• met Derek ‘in the toon’ and had dinner at Ichiban
  • painted the spare bedroom (two tins of paint, pretty much exactly, which is good because that’s all we bought)
  • watched some bands at a local pub (where I drank less alcohol than anyone over 14 that night, and was introduced to the heaven that is a Bell’s chicken curry pie)
  • slept in (walked into the kitchen to discover that Neil had eaten half a pizza, two char siew paus, and two hot dogs our of a can of six)
  • finished the hot dogs and ate pretzels while spacing out in the living room
  • did the small weekly shop (and bought a pack of Bell’s chicken curry pies!)
  • computered till late

Until we hear the full versions from both sides, we won’t really know the truth behind these ‘Dickensian’ practices:

“We have to clock out, take off our wellies, overalls and hairnets, we have to run up stairs, have to come back in get dressed again,” she said.

Office staff and managers were exempt from their rules, she claimed.

…

Staff received extra money as part of the pay deal which was aimed at focusing toilet breaks at set times of the day, he said.

“They have already been paid to manage their own lavatorial affairs.”

A spokesman for Unite said Tesco should take responsibility for the working practice.

Clearly Tesco is at fault as Brown Brothers’ factory workers are too fucking stupid to read their contracts or understand the deals they are negotiating — that’s what Unite (a union) is saying (in a nutshell).

27 days in Singapore. A prisoner in the island.

If you want to be taken seriously on your claim that you are a first world country, then act like one.

I do sympathise with Gopalan Nair for being arrested because he writes a political weblog highly critical of Singapore. But he was stupid to taunt the government and challenge them to come get him (because they promptly did). Does he have the same martyr complex as Chee Soon Juan — I suspect this is the case.

I reckon the government doesn’t give two shits about him — this is to show the yoof of today that they may think they are garang (fierce, gung-ho, daring), but if they even think of stepping out of those unmarked OB (out-of-bounds) markers, they will probably lose everything (and their parents will lose face, too). And they are betting that the countries that matter don’t really give a shit either.

  • bought paint and other DIY stuff at B&Q
  • did a small shop at Asda
  • met up with my cousin for Euan’s kilt measuring adventure
  • ordered the rings
  • watched The Reaping (how bad is that film, however, I reckon the Vatican would approve, since the basic message is “Don’t Mess With God Or You Will Die”)
  • Finished The Black Book
  • Started The Face
  • hung lining paper on the walls of most of the guest bedroom upstairs (we’re a good team, Neil and I — we work fast together)
  • had dinner at Ravello’s
  • computered a wee bit (already looking to re-design again, this layout is perfectly simple but too boring, so trying to go for perfectly simple and not boring)

Vatican weighing in on “good cinema”:

Priest Marco Fibbi, a spokesman for the Diocese of Rome, said Wednesday that the church was working on a set of guidelines that will determine whether a film contains the “proper” religious sentiment.

I’m guessing even The Sound Of Music wouldn’t qualify because the nun gets it on with the Baron.

Who would, seriously, pay attention to what a bunch of old dudes in the Vatican say is good cinema? My father used to go to Mass every morning and the priest but stored his pirated pr0n VCDs on top of his Bible. If they can’t get a committed Catholic like him to watch what they think is suitable (of course, I am assuming that pr0n would be unsuitable, because it involves consenting adults of both genders — heh), how will they convince the rest of us?

Heh again.

  • had dinner at Thai Orchid on Argyle Street (pretty good, I’m gonna try and reproduce that minced chicken salad dish)
  • started painting the kitchen
  • babysat my cousin’s kids as they had gone to a masked ball
  • changed my first nappy (ever)
  • kept getting up to put my cousin’s kids back in bed as they continually invented reasons to stay awake (I’ve never seen a child so keen to do her homework on a Saturday night — no, not the one in the nappy)
  • went home to finish painting the kitchen
  • ironed shirts for the first time (ever)
  • crocheted a wee coin pouch for my colleague
  • Thankyou
    Printed sign first spotted at our local pizza (Indian, fish) takeaway, then for sale in B&Q. Fuck, what’s happened to the world when the BRITISH, home of the Queen’s English, aren’t aware that Thank You is made up of two words?
  • That doesn’t phase me
    What, are you normally broken into stages? It’s ‘faze’, for God’s sake. It’s even got fewer letters!
  • A friend of mine
    We can normally assume that if you mention ‘a friend’, they are usually one of yours. ‘Of mine’ is totally redundant in a highly irritating way.
  • [N between 1 and 12]am in the morning / [N between 1 and 12]pm at night
    I would hazard a guess that most of us know what am and pm mean with respect to understanding the 24-hour day. Once again, a redundancy that makes me twitch in annoyance.
  • (Time for the geek) Post a blog
    You don’t post a blog, you post a blog entry. Unless you start a new weblog every time you write something.

Am I alone in finding silly language infractions distressing enough to complain about them? The reflex is to say yes (just to piss me off), but I know everyone must have some sort of bugbear about the things other people say.

Man thinks his ex-wife, a former broker, is a complete idiot and tries to avoid paying her and her children maintenance and sues her for support while he is an unemployed trainee bus driver (he is actually a banker earning £250k).

Despite being caught, he brazened it out for several months and not only refused to pay maintenance but continued a court case against his former wife in the hope that the delay would bankrupt her.

I’m hoping he can never show his face around town (any town) again — that’s pretty pathetic and despicable. Question to family and close mates: does this kind of remind you of someone? Heh.

  • had dinner at Kokuryo (not bad, but not great)
  • did a bunch of laundry
  • went to see the Shotts Highland Games (hammer-throwing! The imaginatively-named Throwing of the [n]-pound weight! Tossing the caber! Ugly tattoos! Rude children!)
  • did more laundry
  • had my new favourite takeaway — chipsteak, chips, and curry sauce
  • did the weekly shop at Asda
  • vacuumed (this was one chore-like weekend)
  • helped Neil in the garden (but only if it involves destruction)
  • read more Exit Music

Feathers make the man in world of birds: study:

Writing in the journal Current Biology, Safran and colleagues said they captured 63 male barn swallows in New Jersey at the start of the breeding season, when levels of sex hormones like testosterone are typically declining.

They used a nontoxic marker to color the breast fathers of half to resemble the darkest, most attractive feathers of males within the population. They also tested the blood of the birds before releasing them.

A week later, the birds were recaptured. The marked birds had higher levels of testosterone and had lost weight, perhaps because they had been fighting and making love, the researchers said. Or perhaps they had worn themselves out trying to live up to inflated expectations, said Safran.

Her team showed in 2005 that male barn swallows given darker breast colors bred earlier in the season and fathered more young. Their mates also cheated less often with other male suitors.

Ah, so men dyeing their hair could make them more attractive? (But not Scott Weiland.) Heehee. The article says the human equivalent is like wearing a flashy suit. I’ve been trying to get Neil to buy ‘going out’ trousers (as opposed to more boring ‘work’ trousers) for ages now — maybe this will convince him.

Given that the Singapore government doesn’t think universal human rights can be truly universal (moral relativism ahoy!):

Singapore’s attorney general warned that the concept of human rights must not be allowed to become a religion for fanatics to achieve political goals such as gay marriage, the Straits Times reported on Saturday.

(Aside: Can’t you just see a bunch of queens setting themselves on fire in order to force a government to pass laws legalising same-sex marriage — er, I think not! Interesting how the government is trying to link universal human rights to fanaticism in the public’s mind; don’t fall for it, people!)

This former Singapore citizen must be feeling pretty fucking stupid for taunting the government on his blog:

In the blog, Nair strongly criticized the conduct of a three-day hearing last week at which Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, testified.

In another post on his blog Saturday, Nair taunted authorities, saying he was in Singapore at a particular hotel, and also gave his phone number.

“I am now within your jurisdiction… What are you going to do about it?” Nair wrote.

Um, they’re gonna arrest you and possibly send you to jail and sue you for defamation once you’re out? Is this guy too young to remember Michael Fay (American knobhead who was sent to prison for vandalism in the mid-90s)? The fact that he gave up Singapore citizenship can only be another strike against him.

  • had dinner at Kampong Ah Lee, which had a review published in s1play.com (food not bad, good chicken curry but definitely frozen roti prata/canai and while the nasi was suitably lemak, the amount of ikan bilis on the plate was pitiful)
  • spent all day at Emma’s 6th birthday party (Euan was bored — all girls, he said)
  • watched most of Blade 2
  • did the weekly shop at Asda (Neil decided that he wanted to have a barbecue)
  • walked out of Asda to find rain just starting to fall (typical)
  • had Brian and Carene over for barbecue food cooked on the grill
  • watched some telly (it all blurs together in the end)

(A quiet hello and see you next year to Luke — and congratulations to En and Mark!)