dance like you mean it.

Epitaph

2008-05-22T11:04:52Z

I remember cursing the day that I met you
And when you left
I raised my clenched fist into the air
And shook it, like an old codger from a cartoon
Saying, inside, deep inside
"Good riddance! Good riddance to bad rubbish!"

Now that you're really gone
I wish that you had stayed a little longer
So that I could shout at you a little more
Maybe even try once more to make myself heard

By the sideboard
Your mother looks so sad
And so much more beautiful
Than the crowd of people offering her condolences.

Quest

2008-05-22T01:30:54Z

One of my great quests of the last year or so has been for the "correct" or "ultimate" kueh lapis. This is a snack of my childhood, and the main attraction is in peeling and eating the layers one by one.

In recent years, it's been harder and harder to find, primarily because it's been supplanted by the Bengawan Solo lapis sagu which has slipperier and thinner layers ... But in only a couple of colours. I've been searching and searching for a version of kueh lapis that has the right texture and the right colours.

I found this at the drinks stall in school. I'm excited, because it's the one I remember!

The Frixion pens are available for $2.40 at Popular Bookshop.

I've finally finished Swordspoint. I loved it, even though I spent a large part of the second half of the game wanting to box Richard and Alec because they're both big doody heads. I mean, honestly. He didn't leave because he was tired of Riverside, you bloody great goose.

*grumble*

Loved it, though.

It's very clever and very involving, both things that I love.

ellen_kushner has a lot to answer for.

*grumble*

Now I want some more.

The paperback that I have includes three short stories that feature Richard and Alec, and I'm resisting (successfully, so far) the urge to read them all at once.

Ramble

2008-05-20T16:19:53Z

"Corner of the Sky" from Pippin

Featuring William Katt, and with a teeny bit of Ben Vereen.

Miracles

2008-05-20T13:07:10Z

Came across a couple of technological miracles today: the Pilot Frixion pen and (more excitingly) the Gimble book holder (pictured on the right).

If you click on the video below you can see this video I found online that demonstrates how easy it is to erase things written with a Frixion pen.

And as a bonus, there's another video, this time a slightly odd advertisement for the Frixion pen. I put it under a cut so this entry wouldn't get too long.

Ten

2008-05-20T12:58:09Z

Breakfast at ten in a cafe is all it takes
And suddenly I feel like I'm on holiday
Sipping hot coffee and eating a croissant
A book in one hand
While the world goes about its business
Instantly puts me in the mood
That accompanies a trip to a foreign land
When I do the same but with a companion or two
Who replace the book with the idle conversation
Of people who have nothing to do at ten in the morning
Except have a lazy breakfast.

Epitaph

2008-05-20T00:16:19Z

I wonder what people will say about me when I'm dead.

If my tombstone says "one of the good guys" (or if people say that), then that's enough for me.

(I'll need a short epitaph, because my name is so very long.)

Mash

2008-05-19T15:22:21Z

I really like mashups, particularly when the songs fit together well ... unexpectedly. Here's a couple for your enjoyment.

Sweet Dreams are Made of Seven Nation Army
Eurhythmmics v White Stripes

Sweet Home Country Grammar
Lynrd Skynrd v Nelly

Smells Like Billie Jean
Nirvana v Michael Jackson

Take Me Out for a Milkshake
Franz Ferdinand v Kelis

Toxic Love Shack
Britney Spears v B52s

Today

2008-05-19T14:10:03Z

I'm feeling much better today, thanks for all your concern and messages. I had a bad night, but after a 4am visit to the toilet, I suddenly felt a lot better.

I was a little fragile in the morning, so I played it safe and had plain toast and a glass of water. Lunch wasn't very special, either - plain rice porridge (congee) and veggies - but I was restored.

I headed out after lunch for Chinatown, to meet VT and Mike. We whiled away the afternoon gabbing, and I got my annual CSFG briefing/update at the same time. They had to head back to meet their rellies to go to the Raffles, so I left them to it. They're off to Malaysia tomorrow, so I'm not sure I'll see then again before they go. Maybe tomorrow afternoon, I'm not sure.

Dinner at Specky with RJ and SD was good fun, and the food did not dissapoint. The portions are quite large, so it was a good thing there were three of us, otherwise we'd have been overwhelmed. We adjourned to Hans afterwards for coffee, and now I'm on the way home.

Outside

2008-05-19T13:30:27Z

At home
the sky's been scraped till
only one tiny patch remains
shining directly overhead.
The train to from Perth to Kalgoorlie
takes seven hours.
At home
my window frames the stunning view
of someone else's windows:
we both keep our blinds drawn.
The landscape sliding past the train
is mainly flat
mostly red
with some scrubby bushes the only sign of life.
My travelling companion is nine years younger
but infinitely better at dealing with the world.
I turn to her.
"It's very flat."
She stares intently at me
seeing something in my eyes
that I did not put there.
"You're going to flip out
aren't you?"
We both laugh
heartily at first,
then more thinly.
Outside
the landscape is a thin red blur.

Dance

2008-05-19T03:35:18Z

From lightproofbox.com. The photo is titled "I’m dancing and I don’t care who knows it".

Audition

2008-05-19T03:34:32Z

From Thailand, this is an advertisement for Audition, an online game.

Fair Price

2008-05-18T13:21:41Z

Magnus

2008-05-18T13:20:50Z

The saint whose feast day falls on my birthday is St Magnus, patron saint of rats and pestilence. According to the stories, he once adopted a baby dragon as a pet. He convinced a bear to tell him the location of a rich veins of iron ore, and as a reward gave it some cake, which so delighted the bear that he showed Magnus more iron ore. It is not recorded whether he gave the bear more cake.

Of course, Magnus is also the name of Magneto, Master of Magnetism.

Heat

2008-05-18T13:20:45Z

As the day grows dim,
We meander slowly through the warm evening air,
Trivial topics motivating our exchange of words.

It's difficult for me to remember a time when we did not,
As we do these days,
Meet every weekend to catch up on the minute details of each wasted week.

I know you must be a friend of mine,
Because I know what you do and don't like to read.

Talking about books is camouflage enough for our stagnating lives,
Which move no faster than a rubbish-choked drain.

Deep beneath the surface we have moved on,
Our excitable teen years gone for ever,
But on the surface, we still laugh and joke and play as though we might remain high school chums forever.

Thinking is difficult in the heat,
Which washes over everything,
Refusing even now to give way to the cool of night.

Colours

2008-05-18T13:20:40Z

Church

2008-05-18T13:19:27Z

Icky

2008-05-18T12:14:47Z

Tummy trouble has laid me low, which is a bit sad since I have things I want to do and people I want to see.

One of the prawns I had at lunch might have been bad, I think - my tummy hurts and my body is intent on getting rid of the contents of my system. The pain isn't a bad as it was a couple of hours ago, but I'm staying in because I might have to rush to the loo or something.

Aside from that, I've had a good day - all this getting up early is good for me, I think. Now I've just got to master going to bed early, and I'll be all set. A couple of things I didn't understand suddenly made sense to me today, which is always a good thing.

Impressive

2008-05-17T15:27:46Z

Sungha Jung - Canon in D

Sungha Jung, playing 'Canon in D' arranged by Trace Bundy - all the more impressive because he's so young.

You can read more about him, and watch other videos, if you click this link.

I'm particularly fond of his own arrangement of Sting's Fields of Gold.

Apologies

2008-05-17T14:34:25Z

Sorry about that laast friends-page-destroying entry. I was testing out posting photos at different resolutions from my phone, and then discovered that I couldn't properly edit or delete the entry from it.

Shouldn't happen again, I don't think. I'm still testing the ins and outs of posting from my phone, so I might make a similar mistake again.

I think I've sorted it out now, so your friends list should be back to normal.

Handwriting

2008-05-16T06:41:58Z

The Waterman pen is new (though cheap).

The book of cartridge paper was cheap but is no longer new.

Writing with one upon the other is a novel experience, even though I've used fountain pens all my life.

It's odd, nothing at all like the smooth ride that I get from my favourite Pilot pen
Which glides across the page so smoothly that I am loathe to interrupt its journey
So my handwriting dissolves into a series of wobbly lines.

Each wobble is a letter, each bump the curve of the top of an "m" or perhaps the rounded hat of a lowercase "a".

I can never be sure, so I don't write with it as much as I should.

The fountain pen finds more resistance, moving so slowly by comparison that I find myself making very shapely words.

The letters are more defined, the turns are sharper, more angular, and there is just more style.

There are curlicues and squiggles where normally there are none, and even though it's still my usual untidy scrawl, there's something more stately and elegant about it.

It's only when I take a closer look that I realise what it is.

Suddenly, I can see shades of my father's handwriting, an old-fashioned hand that I have always thought was a little overwrought. Yet here it is, in miniature, shining through the blue lines of my own writing.

I'm not sure how my hands know how to do that. I've never learnt to write like my dad. Maybe it's hereditary, so that everyone who has hands like ours also writes like us.

I'm not sure. But I'm fascinated.

I find myself scribbling my signature, over and over, seeing dad's writing as I loop de loop through the name that we both share.

When I get home, I'll show him. Knowing my dad, he'll smile and not say very much.

Shoplifter

2008-05-15T04:27:58Z

I was stopped by a 60-something gentleman who said he needed to see my receipt and check what was in my cart. I smiled and said, “I’m in a hurry to get out of this madness. Can’t help you.”

The truth is that I had no idea where that receipt was, and I wasn’t keen to search for it. The gentleman moved in front of the cart and firmly gripped the sides, saying “Sir, I must see your receipt before you leave.”

“Oh, I see what you mean,” I replied. “I guess we better get one of your security people over here.”

That puzzled him for a second. “Will you wait here while I get somebody? he asked.

“No.” I said. “I’m out the door as soon as you get out of the way.”

Read more: Customer Confidential.

By the way, there's a reason that I often only include an introductory quote and then link to another page. It's because I don't want to rob other people of whatever ad revenue they're getting from their pages. I could just cut and paste the entire article here, but I don't think that's right.

Of course, not everyone agrees. In this case, they included a link to the original article, but then reproduced the entire thing anyway. Not very nice.

Dumb

2008-05-14T16:47:34Z

For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture available to young people and the impact it has on their futures. At the dawn of the digital age, many believed they saw a hopeful answer: The Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and hyper-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway” and “knowledge economy” entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their knowledge and understanding of technology to set themselves apart as the vanguards of this new digital era.

That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their verbal skills has had the opposite effect. According to recent reports, most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its consequences for American culture and democracy. [emphasis mine]

From the description of Mark Bauerlein's The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30). Click the link to read more.

Also, check out Bauerlein's website.

Heart

2008-05-14T15:37:52Z

Something occurred to me today, and that is that I approach everything head-first.

By that I mean that I am most comfortable when I understand a thing, and when I am full of knowledge then I have the ability to make a fuller emotional response.

This is not to say that I'm unfeeling. That's far from the truth. I have strong feelings about a great many things, after all. People who know me well can attest to that, I think.

Still, the route to my soul is through my heart, but there must be a stopover in my head, somewhere along the line.

This doesn't mean that I understand everything, either. I'm more than willing to live with things that I do not or cannot understand, once my head's had a chance to admit it.

But what doesn't work is an appeal directly to my heart. I'm just not wired that way, and I've only *just* worked that out.

Confession

2008-05-14T15:20:07Z

When I write "Maker", I do not instantly imagine a giant benign bearded Creator pressing me into existence from clay with his own massive hands.

Instead, there's a brief *brief* moment when an image of a massive sandworm bursting from a sand dune flashes across my mind's eye, and I wonder if I should type "Shai-Hulud" instead.

Wonder

2008-05-14T11:17:53Z

From Season 1 of the tv series.