thought, or rather believed, that two negatives make an affirmative, if your authority did not weaken the verdict of the authors of old.' --Excerpt from a letter in which a synod of fifty Italian and German bishops came together in 963 to depose Pope John XII, citing sacrilege, simony, perjury, murder, adultery, incest, and the use of a double negative. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem. Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis. O ye who have bourne even greater woes, God will grant an end to to these too. Perhaps some day it will bring pleasure to remember even these things. Endure, and save yourselves for better times. - Vergil Aeneid I.199, 203, 207. These words I placed above my desk during a particularly rough patch in life some time ago, as encouragement of sorts. They're nicely poetic too, which helped. Incidentally, my friend Anthony made a little urlLink rant on his blog about Singaporeans, and I agree entirely with his views on the matter. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | From urlLink Otto-da-fe : Let's try to caption the picture! Some ideas over there have been: Everything was fine until Ajit came along with the lawnmower. The Nepalese have a very botanical idea of how cloning works. Postcards from the South Asian Cabbage Patch India had struck upon a combined solution to the problems of overpopulation and underfertilization... Buddhist monk melts self to protest Diem government. At this point, Rajiv realized that failure to spray his head with bug repellant was a bad idea. A true son of the soil. urlLink Otto said: Several of these suggestion had me in stitches. A few have asked what on earth is actually going on in the picture. The head belongs to a Hindu man who decided to bury himself for a few weeks, the better to meditate. Christian ascetics take note: the comic potential of this practice is far greater than that of standing atop a column. urlLink Elinor replied: True - if naughty children threw things at the stylite, he had at least a chance of catching them them throwing them back. What's this guy going to do. On the other hand, he could chew them out; I should think that getting a tongue-lashing from a disembodied head would scar any child for life. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | from urlLink Otto-da-Fe : Writing on 'The Passion' in urlLink The American Conservative : Frank Rich, who has reviled Gibson and his film since he first heard of it, now frets for his safety: “‘The Passion’ has made me feel less secure as a Jew in America than ever before.” Well, Frank, if you were not insulting millions of Christians by telling them a beloved film about their Savior is a homoerotic “jamboree of bloody beefcake” and calling the Pope “a shill,” you might not be at risk of having your lights punched out. [ urlLink Full Story ] |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | from urlLink Otto-da-Fe : The historically Polish town of Hamtramck, Michigan urlLink is divided over a city ordinance in allowing mosques to broadcast calls to prayer over loudspeakers. The Muslims claim it is comparable to church bells (though the bells, to my knowledge, do not form intelligible phrases, such as 'Allah is the greatest'). Supporters of the ordinance say it is a matter of tolerance, and the urlLink Christian Science Minitor writes the following: In many ways, the controversy is simply a symptom of a community's growing discomfort with its own evolution - and more particularly, a sign of just how deep the distrust of Muslim cultures has grown in the wake of Sept. 11 and the war with Iraq. Hamtramck has long prided itself on being a 'touch of Europe in America,' an enclave of pirogis and polkas in the midst of Detroit. A statue of Pope John Paul II, next to a mural of Poles dancing in Krakow, stands in the center of town, and some storeowners greet customers in Polish. Over the past decade, however, Hamtramck has changed. It's still the first stop for many immigrants, but now they come from Bangladesh, Yemen, Bosnia, Somalia, and Pakistan, as well as from Eastern Europe. Muslims make up a third or more of the population, and shops selling halal meat and Bengali spices are as common as the Polish bakeries. These latest arrivals have been hard for some longtime residents to accept. And the prayer controversy has stirred up an old uneasiness with, even hostility toward, a culture and religion that remain mysterious to many here. I have a sensible proposal: all the Catholic churches in the town should broadcast the urlLink Angelus daily at 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM (and the Regina Coeli during Paschal time). Then we will see who is uneasy, intolerant, and hostile. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | From urlLink Otto-da-Fe : urlLink Another paragraph in Islam's long and exasperating declaration of independence from Civilization. The video showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit — similar to a prisoner's uniform — who identified himself as Nick Berg, a U.S. contractor whose body was found on a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday. 'My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan,' the man said on the video. 'I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in ... Philadelphia.' After reading a statement, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting 'Allahu Akbar!' — 'God is great.' They then held the head out before the camera. A religion of peace indeed. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | from urlLink The Curt Jester : Notice neither of her feet are touching the ground in that picture... how cool is that? Full story urlLink here . |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Readers, I've been wondering if I should be splitting up my blog into two separate blogs. I originally meant for this blog to be a sort of notebook of random things: thoughts, reflections, weblinks, interesting articles, rants and suchlike. Should I now divide future content into a blog for my personal life and thoughts, and another one for weblinks, films, music and articles? A poll! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Those of us in Asia will have seen these: the Japanese cat called Maneki-neko, which means 'beckoning cat'. They are thought to bring good luck or attract customers to the shop. There is a famous story about an extremely poor temple whose cat beckoned to a traveller who was sitting under a tree outside its gates. He decided to come in and just as he moved away from the tree, it was struck by lightning. The stranger turned out to be extremely rich and he became the temple's patron, making it extremely wealthy. There are several different varieties of Maneki-neko and they all have different meanings. Traditionally, the kitty with her left paw raised brings in business and the kitty with her right paw raised brings in money and good fortune. Or you can hedge your bets and adopt both! Most Maneki-neko are white: but if you see a black one, it is warding off evil: The black Maneki-neko has gained popularity among the ladies to ward off stalkers. The even rarer red ones are to prevent sickness: The trendy Maneki-nekos may be gold or pink. The gold one invites money and the pink one attracts love. Someone's set up a urlLink Maneki-neko club with lots of detail and explanations of the cute kitty. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Dad thinks I'm nuts. I have half a mind to grow my hair long and then put it up in a topknot fastened with a cloth band and a stick, like the Chinese and Koreans once did in centuries past. The Chinese haven't had topknots since the Manchus conquered China in the 1600s and decreed that all Han Chinese must shave the fronts of their heads and have their hair in queues (or pigtails as some call it). I can't seem to find a picture of a Chinese topknot, so here are some of the Korean topknot, the Sangtu , which really looks quite similar, except the Chinese don't wear that horsehair band around the forehead. any comments, folks? Dad thinks I've been watching too many period films. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | I'm upset. At myself and the world in general. I won't be talking to people for a few days, please understand. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: Voi Che Sapete from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro , sung by Cecilia Bartoli. New Nokia Phone Writes Messages in Mid-Air The new Nokia 3220 lets you type out a message on the phone, then display that message in lights as you wave the phone around. Sensors in the phone cause lights on the back to blink just right to create the illusion that urlLink your message hovers briefly in the air . The phone also has a built-in camera. Dear Leader Changes Mind, Recalls All Cell Phones In North Korea The North Korean government has recalled all mobile phones from the country just a year and a half after allowing them for the first time in the communist nation. They discovered that people were apparently using them to actually talk to each other, something Orwellian dictatorships tend to discourage. As of May 25, all cell phones in the country are banned, except as an emergency food source. Meanwhile, capitalist South Korea passed the 36-million cell phone users milestone this week. urlLink Microsoft Patents the Double-Click Microsoft has been granted a patent for the double-click, according to an Australian news site. Once Microsoft gets a patent for the single click, all your base are belong to Microsoft. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: Gavotte avex Six Doubles from the Suite in La Majeur by Jean-Philippe Rameau, published in Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin (1728) , played by William Christie. Late French Baroque harpsichord music, one of my favourites. My current favoured Web browser is Mozilla Firefox version 0.8 - it's faster than IE and keeps multiple open webpages within the same window by using tabs. Opera's faster than IE and uses the same tabs idea but somehow seems buggy on my computer. I've been an Netscape boy until about 2001, when I switched over to IE out of laziness. Now I'm checking Netscape's website and it seems there's now version 7.1 out... the last time I updated my Netscape was in 2000 with version 4.73. Let's download that and see how it fares against Mozilla and IE. Meanwhile, I've closed down my urlLink old homepage . I don't think anyone will shed a tear for its departure, since there've been no updates on it since 1998. Still, I was one of the first Singaporeans to have a homepage when commercial internet access became available in 1995. Those were the days when one still worked with html code, before the wysiwyg html helpers came along. It was nifty in the early days - moving gifs and all. But hey, the net's come a long way since 1995, as have we all. Hence, with a brief moment and a smile to remember the friends I've made around the world who've surfed into the website... I took it down. Quite painless, I'm surprised. I really oughtn't have left that website get so ridiculously outdated - one notice on the main page said the last update was sometime in 1998 and that the next one was scheduled for 1999. It's 2004 already. Heh. Talk about being lazy. A temporary notice is now in its place. I'm not making any promises about when the new homepage will be done. I don't even know what to do with it. Perhaps I'll make it a sort of respository of supplemental pages to my blog. We shall see. However, as there have been several important external links to my pages on urlLink The Feast of Fools and my urlLink Virtual Shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury , as a service to the scholars who use them, I've kept them on the server for now. In time, they will be updated too. So I've pretty much cleared my homepage folder in the Pacific Internet server. But I've kept what I need for this webpage. Interestingly enough, in the process of clearing the webpage, I've discovered a number of external direct links to my images, links which didn't have my permission. I didn't even know they existed. To use someone else's images for one's webpage or whatever without permission (or at least notification) is, to say the least, extremely rude. I don't do it, and I don't expect you would either - I like to think only people with a certain amount of class read my blog! So what've I done in response to these people? Firsly, I've renamed the target image files and adjusted all my own links to the files accordingly. Here comes the funny bit. I've put in various image files and renamed them to correspond to my old image filenames, and hence those links in other websites will now point to the new image files that bear the old names. This gives various results to diverse websites and petty thieves. To those websites towards whom I've felt particular annoyance at the image (and bandwidth, mind you) theft now have rather rude pictures adorning their site. I wasn't quite so evil as to follow the suggestion of one friend to use pornographic pictures. Other lesser offenders now have graphics such as these on their pages: Great fun. *chuckle* |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Shamelessly ripped from my friend urlLink Melissa's blog : Viewing instructions: 1)Ignore the village idiot on the right who is attempting to pass off as the most powerful man in the world. 2)Cast your eyes to the man in the blue and white uniform on the left. 3)Trail your eyes on the muscular biceps and the firm shoulders and pectorals that lie beneath the snug, smooth fabric of the blue top. 4)Move eyes down south and take in the beautiful curve of the derriere, the tautness of the muscles brought about by the 35 degree angle of his stance. 5)Take in the linear lines of the abdomen, accentuated by the yellow sash. Warning: Don't forget to breathe. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: Für Alina by Arvo Pärt. Meditative, minimalist and very serene. Did a bit of voice work on Monday, narrating an expository video about some IT company. I'm trying to get more work of this sort, as it pays quite well - $200 for a page of text and a hour's work. The chaps who did that recording seem to like my voice, and they're asking me to do more stuff, including a multi-part documentary on Indonesia. Let's hope it works out. The lady in charge of the place said the problem with most men's voice in Singapore is that they tend to be rather high-pitched and slightly nasal. Apparently my voice is a pleasant bass, clear and articulated. They also appreciated my ability to speak Received Pronunciation and do accents. Whee! Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have. Now that I've got a mobile phone cable and appropriate software on my computer, I find I can put in various midi files as ringtones and various image files as wallpapers. Hurrah, great fun, even though I know it's a cheap thrill. I've been fooling around with this since Mid-Lent or so, and the novelty of the games on my phone has worn down finally! It seems tertiary students and all teachers are entitled to a $350 discount on iPods. With the 40G iPod priced at $928 before discount, it looks like I might finally be able to get one! Oh, I've been lusting after an iPod ever since I got the chance to test-drive one nearly 2 years ago while reviewing it for Twenty4Seven magazine. Hurrah! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach, played by Blandine Verlet on a 1751 Hemsch harpsichord. from urlLink Curt Jester : urlLink Cross, Altar Could Be Removed From Nursing Home Chapel : Amazing, a complaint that there is a cross and altar in a chapel. 'a Jefferson man questioned whether Countryside's chapel should have religious symbols on a regular basis.' I suppose the man whines about there being art in an art museum. from urlLink Otto-da-Fe : urlLink NY Tap Water Not Kosher : A glassful of cold New York City tap water not kosher? It may be true — and just in case, restaurants and bakeries operated under Orthodox Jewish law were advised Tuesday to use filters that can ensure water purity. The problem: tiny harmless creatures called copepods. The little organisms are crustaceans and therefore not considered kosher. urlLink Elinor's comment was: There must be something odder than copepods in Mr. Zimmerman's water if he thinks it's any reponsibility of the city's to make the tapwater conform to the standard of a private religious group. 'Every prostitute and bum in Rome knew Latin.' --The irrepressible Rev. Reginald Foster (or Reggie, as he is more often known), responding to claims that Latin is difficult ( urlLink New York Times , 28 May 2004). From urlLink The Shrine of the Holy Whapping : urlLink Move to Iowa Turns Albino Alligator Pink : How cute. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | urlLink Which Country Will you dominate Name DOB Favourite Color Country You Will Rule England How You Came to Power Birth right, yes you are royalty How Long will you rule you will never die because you are a god and will rule for eternity This fun quiz by urlLink jjflash - Taken 3318 Times. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | I just watched Higuchinsky's urlLink Uzumaki , another Japanese horror film. This time it's about a small town plagued by... spirals. I'm not kidding. It's really weird, and I can't say I enjoyed it. I can say I'm puzzled by it. It really would take the Japanese to come up with something like this. It's supposed to be based on a comic. Ah. That explains a lot. It is now nearly 2 in the morning. All I can say about the film is 'what the hell?' but hey, it was nothing if not original. Very Lovecraft. Still, I think I preferred Kwaidan! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: Various tracks from Michael Nyman's score for the film Gattaca. First some from urlLink Serge : urlLink Bum Rap Pinned On Parents : Acts of brutality are carried out in the name of ‘reasonable chastisement’ but, says Rachel Johnson, banning smacking will only encourage children to believe that they have a right to behave as they please. I think she's absolutely right. There is a place for a good hard slap after warning. urlLink US military now trying to buy abused prisoners : By the Gods, have they no sense of shame? urlLink ‘Gay’ protesters denied Communion : In a nutshell, what happened was that a certain sort of gay Catholics in the US wore rainbow sashes to Mass on Pentecost to protest the Church's official teachings on homosexuality and were denied Communion. This is quite right of course, because anyone who doesn't believe what the Church teaches has no right to receive Communion. However, we've got people quoted in the article: ' 'Who is the church to say who can and cannot get communion?' said Greg Van Hyfte, 27, carrying a rainbow-hued umbrella prior to the services to fend off a driving rain. ' Excuse me, the Church is PRECISELY the authority that defines who gets Communion and who doesn't. To quote Serge's homosexual Catholic friend, 'no normal, dignified adult would wear a rainbow-coloured sash to tell strangers how he likes to reach orgasm.' Then from the urlLink Old Oligarch , who tells us his urlLink Reasons for drinking include 'Drinking is the sole remaining Dionysian act in which I can indulge when my Apollonian side needs counterbalancing.' Mmm, nice! He's also got a great post on urlLink Absinthe .. And a urlLink delightful little rant on how women shouldn't EVER work in fine men's clothing stores. I agree entirely of course. Fr Jim at urlLink Dappled Things has watched Troy and made the following urlLink excellent observation : One last impression comes from the absence of gods. Cutting out the numerous appearances of the gods was doubtless a decision to aim for realism. But there was more to it than that. Every time the Trojans make a decision based on religion, it fails. The gods are worse than deaf and absent: people's belief in them brings them more harm than good -- not the gods themselves, but the mere belief. That touch is almost Euripideanly subversive. A BRILLIANT point. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: Veni Redemptor Gentium , by Paul Schwartz. New-ageish, ambient-ish, a melody taken from Gregorian Chant... but worlds away from Enigma's Sadness of the late 80s. I sit at my computer, slowly enjoying an after-dinner dessert of greek yoghurt with a spoonful of honey mixed in. I've decided to give it a bit of a devil's tail by adding in some sultanas soaked in gin. My hair, that has been bleached to a platinum blond for the last 24 hours, has been driving my father up the wall. He hates me blond. So I'm also sitting here with a whole load of dye in my hair. Oh no, I'm not colouring it back to my natural brown-black. I'm not going back to the royal blue either for now, as I have to help dad with business and royal blue hair won't look good at discussions and meetings. I'll go back to that when I'm an academic or a student again. For the meantime, I'm dyeing it to the nice dark midnight blue-black I had last October. It's Garnier's No. 210 Blue-Black. Quite an amazing colour, this, as it looks blacker than brown-black under artificial lighting, and under strong sunlight it's royal blue. Brilliant! Upon reflection, I now realise I've been colouring my hair on and off for over a decade now, since I was 15 and realised I had grey in my hair. My hair's natural colour is currently the usual East-Asian brown-black, but with perhaps 10% grey scattered throughout. The interesting thing about having so much scattered grey is that grey picks up a lighter shade of whichever colour I'm doing, so it's almost like highlights of a sort. In the past few years, my hair's gone through copper, mahogany, aubergine, red, royal blue... I'm tempted to do a real nice blond sometime. What I'm never going to do is green (for green and black are the colours of Raffles Institution, my school's archrival). I'm wondering though. After years of hair-colouring, I'm now convinced that European and American women have smaller hands than Asian women. Why this conviction? All hair-colouring kits come with disposable plastic gloves to wear while colouring hair. Oddly, Japanese hair-dye packs come with rather large and comfortable gloves, yet the European and American kits all come with much smaller gloves. Curious. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | If we live as people of God, there will be room for all nations in the Balkans and in the world. If we liken ourselves to Cain who killed his brother Abel, then the entire earth will be too small even for two people. The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to be always children of God and love one another. - Patriarch Pavle (Paul) III, urlLink Serbian Orthodox Church (from urlLink Serge ) |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by Claudio Monteverdi, performed by Concerto Italiano under Rinaldo Alessandrini. A short work, it's an example of semi-opera. Imagine a story sung by a narrator, but with 2 other singers singing the words spoken by the characters. Lovely stuff. Just discovered a amusing chinese circumlocution (speaking in circles to avoid directly touching a sensitive subject or taboo)! 廟小﹐燈籠大 - literally translated, ' temple small, lanterns big '. Chinese temples always have two lanterns hanging at the entrance, and these are usually large and red. A small temple with overly large lanterns is an unusual occurence. The circumlocution refers to a small woman with large, uh, mammaries. I realise one of the recurring dreams I have relates to flying. In these dreams, all I have to do is stretch my arms out, jump up a little and I'm flying. Can't figure out how I do it, but I'm able to control speed and direction as I like. I'm usually flying over familiar territory, with friends smiling and cheering below. I always feel good after one of these dreams, which leave me with an empowered sort of feeling. Ghafar Baba, sometime Prime Minister of Malaysia, has been a family friend for ages now. Dad told me back in the 60s when the Communists in Vietnam (opposed by China but supported by Russia) threatened to take Thailand and Malaysia, Ghafar Baba confided to him, 'I'd rather be a subject of the great British Empire than of these buffalo-herding peasants' . I know the feeling... Was in Malacca over the weekend, as Dad had to pick up some documents from there, and the three of us decided to make it an overnight outing. The name of the city is amusing if one knows Modern Greek, as 'Μαλακα' (Malaka) is current rude Greek slang equivalent for the British 'wanker'. Have decided to check out Asian Horror films. Watched the Ju-On series on Monday night, specifically Ju-On: The Grudge and Ju-On: The Prequel . Well, I'd heard no end of the films from friends and reviews, all of which pronounced them far scarier than anything else from the West. I watched them as a night marathon after midnight (so technically Tuesday morning), alone. I was expecting to be scared silly. I ended up quite bored. I can't figure out why they're supposed to be so terrifying. Someone tell me, please! My friend urlLink Melissa said in her blog, 'There's nothing like the oasis of an empty Tiffany's store with La Vie En Rose playing softly in the background to make a girl feel like Audrey Hepburn for that moment in time.' , and that made me think of the last time I bought something from Tiffany's for someone special. There's a lovely old-fashioned feeling of romance attached to going into Tiffany's. Picking out an item. Watching it go into the blue box. The silver ribbon around the box. It was for Zhi, with whom I'm now only in occasional contact, but for whom I was absolutely over the moon at the time. Granted, Zhi's an absolute charmer, and he's almost impossible to faze, ever-cool. I still remember his eyes went quite wide, and how he made a little sharp intake of breath when I produced the Tiffany's bag and took the blue box out of it. Ben, the chap who served me at Tiffany's, another former student, is now in the army, and it is he, ironically, with whom I'm now much closer and more likely to court. There's far more chemistry between Ben and me, and of a very... shall we say, interesting sort. Life's funny like that. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: urlLink Toccata by Claudio Merulo. One of the most important composers of the Venetian school, Merulo was organist at St Mark's in Venice. His style is simple but requires virtuoso runs in both hands. Alright, so about three weeks ago, while I'm visiting Grandma in Borneo, East Malaysia, I get an email from my old pal Daniel Tan, who's getting married the first weekend of August. He'd invited me to the wedding ages ago, but this email was a bit of s surprise. 'Would you honour us by being the cantor at our wedding?' - which is alright so far. 'Can you find yourself a choir to sing with and an organist?' (I'm paraphrasing) - I nearly fell off my chair. They didn't want the usual cheesy tacky music, so I offered a chant, baroque and renaissance combination, very simple stuff but very 'churchy'. Lucky for them and for me, I managed to rope together Alan Lau and Chris Ow - we're just singing the Kyrie and the Alleluia before the Gospel. Finding an organist wasn't difficult - Ten Yeen very kindly obliged. Ten Yeen's performed at the Victoria Concert Hall organ, and she's an excellent organist (i.e. pedals and multiple manuals, not the electronic burp-boxes) - she's been playing for Anglican churches (and not RC ones, hence she has taste) since she was a teen. The music she's playing will be Merulo and Frescobaldi: Prelude - Toccata by Merulo ( urlLink midi available here ). Toccata avanti il Recercar della Messa degli Apostoli by Frescobaldi, from Fiori Musicali . The hymns - Crown Him with Many Crowns , God of all living (to the tune of 'Morning has broken' ) and To God be the Glory . Postlude - Canzon post il Comune della Messa de Domenica by Frescobaldi, from Fiori Musicali . Possibly repeat the Toccata from earlier as well. Fortunately, the singers and I (who've only had one rehearsal together) don't have very much to sing. Aside from leading the hymns, we're singing the Kyrie from the Mass for 3 voice s by William Byrd (it's for 3 voices and quite easy, couldn't put anything more complicated together) and the Gregorian Alleluia (with verse). The Alleluia verse is taken from the Mass of the Holy Trinity on Trinity Sunday, traditionally also used at mediaeval English Royal Weddings - gorgeously meandering in the way that the best Gregorian chants can be. So now the Wedding is tomorrow - 7th Aug at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Tank Road. Daniel also requested I sing something to cover the signing of the marriage register at the end of the service. Alright, so I thought, do I want to sing a piece for Bass or Alto? I figured Alto would be more memorable, so I chose originally the opening aria from Bach's Cantata BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh, Beliebte Seelenlust . I love this aria - bittersweetly lyrical in the way Bach typically is. The text is: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, Dich kann man nicht bei Höllensünden, Wohl aber Himmelseintracht finden; Du stärkst allein die schwache Brust. Drum sollen lauter Tugendgaben In meinem Herzen Wohnung haben. Contented rest, belove'd inner joy, We cannot find thee midst hell's mischief, But rather in the heav'nly concord; Thou only mak'st the weak breast strong. Thus I'll let only virtue's talents Within my heart maintain their dwelling. But alas, urlLink Andreas Scholl I ain't. The highest note in that aria is the second E above Middle C, and it gets used a LOT. I simply can't do it at modern pitch (A=440). The only way I'm going to be able to do that aria is at least a whole tone (or more) down. Even more, it's nearly 7 minutes long - too long. So I looked and found something nice for alto at slightly more than 3 minutes - the second aria from BWV 35 Geist und Seele. The piece is a bit high, but do-able at baroque pitch (half a tone lower than modern). It's scored for Alto, organ oblig. and continuo, so doing it with just organ and alto is close to the orginal. The vocal line's quite florid, but thankfully coloratura isn't a problem for me, only high notes and sustain. If you care to hear it, urlLink a midi is available here . Also, the text is quite nice: Gott hat alles wohlgemacht. Seine Liebe, seine Treu Wird uns alle Tage neu. Wenn uns Angst und Kummer drücket, Hat er reichen Trost geschicket, Weil er täglich für uns wacht. Gott hat alles wohlgemacht. God has made all things well. His love, his faithfulness We see ev'ry day renewed. When both fear and toil oppress us, He has sent us ample comfort, Since He watches over us daily. God has made all things well. This one Ten Yeen and I started work on at Thursday evening's wedding rehearsal. Heh. So listen to that midi of the aria and realise that Ten Yeen and I are going to be meeting at 8 on the morning of the wedding (it starts at 11) to hammer this one out. Gillian's already called my voice fabulous, ha. That was even before I could get all the notes right. Yes, I know... I'm a show-off, but hey, if you've got it... Let's just hope my voice holds out. I'm surprised Daniel and Gillian are eager to have a man singing in high voice doing a solo at their wedding, but then he went to King's College London and she was from Cambridge, so oh well. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: 'Parce mihi Domine' from Morales' Requiem, sung by La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Hespèrion XX, dir. Jordi Savall. So there I was, preparing to do a voice-over for some video. Lady-in-charge: 'You can do accents right? What accents can you do?' Me: 'For American, only a generic mid-west. For English, I can do Public-School, London cockney...' Lady: 'What is this public school? I've never heard of it before.' Me: 'it's the accent of the highest level of the upper classes' Lady: ' oh very good, i think we'll go for that' So alright, I start reading the script in my best cutting-glass accent... Noel Coward would've been so proud. Halfway through the second paragraph, she stops me. Lady: 'Eh, excuse me ah... what is that accent?' Me: 'It's English. Upper Class.' Lady: 'But it doesn't sound anything like David Beckham!' (sensible readers will now intone a solemn Te Deum in thanksgiving that I don't sound anything like him) She insisted that Beckham's accent was more recognisable as classy. I refused to sound anything like him (I said I couldn't do it). We compromised in the end on a sort of London city accent. Urgh. In other news, Andrij sent this amusing link - urlLink Web Addiction Gets Conscripts Out of Army |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | I have horrible annoying Indian neighbours. They're loud, smelly (and I mean cooking smells) and filthy. They have a little black terrier with long curly fur. Today I found out what they call it - I was on my way home and I saw the mistress of the house standing in the corridor yelling at it: 'BLACKIE!'. Considering they're actually darker than the dog is, this is highly ironic. Pots and kettles, I say. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | urlLink Thieves Steal Russian Mayor's Car ...and the Mayor urlLink Priest, Nun Convicted After 'Sex Act' in Car Meanwhile, from the urlLink Old Oligarch - Canada's urlLink first gay divorce comes barely six weeks after Ottowa legalized gay marriage. Hah. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | The \\ Last Cigarette: Last PIPE - Sunday Last Alcoholic Drink: This morning Last Car Ride: This afternoon Last Kiss: Last week =) Last Good Cry: Ages ago. Last Library Book: Singing in Latin Last book bought: Adventures of a Gastronome Last Book Read: Shusasku Endo: 'Silence' Last Movie Seen in Theatres: The Day After Tomorrow Last Movie Rented: Blithe Spirit Last Cuss Word Uttered: don't cuss =) Last Beverage Drank: oolong tea Last Food Consumed: Bread with kaya and butter Last Crush: Oh, you know who... Last Phone Call: this morning Last TV Show Watched: Law & Order Last Time Showered: this morning Last Shoes Worn: brown hermes sneakers Last CD Played: Tallis: Spem in Alium - by the Sixteen Last Item Bought: antihistamines this morning for my allergies Last Download: lost count Last Annoyance: the parish priest of the church of the Sacred Heart Last Disappointment: humanity, daily. Last Soda Drank: diet coke Last Thing Written: a telephone number Last Key Used: B Flat Major Last Words Spoken: alright! Last Sleep: this afternoon's nap Last Ice Cream Eaten: burnt caramel Last Chair Sat In: easy chair! Last Webpage Visited: www.orthodoxchristianity.net urlLink CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - urlLink GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Category I - The Hub You're a 'people person'. Networking runs in your blood. Consequently, you can move through most social circles with ease. urlLink What Type of Social Entity are You? brought to you by urlLink Quizilla |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: 'Tiki-tiki-tiki', a south Italian lullaby sung by Savinna Yannatou. from his blog: HOW CUTE! He also muses about urlLink singaporeans and accents : So today, seven (going on eight) years later I've got a pretty much neutral accent with an unmistakably British tinge to it. (It'd also be far too much effort, and far too pretentious to do the Public School thingy, since I don't encounter that on a daily basis. Having said that, one of the blokes I fenced with the other night was from Eaton. heh) Two things to add - I've got a perfect Public School accent =p and it's 'Eton'! =p |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Soundtrack: 'Baya Baya' by Safri Duo Hi all. *sheepish grin*. I'm back. Numerous choes of 'I can see' from the readers, no doubt. Apologies - I got depressed for a bit then got lazy to blog... then various things conspired to lead my attention away from blogging. I'm going to try returning now :) Church Bombings I suppose we've all heard about the horrible church bombings in Baghdad. Armenian, Syrian, Assyrian and Chaldaean parishes, if I recall correctly. O Lord, watch over Thy suffering people! Meanwhile, which part of 'Yankee go home' don't the American troops understand? Before the American invasion, Iraqi Christians worshipped in peace in a secular regime - Easter, Christmas and all holidays were celebrated joyously. Now... Athens Mosque Meanwhile, plans for Athens’s first official mosque are being finalised. 'The mosque, part of a cultural center which has been in the planning stages for many years, is to be funded by the Saudi Arabian government. The plan to build the mosque at Pallini has been criticized by the Church of Greece, which says that the fact that it is near the airport will give visitors the impression that they have arrived in an Islamic state. Pallini residents, who are mostly Christian, fear that the mosque will change the character of their town. Muslims lament the fact that they will have to travel a long way from the center, where most of them live, in order to worship.' Hopefully someone will dynamite it. That it is being built in Athens, and not where the majority of Greece's Muslim population actually lives shows that this is a sign of power and presence, and not primarily a consideration on the part of its financers (the Saudis) to actually serve the Muslim population in Greece. This is much like the recent building of Europe's largest mosque in of all places, Rome. The symbolism of this is undeniable - the spiritual capital of some of Islam's (once/historically) fiercest foes (western Christendom, in particular the Crusaders) being host to one of the biggest mosques in the world (and the biggest in Europe) is gushing with subtext. What is doubly worse, is that the Imam appointed to lead the Grand Mosque of Rome (Imam Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa) is cut from the same cloth as the radical clerics in the middle east proper (see article urlLink Roman Imam: Destroy Islam's Enemies for evidence of this.) That the Saudi's are funding this Athenian mosque is particularly galling, since in Saudi Arabia itself permission is never granted for the building of Churches, and what little Christian presence there is in Saudia Arabia has to live in such a way as to be totally invisible. Even bringing so much as a Bible with one into Saudi Arabia is forbidden, and it will either be confiscated or one will be turned away. It's pretty annoying, when one thinks about the fact that the Saudi establishment is funding and encouraging the building of mosques and the proselytization of people worldwide, yet they're unwilling to allow the same in their own 'holy' land. Pass the dynamite! But they hey, if it's being built by Greek labourers... it'll never get finished in the first place (rather like several Olympic venues). DISGUSTING urlLink I find it ironic that a group called 'Planned' Parenthood would have a t-shirt proud of what is usually the outcome of an unplanned pregnancy. urlLink Kremlin Sued For Return Of Churches More than 80 years after its churches were seized by 'godless Bolsheviks' and turned into anything from grain stores to shoe factories the Russian Orthodox Church is launching an unprecedented legal battle to win back its property. Furious that the Russian state still owns most of the country's churches 13 years after the collapse of Communism, and has had the gall to start charging it land tax, the church has launched the first property restitution lawsuit since the Russian Revolution in 1917. The lawsuit, which is regarded as a test case that could open the flood gates for thousands of other restitution claims from aristocrats to foreign governments, relates to the stunning 15th-century Church of Ilia the Prophet in Moscow which currently houses Russia's State Museum of the East. The church wants it to become a 'living place of worship' once again and says it is poised to launch a rash of similar lawsuits throughout the Russian capital which could see a third of the land owned by the state in Moscow contested. The church was dispossessed of all its property in 1918 under a sweeping decree issued by the Bolshevik leader Lenin, an atheist. Before the revolution it had been Russia's largest landowner with some 7.5 million acres to its name but overnight it lost it all. Icons and other religious paraphernalia were plundered, bell towers were toppled, hundreds of churches were simply bulldozed out of existence and at least 45,000 priests were murdered. Oh this will be fun! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 04,June,2004 | Yesterday I made a fateful decision. I've decided not to take part in Singapore Idol. [insert canned laughter here] But seriously folks.... It wasn't a 'chickening out'. I am not disillusioned with judges, quality of potential fellow contestants, or an inability to deal with my ugly mug on prime time TV. It was a decision born out of a simple decision that my wife has made that will impact greatly on my future, but especially my immediate future. I am, of course, a little disappointed and probably a bit regretful. I had after all gone through many many adventures to get my application form together. I had sung my heart out in the privacy of my car on my evening commute home. I had experimented with various songs, arrangements and pitching. I was even starting to sound halfway decent. That is assuming that you consider going off-key 1 time out of 10 'decent'. I could even make a career out of people paying me not to sing. There is that part of me that also wonders what happened to my formerly strong tenor voice. I've tried it out. It sounds a little better than a croak, and it gets rough and unstable at pitches that I used to have no problems tackling. My guess is about 2 years of caffeine and calorie abuse. It is about time I slowed down. I consider this all for the best. The joke value of having a slightly pudgy, almost-30 chinese male shaking his stuff on stage isn't quite worth the commitment in resources for Singapore Idol. In addition, I am greatly excited at the prospect of what is going to happen over the next few months. God bless me, this may be the biggest project I've undertaken in my life. I pray that it will work out. Oh well. I've always preferred respect to fame anyways. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 31,May,2004 | I write this entry to keep a promise I made three weeks ago. My friend Edward has written urlLink a most comprehensive review and devastatingly accurate review of Troy . Treading on the back of this particular giant, I write to elaborate on my three-line contribution to Edward's review, and to fulfil my promise to him. The Short Version Vacuum cleaners have less suck than this movie. The Long Version When one wishes to make a screen adaptation of an epic like the Iliad, one has a certain responsibility to make sure the screen adaptation lives up to the expectations of the written work. Granted, one does not have to remain true to every word of the written material, only to the essence of the work. Nevertheless one does not abrogate this responsibility merely by invoking the words 'Based loosely on'. Troy, in its essence, was about gods and heroes. Gods and heroes are larger than life. Larger than life does not mean having to speak with a fake British accent, wearing polyester or lovingly angled shots of vaseline coated bodies. It means that when gods and heroes move, mere mortals tremble and run for cover. Hence, the battle between Hector and Archilles should not bring about images of Baywatch, dubbed to the tune of 'We are Family'. One can only stand in awe of the movie - an awe born of the terrible waste of it all. Even ignoring the fact that the movie failed to pay proper homage, it was perfectly horrid on its own merits. Given the amount of money spent paying for A-list stars and paying off reviewers to write positive reviews, the producers could at least afford better scriptwriters and choreographers. They could certainly afford to get a clue. Let's start with the CGI. It's beautiful. Oh yes, it is. But here's a hint - looping CGI to give the effect of epic scale is an outdated technique. I do not want to spot the same Greek hurling himself into the sea of Trojans four times over. I especially do not wish to spot said Greek doing so using the exact same jump trajectory every time. I cannot suspend my disbelief when I see that on screen. Even Greek fighting discipline has limits. The Greek army was not the German World Cup team taking corner kicks. And the one-on-one battle sequences! I love John Woo. I really do. I do, however, believe that 30-pound spears and heavy bronze swords should not lend themselves to beautiful ballet-like movements. The crispness and originality in the fight scenes suffered accordingly. How many ways can you make a person wielding clunky sword, shield, spear and full bronze armour look graceful? I am suprised, and frankly a little disappointed, that the stuntment did not develop brain anuerisms on the spot. The movie would have been much improved by it. I have only one good thing to say about the movie. I honestly enjoyed Troy, and not in the way the movie makers intended. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 25,May,2004 | Angel of Time. urlLink What kind of Angel are you? brought to you by urlLink Quizilla |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 24,May,2004 | It's been a while since I've updated my blog with substantive writing. Truth is, I had written fresh blog entries no fewer than 5 times, only to have them deleted. There are some things that I still feel uncomfortable yelling about - no matter how few people read this blog. Yet, yell I must, and it is with some reluctance that I set out my beliefs on the matter without letting too much away. What could possibly be so private that I cannot set them down into writing? One word. Religion. I personally think I'm going to Hell for the reason that I disagree with so much of the dogma that is espoused by organised Christianity. It of course begs the question why I -believe- in Hell in the first place. The answer is simple - I believe in God, I know I'm a disobedient christian, yet there are many aspects to my life that I have questioned and found myself or other Christians lacking in the ability to answer. One of these questions of dogma has recently plagued a good friend of mine. It had plagued my life in the past and left me less of a Christian. I fully understand what he must be going through, and respect the fact that it's a problem that he must sort out for himself. I pray that he will not come to the same conclusion I have - for I know it is his faith that makes him a good person, and I would not see that ruined no matter how little personal respect I have for that particular bit of dogma. Friend, if you are reading this, always remember that I respect your beliefs even if I don't believe in them myself. You've earned it. As a side note, I have no doubts that persons reading this blog would seek to clarify my doubts. My response is this - I will not be more specific than saying my relationship with Christians had contributed to the ruining of my relationship with God. I have no desire to see my point being proven yet again. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 21,May,2004 | You are a Tuatha de Danann! In Irish-Celtic mythology, the Tuatha De Danann ('People of the goddess Danu') are the Irish race of gods, founded by the goddess Danu. These gods, who originally lived on 'the islands in the west', had perfected the use of magic. The traveled on a big cloud to the land that later would be called Ireland and settled there. Shortly after their arrival they defeated the Firbolg at the first battle of Mag Tuireadh. In the second battle of Mag Tuireadh they fought and conquered the Fomorians, a race of giants who were the primordial inhabitants of Ireland. The Tuatha De dealt more subtly with the Fomorians than with the Firbolg, and gave them the province of Connacht. There was also some marrying between the two races. The Tuatha De themselves were later driven to the underworld by the Milesians, the people of the fabulous spanish king Milesius. There they still live as invisible beings and are known as the Aes sidhe. In a just battle, they will fight beside mortals. When they fight, they go armed with lances of blue flame and shields of pure white. Important members are of the Tuatha De are: Dagda, Brigid, Nuada, Lugh, Dian Cecht, Ogma, and Lir. The goddess Danu can also be identified with the Welsh goddess Don. urlLink Which Type Of Faery Folk Are You? brought to you by urlLink Quizilla |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 15,May,2004 | urlLink urlLink Which genocidal maniac are you ? urlLink Brought to you by Rum and Monkey |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 12,May,2004 | I have interesting friends. They tell me about Japanese fetishes, survival training and ring sizes. I've just finished dinner with 5 such friends and had a nice instant messenger conversation with another, who asked me the fateful question - why do I even have a blog in the first place? The question was not an easy one to answer. Originally I had thought the sole reason was merely for reviewing and examining my often-incoherent thoughts. He then asked me the question which I had not thought of. 'Why not a normal journal - pen and paper, or even on your notebook?' I struggled for an answer for a long time. I keep my blog unsearchable, because I don't feel the need to advertise to the world at large what goes into this blog. For me, it's enough that a few people who -might- be interested know about this blog. However, my friend is correct about one thing. Even a blog that is unsearchable remains a platform for the public, potentially accessible by anyone. Eventually, I came to the realisation that this blog was more than just a journal to review my thoughts. The 'public' aspect of a blog is more important to me than I had originally realised. It stemmed from the fact that I am an immensely private individual. Sounds self-contradictory? My friend related to me an experience where he had to undergo survival training, and was not allowed to converse with anyone for a week. The key to surviving with your sanity intact, he said, was to keep talking. It didn't matter to who, to trees, to monkeys, to volleyballs named Wilson. That got me thinking about the human condition and the nature of isolation. Given that I'm an immensely private individual, I do enjoy my isolation, especially isolation of some of my more radical theories. However, even with self-imposed isolation, the need to communicate remains. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the human condition abhores isolation, even if it is self-imposed. Specifically, humans, being social creatures, are wired with the need to communicate. Consider, for example, why it is so appealing to yell into canyons or to break uncomfortable silences. However, where particular humans feel both the need for isolation and the hard-wired need to communicate, there is really only one logical solution - to yell somewhere where you don't have to worry if anyone is listening. It's the same reason a person would find so much pleasure standing on a beach and yelling to your hearts content. The release itself is the pleasure - and one can be fairly certain the fish don't care. That's my blog. My blog is my mental scream to the tidal wave of the Internet. It doesn't matter if I have a million readers or one. The release is the answer. The release is the purpose. Someone listening is just a bonus. Postscript: I've changed the title and description of my blog. The new name and description feel more correct than my previous one. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 12,May,2004 | Imagine yourself as a flat piece of paper. Now imagine yourself being folded up into a three dimensional figure. Do you have volume or are you just faking it? Welcome to my little piece of hell. There are many like it, but this one's mine. I had originally intended this blog as a depository of stray thoughts, my own private, messy, whorly, animistic mess where I can scream my little self-absorbed heart's content. What I did not expect, of course, was the reaction I got from people reading my blog. A friend of mine called it an 'emotional white dwarf', and failed to explain what he meant by that term (he did give a well-reasoned opinion of what he thought of my blog. He just didn't really tell me what he meant by the term). Another common reaction to people that haven't read it was to tell others not to read it. Look. Virgins have no right to complain about bad sex. I would personally give myself a 3 out of 5. Given my problems with vocalising my thoughts in a compartmentalised manner, I would consider the entries of the blog a fair effort. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find that my good friend Edward not only reads the entries, but took the time to give me a nice link. Edward, for those who don't know, is an absolute snob and a linguistic purist, and his urlLink blog is probably one of the most interesting I've read. Granted, I would love to see more than just cross references of interesting articles, but it's fun to read for the interesting commentary. Since we're out giving referrals, here's a urlLink link to the only other blog I read on a semi-regular basis. It's owned by a pair of sisters, Victoria and Gloria. It's strange, surreal and a little more than angsty, but the sheer raw honesty of the blog draws me back time and again. It's like watching Gilmore Girls starring two senior Gilmores, except the cast of Gilmore Girls looks ever-so-slightly better looking. I have a number of inspirations for this blog. urlLink Something Positive is a cartoon that would make this blog look absolutely Bambi-ish in comparison. The artist, R.K Millholland, possesses a scathing wit that I can only dream to equal. His new comic, urlLink New Gold Dream , is more of an acquired taste (being based on the ever-popular shrine of geek-dom, D&D), but is incredibly funny as well. Go check out Umya especially. I've also discovered an excellent webcomic today - urlLink Queen of Wands . The artwork's some of the best I've ever seen in a web-comic, but it's really the emotive script that draws me to it. Go check it out - and read especially the story arc where the characters are introducing their back story. If it doesn't strike you as being particularly profound, please check with your local Darwinist for immediate removal from the gene pool. Your quote for the day. Something I found on a website dedicated to Babylon 5. This excerpt is simultaneously a profound statement on the search for God and a devastatingly accurate salvo on the state of organised religion. To give some context, the character here, G'kar was -very- surprised to find that his journals had become religious books in his homeworld. Here, a crowd of would-be disciples wish for G'kar to impart his religious wisdom. Student: What is Truth—what is God? G’Kar: If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often, we assume that the light on the wall is God, but the light is not the goal of the search, it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it. Similarly, someone who does not search, who does not bring a lantern with him, sees nothing. What we perceive as God is the by-product of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation for the light, pure and unblemished. Not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe. God looks astonishingly like we do. Or we turn to look at our shadow and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose, which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty and in all its flaws. And in so doing to better understand the world around us. Student: Ah, yes, but what is Truth and what is God? G’Kar: [sigh] Truth is a...river.' Student: And what is God? G’Kar: God is...the mouth of the river. Students (in general): AHHH...(very pleased with the final answer) Funny stuff. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 07,August,2004 | urlLink my cute little god-nephew sleeping  urlLink crying after the ka-chiowing! whaha  urlLink the beginning of the feast! notice that Sukri and my white plates of fried rice is already empty  urlLink the mess after all the eating!  Fri - Today's only lesson was cancelled, which meant only one thing, LONG WEEKEND! Met up with some of the guys for dinner at JB. We brought Greg, the french student on foreign exchange program, along with us. He's pretty fine a guy. Too bad the 2 french babes, Cynthia and another girl, couldnt come along. Dammit. They are like freakernarden HOT! I WILL get a pic with them someday. And you guys will steam. Anyway we ate like alot, and talked alot of cock la. Shioky. Sat - Lazed at home pretty much the whole day, catching up on lotsa lotsa tv. Just came home from church and got to see my god-sis' son. so funny la. dad was like ka-chiowing him when he was sleeping and all that. and we took turns too and his little laughters are so funny. and also today is a good day coz i finally found B&J's Chunky Monkey. And i finished the whole pint already. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 04,August,2004 | This past week has been a rather nostalgic one. Last Fridays dinner with the girls kicked things off. After meeting with them, the old days of the swimming arena haunted me, how truly i miss them all. And it all dwelled on my mind for days. Today, Ravi brought us to his ITE for lunch, and i tell you, Nostalgia, to the max! the canteen was like so dam old-school, the indescripable aroma of the canteen, the commotions, the low-leveled stalls, which all resembled the primary school days of mine. Like, reliving my childhood. We couldnt find words to describe it all. We just sat there for an hour, drawing in the ambience. Beautiful. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | urlLink All you need : Pro Complex, bananas, milk, ice, blender  urlLink Put everything into the blender  urlLink blend it all together  urlLink Voila!  yeah im getting a little addicted to protein shakes now. preparing them actually takes my mind off everything else. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 31,July,2004 | Chatted with kesh a lil today. Talked a lil about our lives and it made me think alot. I thought about my life back then in AC. I thought about my life back then in Swimfast. I thought about the carefree life i led back then. And i really miss it. I miss my old life. I miss being my true self. I miss all the people. I miss seeing them everyday at training. I miss all the fun we had at swim camps, comps and overseas trips. I miss Pohie, Jame, David, Jon, Kenley, Amanda, Kesh, Kerby, Kel, Coach and everyone else in the old-school bunch. I miss my life.. alot.. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 30,July,2004 | urlLink u-nice and me  urlLink better looking one but blurrer  urlLink kesh and me  urlLink 3 of 'em girls  Pretty short sch day today. only one 2-hour lesson. came back for a run thereafter. im glad the habit is all coming back. hopefully i can get back into shape soon. i swear i'll NEVER EVER lay off working out for 4 months again. I'm beginning to fall in love with tea. No specific tea in preference, just normal tea, with milk. Think it all began at those escapades at Little India joints. The teh-tariks there are just so magical, i havent touched coffee ever since. The soothing taste of the combination of tea and sweetened milk and air.. ooh.. Had dinner with U-nice (my mei), Kesh, and Amanda at Adam Road. And also the nice nice gelato at Guthrie. Being with them tonight was just refreshing, a welcomed change that i badly needed. Switching to another wavelength so different from what i face daily, this meeting up was timely. I miss the swimming arena. I miss all the people. I miss those unforgettable times i had with them at comps and camps. Anyway U-nice was like blabbering and blabbering non stop today la. Maybe she ate something wrong today. Like worse than her usual self. BUT, i still luv you mei. whahaha.. Thank you girls for coming out. When's Choc buffet? |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 28,July,2004 | urlLink Me and some of my funky juniors  urlLink during the damn push up competition thingy which i lost, in the end (coz i laid off working out for 4 months!)  Some pics i got from didi, from the BodyWatch Roadshow last week. Should have some more. i'll chase her for it. My body is aching like shit and i hate this feeling. This is what you get after laying off working out for long periods of time. Now everything starts all over again. Lesson, NEVER lay off your workouts for more than 2 weeks. Caught 'Best Bet' today, after so long. I never could find people to watch movies with, unlike everyone else, hence the super late viewing of a movie. Pretty cool, the movie wasnt all about gambling, but also on loyalty. Many think they truly know loyalty. Loyalty aint what you think it is. When you simply call one another ' brother ', that aint loyalty. Thats bull. When the knife is pointed at your neck, literally , are you still able to even mutter the word ' brother '? When saying the word ' brother ' meant you might get killed, literally , would you still say it? Looking back, after all the shit KJ stirred, i chose to stick by him, at the cost of getting slapped and nearly getting my legs broken. But was it worth it? He cheated me of my money, and embezzled our 'funds'. So don easily go rattling off about how disloyal a friend I AM , or not being truthful, or whatever shit. I'll be sad to say, you dont know me. You aint seen nothing yet. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 25,July,2004 | urlLink Ter and Me  urlLink Me and Sukri  urlLink Hip hop style! like real. whaha  urlLink Khai, me and Ter  Had a good workout today. Gym and a run. I should start doing runs everyday. Met Mellie today, like finally! Havent seen her in sch this sem, and havent hanged out with her for like ages. i miss you girl. fuck NYP's timetable. Had free dinner tonight again, courtesy of Ter, or rather courtesy of Korea's 4-0 win. Like last tues, we were wreaking havoc again at the KFC. Lester's shit was just crazy. What a bastard. Been having so many eating escapades this sem. Like almost everyday, khai su and myself would definitely go for one such escapade. We are running out of places to go. Getting a lil bored of the Little India eateries and Puncak. I need to go read up the makansutra book. Anyone got a copy? |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 25,July,2004 | Its been a hectic week i guess. Many things happened and many issues arising, i've been too lazy to blog most of the time. Still, I prefer not to elaborate. I believe some things are just better left unsaid, and i like to let time do its wonders, to heal the pain whatsoever. And also, some things SHOULD just be left unsaid, coz if you go against nature, things will never be as before. Thankfully, there are some really special people in my life whom despite all the insanity going on out there, are able to keep me sane. I would like to thank some of them here, coz you guys bring more than just a smile unto my face. Didi and Nini : You girls are just the sweetest, and as i have said it before, just looking at you 2 brightens up my day tenfold. And nini, your massages rock. Sophia : You've been there listening to me every single time unconditionally, and being such great company, love you sis. Khai and Su : You 2 are the only people who are able to crack me up every single time, even when im crying my guts out. Denise : Momma you are my bestest friend and im glad to say that your constant nagging has, over the years, become music to my ears. =P Miss you! Wayne : Last but not least, my dear bro. Through all the ups and downs, despite you being such an ass at times, you know that i love you. And i thank you for your care and concern and support and encouragement (be it in terms of $$, or gifts, or treats, or $$) *chuckle* |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 21,July,2004 | What is yours, will be yours. What isnt, will never be. Sounds familiar? Everybody always live by this saying. Is there any truth in that at all? So many times in my life, things have always been going smooth. things going my way. i had what seemed rightfully mine. Yet, time and again, it always seem that someone is out to snatch what seemed to be mine. I like to share stuff, but some things are not meant to be shared. certain things in life can never be shared. so some people would tell me the above saying. And i refuse to agree with it. Yes, i have always lived my life a selfless person. i always put others before myself. Does that mean that i have no right to be selfish for even a moment? Even when it means losing what was mine? Am i wrong to be feeling this way? I truly believe that whatever i'm talking about, has my name written all over it. Why do people always want to steal it from me? And right under my nose? I'm already living the life worse than a loser. You guys have everything, i don't. Can't you all just be contented and leave, what is mine, alone? |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 19,July,2004 | God is infallible, impeccable, and absolutely perfect. Pity, that life (or rather, we) is(are) not. No matter how mighty we think we are, no matter how strong we try to be in life, we have to face the hurtful truth, that life is not infallible. that life is not impeccable. that life is not absolutely perfect. We are not God. However, this is where it all falls in place. If we were all to have perfect lives, wouldnt there be many Gods? Then what would that make the Almighty God Jehovah Jireh? There is only one God. He may have thrown many encumbrances at us, but isnt it true that through these turmoils, we actually get to experience the heavenly Power of God's great love? Through all this, we get to understand the ways of God, and we actually learn lessons that lead us towards infallibity, impeccability, perfectness, all that God is. We will never be Him, but we can be like Him. Wayne just informed me that Dawne's dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was really shocked. All the good people are getting the shit, yet the bad (like me) are getting away. Been through Uncle Peter's ordeal last year and it was painful to see him go. Wayne told me he didnt know what to do. i told him 'just show care and concern and support.' More importantly bro, just Pray. to God. Pray to Him with a truthful and selfless heart. Trust me, (and trust Him) He is powerful. My dear friends, pls pray for Dawne's dad too. Thanks all. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 16,July,2004 | went down to TAS to pick up my last pay check. nubbad, they paid me the full month's pay for the lat 3 weeks of work. shweet! bought a cake to thank them for their drinks and treats, and also to celebrate belated-bday of dawn, early bday for Pam and Jeff. I never knew the joy that a simple cake can bring to one, and the emotional effects of receiving one. You should have seen the smiles on the 2 girls' faces. oh man. i just felt so elated. the best moment of the day was when i received Jeff's msg afterwards. Really, the aftertaste of being able to touch someone's heart is too beautiful . Ok, beautiful is not really a description of tastes, but who cares. Untouched from the original msgs : Jeff: Thks 4 the cake. It's been 9 yrs since i had my last b'day cake. Anyway, thks. Me: No probs man. All that matters is you all happy. Jeff: Hey fucking hell, now lesson can sms?! That last bit was really hilarious. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 14,July,2004 | urlLink With my dearest mei, U-nice, now all grown up!  urlLink me and marc jo. he has like one the biggest 'tits' around man  urlLink the reporting area. havent stepped into here for ages, and never will again. whahaha.. scary place  Had only one lesson today. kinda ok. CRM. pretty straight forward module. headed down to Toa Payoh for the last day of the Sch Nats finals with Irvin and Jame. Felt a little weird when we first stepped in. All the young unfamiliar faces around. Gone were all the old birds. But after awhile they all started flocking in. Caught up with many people whom i havent seen in ages. Leonard Yeo, for instant. Ya, Joscelin Yeo's brother. He still remembers me, which came as a surprise to me. whaha.. Got to see my dearest mei, U-nice. Havent seen her in like 2 years?! God it felt so good to see her. i missed you so much girl! whaha it definitely felt great to go back to the arena to catch up with the people. And yeah Jame, i'll call you up soon, for that game of pool. Oh yah, mum just told me that she bought some shares for me. cool eh. SMRT shares. apparently they are distributing dividends next month, so i'd probably net in $900? the coolness of the whole thing is that i owe her about $1200, so she's actually buying shares for me to earn money to pay her back. whaha |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 13,July,2004 | Yup that is the quote of the day, courtesy of Ravi. God, its been such a funny day. School has not been that exciting since it started yesterday. My modules this sem are shit boring to the core. Almost every lesson is 2 hours of pure crap, i tell you even Einstein would fall asleep if he sat in my lessons. The only joy of school is that i get to see all my lovely classmates and juniors and friends i have missed for so long! Went down to the gym today (after like 4 months of disappearance) and went over to the SP room to check out my lovely juniors. God i missed them so much! Especially didi and nini. There is just something special about this 2 girls. Everytime i look at them, a smile just pops onto my face, it brightens up my whole day, my heart just softens and i always succumb to their bullying. whaha.. Ran around all the machines just to get accustomed to working out again. Its so hard to get back to shape after 4 months of inactivity. Shit i hate this feeling. Now i gotta start all over again. Argh! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 11,July,2004 | urlLink the pinkies of the day, me and Li urlLink my nice new slippers!! urlLink my TopMan shorts urlLink Inside Eastside.. cant really see shit here urlLink Lousy pic taken by denise at Mambo =P Im lazy to blog now. Lotsa happy moments, just lazy to list it all out. hah.. zzz.. some pics taken these few days. School starts tmrw! what to expect.. no idea man.. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 10,July,2004 | Yea, the long wait is finally over. I don have to work anymore. Or at least for 1 year. Dr Lee bought us dim sum lunch at Wah Lok@Carlton Hotel yesterday. Dr Lee is like seriously the nicest gentleman ever to walk this earth. I simply cannot find the words to describe him. Juliana, you are one lucky girl. Was at Eastside later on in the night with Jeff, while Pam and Dawn were at the Men's Health bash @ Newsroom. Yes they did not bring me along. dam. but still, i had a long chat with Jeff one to one, and he told me more of his life story, along with more lessons of life, which made me admire and respect him much more than before. He is like the perfect rebuttal to the popular belief that bad company destroys lives. Later on, we met up with Pam and Dawn at Siam Supperclub. I, personally (Jeff too), preferred Eastside. They had fantastic music, but since it was my last night out with them and the ladies were buying all my drinks, anywhere is good. Mixed feelings now. Im really glad that its all over, and that i can actually concentrate on getting more sleep. Yet, im so gonna miss this 3 'brothers' (Pam Dawn and Jeff) whom i've been living with everyday for 11 weeks. All the best to you guys, and i promise i'll drop by if i have the time. Or hit Ice Cold Beer when YOU GUYS are free. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 08,July,2004 | Retail Therapy is really provocative and satisfying, yet it can get seriously out of hand and terrifying. I think i'm gonna need some help with controlling this unexplainable urge i have to shop. My final pay check (together with my OT compensation) will come in earliest on Monday, yet im already starting to buy stuff before the money comes in. Yes, im on credit. Ivan's credit, to be exact. When i stepped into Orchard, the scene was quite a shocker. Either there was a party tonight at some club and people were decked out in their most clubbing apparels, ready for it, OR its just me not hitting town for too long a period. Seriously. Like, whoa. Zara had this really great sale and i was already controlling my impulseness by considering for 10 minutes a blue shirt which i finally concluded that i could do without. But this really shweet grey short sleeve could not escape from my grasps and i fell in love with it the minute i laid eyes on it. Ivan thought otherwise but i don care. I still like it. wha.. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 06,July,2004 | Yea! TAS re-affirmed their earlier decision of compensating me for all the OT i put in. And it amounts to at least 55 hours.. hehe imma rich man.. Sakae buffet again, anyone? =P |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 05,July,2004 | urlLink caught on the phone.. i like this shot. natural pic.. hehe  urlLink really hilarious pic! couldnt stop laughing at it  urlLink Kor and Dawne  urlLink me and kor  Sat - Had praise prac the whole day for Sun's Prayer and Praise. Tiring. Really. 5 hours of jamming and singing. Bought a pair of slippers and shorts at TopMan on impulse, without even blinking. Like, shit. Im deep in debt, yet im still splurging. Somebody pls help me. Sun - Prayer and Praise went quite ok, considering that we only had one prac. Walked around town with Wayne and Dawne (his girl) before going for dinner with Mum and Dad. Ok, i really need help. 3 minutes into Flash & Splash and im out with yet ANOTHER pair of slippers. Like, shit man. I just splurged mindlessly yesterday. And now again. Argh. Today - Just back from dinner with Jame and Pohie my momma at Sakae. Missed her so much ever since she left and i couldnt wait to see her at dinner! she's still the same, though abit noisier and whinier now ( right momma? =P ) but nonetheless, still the same. till we meet again, in like 5 months? oh man.. thats really long.. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 30,June,2004 | the weariness of working is getting to me so badly. reached home at 8pm last night, dropped on my bed and never got up till 7am this morning. the wonders 11 hours of sleep can do. i cant wait for school to start. although i have two 8am-start days, at least im sure i can get much more sleep in than when im working. 2 more items added to my wish list. check it out. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 29,June,2004 | to the max. Lethargicity was too overwhelming for me today. I simply did not had the strength and the mood to do any work at all. Not that anyone at work had. Guess its the post-event syndrome. Everyone is just dying for a break, yet we are not entitled to any. the after-effects of 2-weeks-of-17-hours-work-day, add to that the full-day-spent-working-like-hell-at-the-beach, top it all off with 6 bottles of wine and 2 cartons of booze. Lethargicity. There ya go. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 27,June,2004 | urlLink This is my tentage, the Registration counter! and my 10 very hardworking volunteers!  urlLink all volunteers at their tentage  urlLink and another pic of them reporting  urlLink A beautiful Celica spotted outside the SSC office  urlLink from the back.. ooh..  Yesterday was the Aquathlon Challenge! finally the day was here. Was a pretty hectic day for me. Being in charge of the registration counter, it was rather stressful as we sorta make or break the participants' day since we are the first line of staff to greet them. Had some minor cock ups here and there, and some really unreasonable participants, but nevertheless everything went rather smoothly. Was so busy that i never got to catch any part of the races and to take much pics. More pics will be up when i get them form Pam. Weather was pretty good in the morning and it held up till the end. A big thank you to my 10 volunteers from Hwa Chung who did a superb job! Kelly, Zesamine, Amelia, Su Ying, Geri, Boon Hui, Jessica, Jasmin and few others. Thank you all! You guys were absolutely great! After that, we rushed back to the clubhouse for dinner. To celebrate the success of the event and also to celebrate Mark's (our president) bday. Jeff came down with his wife as well. There wasnt much booze around but lotsa wine and champagne. I seldom touch wine, so i was rather suprised at the kick that you actually can get from wine. Had a great night going crazy with Jeff, his wife, Charlie, Robert, David Hoong, Dawn and Pam. When the alcohol kicked in, our horses were let loose like hell! whahaha i knocked out the minute i got home. And i had one of the best sleeps in 2 weeks, even though im still dam tired now. WeiYee talked to me today in church. Apparently my idea of having a once-a-month praise session got out to quite some people so she suggested we try kicking things off next week, coinciding with the prayer meeting. Exciting. Got quite a few people to prac on sat. Cant wait. Aiite, im hitting the bed once again. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 25,June,2004 | Starting to realise that the working world is a bad place to be in. So much shit you have to face. Sometimes you think you are doing the right thing. You innocently thought you were right (or you innocently made a tiny mistake), but somewhere along the line, someone comes and tell you you f**ked up big time. Its so hard to please people. The saying goes you cannot please everyone, yet it is already so difficult to please just one person. Chinese saying says work is work, personal is personal, yet knowingly, work will always get mixed with personal and its just so irritating. So many issues im facing now, so many concerns i have at work. Im on my toes almost every minute. Its really tough in the mind, to always have to remind myself again what to do, how to do, and in the end, a little mistake pops up and down i go. Sometimes i wonder, is it worth it to do so much? Am i even being appreciated? Are my efforts going unnoticed? Am i getting the credit i truly deserve? Ok all this might not make much sense to you but its whole lot of shit jumbled up in me. i just have to let everything out, so that i feel better. Or, maybe Charlie could just quickly pay me the extra $ he suggested. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 24,June,2004 | Bored of having to think of titles so i just put shit up there. whaha.. well as usual, another 17-hour work day. i seriously have no life now. my life at this point of time revolves around work, work and work. I cant remember the last time i went out with friends. I cant remember the last time i caught a movie. I cant remember the last time i was walking down orchard shopping. Have been having lotsa talks with Dawn and Pam and we concluded that TAS was a f**ked up place to be at working at, at the moment. Picture this, here in TAS : Sport and Wellness Diploma holder with 5 years working experience, workload requires 12-hours-a-day, getting paid LOWER than Civil Engineering Degree holder (no, there is NO link between civil engineering and sports industry. Period.) who sits on his ass 9-hours-a-day and bosses around people, at the same time screwing things up for everyone. A fair world, they call it. Yes its official. My lecturer-adminstrator of my course, our dear Mrs Angela Tan, has left NYP. I swear, the value of my diploma just dipped tenfold, if not more. Oh well, she's better off elsewhere anyway. NYP is just too f**ked up for her. They are not worth her. This is a tribute to her. Mrs Tan, you are seriously the best lecturer i've ever had and i have the utmost respect for you. You made so much of a difference in SW and you were, you are, and you will always be the trademark of the SW course. All the best at your new place. We'll catch up one day. Good night all. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 23,June,2004 | Yea.. that spells it all out. I am getting really worn out. Not enough sleep, not enough time to recharge. i only spend 6 hours a day at home, and that includes sleep. I come to work like a zombie, at times even sitting there and being so spaced out. cant wait for the event to be over. still, there is so much to be done for post-event, but at least the major block is rid of. i cant wait to get my extra allowance, if its gonna be given. hoping.. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 22,June,2004 | just came back from office. spent the whole day at SSC packing up the chips for Sat's race. After we were done, still had to come back to office to clear all the letters for posting to the participants (640, yes thats like freakin alot!) by tmrw! Dawn and Pam and i were like going crazy! but we had so much fun talking nonsense and sense, and Class 95's night show is just fantabulous! Great music! 17-hour working day has become such a norm for me now. Its really dam tiring. Only good thing is i might be getting extra allowance for all the OT i put in (which amounts to 30 hours as of now, since last wed) Pray hard! Still, i feel so bad not being able to company mum, especially since Dad is away and evynn is at swim camp, and Wayne's back in camp. That leaves her all alone at home. Argh! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 20,June,2004 | urlLink Beautiful Honda ! urlLink form the back.. Oooh.. Been a hectic week, to round it all off. Sat was the volunteers' briefing for next Sat's Aquathlon and everyone was rushing around for everything. Decided to have dinner with mum since i havent had a meal with her for weeks. The beautiful and calm ambience at Patara Thai restaurant was really soothing. The delicacies were totally irresistable. whee.. Got fed up with things at church. Really fed up. Sometimes i wonder, why do i even bother trying, why do i bother putting so much effort into doing things, only to see people write me off and deem my presence as irrelevant. Well, for God, i say. Yes, i admit, i wasnt even bothered with church stuff in the past. But, cant people change? cant i change? Had a really long talk with Soph, and i thank God for her. She's the one who was there to open up her ears to listen to me and advise me. Thank you so much dear. Love ya. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 19,June,2004 | just had a rather long chat with mum. was good. havent been talking to her much recently, due to the long hours i spend at work. she shared her problems with me and i just made her laugh with my stories at work. we both enjoyed that 1 hour. some more, dad is away, so all the more it was meaningful for me to spend time with her. Another long day spent at work. just like the previous days, left work at 11pm. supper with Dawn and then free cab home (courtesy of TAS =P ) Past few days have been really enoyable, though tiring. Working so closely with Dawn for 14 hours a day, its been so much fun. Being so buried within the huge stress around us, we have to force ourselves to enlighten each other and the nonsense and noise we create during work simply helps put us at ease. by the way, my New Balance shoes arrived today. Nice! post it up tmrw. 3 more weeks till the end of attachment. sigh it'd be so sad to leave. and Dawn is so gonna die. Coz after i leave, she wont have a personal assistant anymore. hehe oh Dawn and Pam booked me for drinks on the 1st! before i leave. Cant wait! =P |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 17,June,2004 | in hokkien, that'd go like 'zhui gong lam pa song'. Its the only phrase i can use to describe the biggest f**king asshole in the whole wide world, the Mr-all-time-cocking-up things-bastard Woon Long. (the worst colleague anyone has in TAS, btw) Seriously, there are actually such people out there. Stupid, cock-sucking, good-for-nothings who cannot get anything done but act super egoistic-ly. MR Big-Shot Woon Long is one perfect example. When he has no backing, he is like a freaking hamster (hamster = slang for a hum-ji person) Yes. He will whimper and frail. When he has a little bit of authority backing him, he will curry favour that figure of authority with every single curry there is in the world, and he will f**king turn around and shoot everyone down, regardless of whether he is in the right or wrong, just like he did at the last meeting. I have never seen such a personality change, of this high a degree, in my whole entire life. The worst thing is, he has no evidence to back his bossy-f**king-irritating actions. Absolutely nothing. I never gave him any respect since i stepped into TAS. He didnt deserve to be given any. I did give him a little bit of respect for him being a human. Now, even that, i am taking back. Looking at him, i am utterly disgraced to be a guy. If i were him, my balls would have rolled off me ages ago. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 16,June,2004 | alright. it has been another crazy day. another 17-hour work day for me. just got home from work and i still got so much stuff to do, i brought work home. i hate late entries for races. i hate the paperwork. i hate Woon Long. i cant wait to kill him. im sure by doing that, i'll be doing TAS a whole lot of justice. i shant bother you all with too much of my work. break time is up! back to work! ARGH! |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 16,June,2004 | Work is becoming too overwhelming for me. All these last minute race entries are killing me really badly. Have been working like at least 11-hours a day since Friday. I've been working straight from 9am this morning till now (its 1.55am now. yes its been 17 hours of work). its shit man. havent caught dinner. stress sucks, seriously. im tired. im weary. but things, lotsa things, have to be done. Add to that, i have to face some pathetic stupid asshole's face and dumb requests. Argh. Joss Stone has been accompanying me for the past 3 hours of work. She's just fantastic. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 14,June,2004 | you know there are those kinda days where everything seem to run so nicely, then right at the end, SMACK! something pops up and just ruins everything? yea shit happened. morning went for a meeting at New Balance to settle the staff apparel stuff with Philip, then later on had a discussion together with Arthur (the big boss of NB S'pore) about Corporate Tri in Oct. Was so excited over it. Dawn was like suggesting she do the proposal and i do presentation, i was like OK! whahaha.. oh yah i ordered a pair of shoes. Retail's like $119. i got it for $71! Whahaha.. shioky.. Dawn was offering me part-time at TAS when sch starts. hope my timetable will allow for that (think she has become too dependent on me after i started attachment here whahahahaha!) Back in the office, i was flooded with paperwork. entries were pouring in like shit and so many (many means like every 5 mins someone comes!)people were coming to the office to register. For the second time, i felt so busy (and in other words, i felt useful whahaha) and anyway, right smack at 5.50pm, it came to our attention that $100 was missing from the cah box. I was like, oh shit. Even after many rounds of calculating, the money never resurfaced. Dawn has to make up for it and i felt so shitty and bad. It could have been my fault, i didnt lock the drawer one day and somebody could have just stolen it. i dunno. anyway its so anti-climax. think i should share the burden with her. afterall, we are partners. sigh left work only at 8pm. what a way to end off such an eventful day for me. sigh. Oh and to add to all that, England lost. Argh. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 13,June,2004 | urlLink Ronaldo concedes a penalty to the Greek.  Yes. The host country crashed to a surprise 2-1 defeat at the hands of the unfancied Greece. Lady Luck was definitely not smiling on the Portuguese last night. As early as the 6th minute, Greece marked the scoreboard. Even by bringing on Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco at half time, the Portuguese did not seem to be more of a threat. Ronaldo gave away a penalty shortly after coming on and it was 2-0. Still, Ronaldo was the most hardworking player throughout, making hard and long runs down the left flank, making crosses into the penalty area, only to see no one finishing the job. Try as they might, the Portuguese just could not penetrate the Greek defence. In the closing minutes, Ronaldo headed a late consolation goal for the home team from Figo's corner. Today had quite a discussion with Soph, Bryan, Joyce and Evan about our worship stuff. How we could liven up the service, how we could make our worship better and more pleasing. Yet, i was disheartened to hear them affirm my views that the congregation was simply not being supportive and sad to say, many people come to Church for the sake of coming, and not to worship God. Plans are on the way to revamp our service. Just pray that we are able to make the change and make things turn around. urlLink an old-but-stylo Honda Civic EG-6!!  |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 11,June,2004 | Its been about 6 weeks since attachment has been going on and today was the first time i was on my feet the whole day. So busy, i was, that i didnt have lunch. Pam and Dawn were out for meeting the whole day, which meant i had to pretty much be in charge of everything at the clubhouse. In the morning was with Dawn at IKEA to buy mirrors and all. back to the office to clear lots and lots of paperwork the whole afternoon. entries are pouring in like crazy for Aquathlon. ( urlLink here for forms) Add to that the phone queries for the OSIM Tri, supervising the workers drilling on the stuff and signages, *poof* one day (without lunch) was gone. Gotta go back tmrw to fix the pool. Jeff was supposed to do it with me 3 weeks ago but till now, every saturday he has been 'dua-ing' me. Every single time, he would try to cajole me with his Toa Payoh Blk 125 Malay Food Stall. And every single time, the beef lungs, friend chicken, chicken and beef rendang, potato cakes and ikan bilis will make me forgive him. i've got a hunch i'ma get another treat tmrw *chuckle* |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 10,June,2004 | Pretty hectic day. Work work work. argh.. Internet is still down at work and its seriously taking a heavy toll on everyone's workload. everything is just piling up but we cant do anything at all. Lunch was on Jeff today (whats new.. whahaha) at our latest hangout, Blk 125 Toa Payoh Malay food stall. Spent like half the day wandering about Sim Lim with Dawn looking for shit to fix the modem, to no avail. Back to the office to do up all the paperwork for Aquathlon till 8pm (fyi, my working hours is 9-6) to satisfy some stupid idiot up there. Whenever i swear, even the most vulgar word i use will always mean nothing. Yet, right now whenever i say stupid , such a simple word actually carries such a heavy meaning. Yes. Some people out there are seriously plain stupid . My usage of the word stupid right now can actually replace all the other vulgar nouns in my dictionary. It means much more than words like f**k or asshole etc. Period. In a rice warehouse, there is a rat running all around every night, nibbling at rice sacks and contaminating the contents. What does the owner do? He counts the number of rice sacks being attacked every night and takes note of it. Does this make any sense at all? No. Shouldnt he be looking for a suitable cat to come and tackle the mouse? Yes he should. But is he doing so? No. That, is stupid , for you. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 08,June,2004 | Argh! Internet at work has been down since yesterday and its been so irritating. i cant do work, i cant receive work, i cant play msn and stuff when im bored, and in short, i cant do anything! Well, only paperwork, which i have been doing for the whole day. bores me to death. In other news, talked to Dawn yesterday and we might be making a trip to Port Dickson for the Port Dickson Triathlon from 9th-11th July. Its supposedly one of the better races in SEA. I was elated to hear that. havent been on a holiday for a year and a half already. cant wait. Some more, its Port Dickson. Whoo.. My long awaited beach-trip. whahaha.. Oh yah Mark, our president, got Gold for his IPPT and got the $400!! so its lunch on him tmrw at American Club! Whoopee!! Im gonna whack him so hard! hehehe.. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 07,June,2004 | urlLink happening praising in the church!!!  urlLink lots more people on the 2nd night!!  urlLink the stage  urlLink blurred pic of Darlene Zchech and another guy singer  urlLink lotsa people on the first night!!  urlLink ivan and me  urlLink mini!! spotted it at the carpark outside stadium. beautiful!  |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 07,June,2004 | was at the hospital the whole night. grandma got admitted for heart problems. was reading the rather outdated copy of 8days and came across something rather hilarious: 10 things we would never know if not for Hollywood Movies 1. Kitchens have no light switches. When they open the fridge door, the only light that shines out is the only light they use. 2. Any tappings or flashing of lights are bound to be Morse codes and there will ALWAYS be someone around who knows how to decode them. 3. Spaceships can only fire at their foes when they are in visual range. Even though weopons that are able to shoot down your enemy without seeing them had been invented in the 21st century, people in the future just seem to forget all about this technology. 4. In any sports movie, the player can look up into 1 billion spectators and supporters and VERY EASILY spot their loved ones out. 5. Detectives can only solve cases AFTER they get suspended. 6. In VACUUM space, noises from battles can actually be heard and laser beams be seen, 7. Those who hate each other at first sight, will end up in love. 8. During quick escapes, there will always be a drainpipe right outside the teenagers' window, which would be strong enough to bear all the weight. 9. Every grocery bag will have at least 1 french loaf. 10. Break ups can always be resolved by chasing the other down the street, embarrasing them at their workplace, or turning up at the airport just before they are about to board their flight. cool eh? |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 06,June,2004 | it has been a beautiful weekend. friday and saturday night was spent at the Festival Of Praise. the atmosphere was just great. I foregoed an outing out with my friends on saturday for the FOP session that day and i never regretted that decision. The cost of being touched by God and feeling his Spirit and receiving all his blessings is just priceless. Hillsongs' performance and leading of praise was superb and you could just feel God's presence right there and then. It has really lifted me up. Truly enjoyed myself and i definitely feel closer to God. God works in many different ways, and the way he has changed me is so great that even i am shocked at the changes. its been like 360 degrees change spiritually and its scares me that He is really so powerful. Saturday after work, had lunch with Jeff and Pam. We had a 3hour talk and he just shared so much stuff with us. really opened my eyes to the world out there. belting out lines and lines of life's philosophies, i was just awed at his knowledge and sensibility. oh well, im oxidising my hair now, after 2 years of black hair. whahaha.. will post up pics from the weekend soon when im free. till then, tata |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 04,June,2004 | On my way to work, on the bus, there was a pregnant lady who boarded at the interchange, together with me. We got on the bus as the last few peeps, so obviously there were no more empty seats. i proceeded to stand at the standing area, she walked further into the bus. For the whole 40 minute bus ride, no one offered her a seat. When the bus was shaky and she stumbled a lil, my heart gripped. Still, no one offered their seats. No one even bothered looking at her, in case she falls or what. The sight of this is just horrigible. How selfish can Singaporeans get? No wonder even Singaporeans condemn Singaporeans. Simple basic courtesy, yet supposedly-intelligent-people like the Singaporeans cannot even do the kind act of offering their seats to those who need it. Not like this happens once in a while. I have already seen 3 poor pregnant ladies having to stand the entire bus ride in 2 weeks. Sick. Makes me sick to realise after all this that I am also a Singaporean. Urgh. You discourteous infidels are a disgrace. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 03,June,2004 | Mark, our president, came back today! everyone were on their toes. haha spent the whole day looking at the com, which really makes one tired. slept on the bus so comfortably that i was thinking of foregoing my evening run. i shook myself and dragged my ass down to the roads. now i feel satisfied. heh.. Life at TAS (Triathlon Association of Singapore) is getting so much greater. Why? coz i save alot of money. whahaha so far, have been getting lotsa treats from Dawn, Pam and Jeff. Just on Tuesday, lunch was on Dawn. Drinks and cigs at night were sponsored by Dawn again. That day, i spent nothing. zilch. zero. Wonderful, ain't it? Coming to TAS has really opened up my eyes. The people i met are great. The New Balance Sales fella, Philip, was a great contact (for future cheap purchases =P), David Sim from Sports Council was a great experience. Young fella, yet holding a senior post, and really knows his stuff. respect. Pam, my colleague, is 27 yet we could click quite well, talking serious and cock stuff. Mark, my president, is a hunky-rich-30yrold-looking 40odd yr old guy. He is just a superb president. He does so much for the Association and does it superbly. And of coz my boss, Dawn. She is just so good to work with. Click so well, and she's shown me so much and taught me so much. Last but not least, Jeff, our ah beng contractor. He's an english speaking ah beng. He is seriously the most nonsensical guy i know, other than botak, ian and zhiwei. He never fails to crack us up really badly when he drops by the office or bring us for lunch. Jokes aside, he is a very sensible and mature guy whom i really have deep respect for, just like botak. He is superbly nice and among all i have met so far, he deserves my utmost respect for who he is. peace. urlLink Jeff's Integra Interior  Looking forward to Festival of Praise this weekend. Tmrw would be going with Ivan and hopefully Erica. Saturday with the church peeps. dunno why but i just felt like going for both nights. Praising Him is such a beautiful and lovely thing. Whoo! Speaking of his works, I got my results last week. was kinda glad that i cleared all, (coz seriously, last sem was my slackest sem in terms of attentiveness in class and lectures) but still abit pissed about not getting any As. was like expecting at least 1 or 2 of them. end up, none. still, 2 Cs and 5 Bs are a commendable effort already. whahaha.. Thank you God. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 02,June,2004 | finally decided to do up a brand new blog. no more fancy stuff layout and all. cant be bothered already. whaha just could not do without blogging. i had nowhere to cry and complain too when things get so bad. its been about a month or even longer since i last blogged. so much things have happened. and its all still inked in my mind, so YES im gonna make this a really LONG blog. im gonna update everything that i can remember of. whaha hang in there. Havent been getting as much sleep as i wanted to. every night its only like 5 hours of solid sleep, which is a far cry to the usual min. 8 i need. its taking a huge toll on me. God has been changing me so much in the last few months. Through out my fight with the almighty cigarettes, God has shown that he is even mightier than them. If not for Him, i could never have conquered this habit by myself. the fight is still not over, temptations still arises, but i know that He will continue to help me. Thank you God, i love you. urlLink Cat. me and Li Huan at the airport  Cat and Lihuan are in Tokyo right now for mission trip. another 16 days before they are back. sigh i miss them so much. i feel so much for their trip this time. have been companying them and praying and supporting them so much, its the most i have ever done for anyone going for mission. come back quick girls! Work has been alright. getting a wee bit boring but its still holding up. things are heating up. event is drawing near. my boss has been still good. we're getting closer, thanks to the people we are around and also thanks to drinks. hehe.. recently some of you have might already known, my bro has gotten himself a girlfriend. yes finally. im supposed to feel happy for him, yet i hate it. i don talk to his girl coz i am very in fear of portraying a wrong image. its hard to explain but in short, i cannot talk to her at all. so one fine sunday, before church, he actually asked me to go for a run that afternoon. i said sure. 4pm. so after church i accompanied cat and lihuan to do last minute shopping and he went home. i came home at 3.50pm, expecting to change and then go for that run with him. he suddenly told me to wash her tupperware and then told me he was going to climb pathetic bkt timah hill with her and her friends. i was like WTF? like whatever. then just past sunday, we went to wesley. after that i accompanied them to sim lim after the service. bad mistake. i felt worst than a fish out of water. worst idiot ever. i was like a freakin dog, lappin behind my master and the girl. so at one shop, i went in while they stood outside. i msged him and said im leaving. when i looked around, they were already walking off to other shops, as if i was non-existent. he didnt even read my msg. only after i left the building and boarded a bus home, 3 minutes into the bus ride, then he called and asked where i was. like whatever. today, being a public holiday, i expected him to stay out with that girl the whole day. and he did. i never spoke a single word to him today, only shouted at him when he came home to use the com before going back to camp and the com cocked up big time. i feel sick talking to him. why do things have to turn out like that? im his brother. i looked up to him so much. i respected him so much. i spoke so much good of him in front of others, even covering up so much shit for him. yet, he treats me the total opposite. the only thing he does for me is give me money. im so disappointed. utterly. i dunno why he turned out this way. sigh thankfully, i have my friends. i love you guys for being there for me. |
2,383,328 | male | 26 | indUnk | Virgo | 08,August,2004 | Morpheus urlLink ?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ?? brought to you by urlLink Quizilla |
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