Now, this is just being over-sensitive and nitpicky. Is it just “no fun” being poor in Singapore? Not the best choice of words, true, but what a melodramatic response!
And so the ‘I’m a big man!’ politicking begins: Sinn Fein wants referendum on united Ireland.
NBC pulls donkey semen episode of Fear Factor — uh, it’s called the Fear Factor. If people are fucking crazy enough to sign up, they know what they’re in for and the network is being chickenshit.
Healthifying my junk (food)
31 January 2012 · Comment
Naan pizzas sound incredibly good (via ljcfyi).
Regular pizza bases with our own toppings also work for me. I know it’s not hard to make your own pizza base, but remember that I hate cooking. Baking is even more than foreign territory — it’s a bloody minefield.
Or pita breads. Mini pizzas for lunch sound good to me!
Man, I’m hungry.
If you want America to return to greatness, or you want to drag America even further down the spiral, you can’t go wrong by voting for Newt. If you get what I mean.
More proof that anything large and powerful is going to go bad: How We All Pay For the Huge Tax Privileges Granted to Religion — It’s Time to Tax the Church. See also Fleecing the flock: The big business of swindling people who trust you.
Unbecoming is my middle name
30 January 2012 · Comment
Neil doesn’t like Viennese biscuits. Given he tends to like anything described as a biscuit, there must be something seriously wrong with this particular pastry (I presume this is the correct classification). Turns out it’s probably because it crumbles too easily and lots of crumbs equals waste. I suggested just eating them over a plate and then licking the crumbs off the plate. Like I do (did) with eggs and their delectable runny yolks (*sigh*).
I miss runny eggs.
Anyway, he said, “Well, that’s not very becoming.”
Not very becoming. That’s me!
(I have cheesy taste in music, too. But they’re fun!)
TMI #2
27 January 2012 · Comment
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed a different camera in the shot. I finally gave up trying to get my phone camera to do what I want, i.e. produce nicer colours and do better in low light without using the flash. You might think I have a thing for Olympus — my first digital camera way back when was an Olympus Camedia, and I now own a Trip 35 and this little number — but it was basically the best I found at that price point (i.e. decent performance on the cheap).
(These pictures are taken before breakfast, so my stomach is empty.)
No Logic
26 January 2012 · Comment
How could I be 36? It makes no sense…
This song makes me feel young again.
I’ve wondered if Assad is hanging on the way he is because he reckons the world will pretty much forget about Syria and focus on Iran once war is declared. Then he can suppress as violently as he likes.
Obligatory pregnant lady post #3
25 January 2012 · Comments (3)
Okay, so I didn’t realise it was ‘controversial’ or ‘provocative’ to call this gestating foetus a parasite*. I definitely don’t mean it in a bad way, just that I’m feeding it from the inside. It seems particularly apt in my case, because I am — by all accounts — tiny, and so it seems any nutrition I put in my gob probably goes straight to it. I want to eat more but it’s not always easy.
(Although I have mentioned eating a big dinner then pancakes, this does not happen often.)
Imagine me incubating this before the days of pre-natal vitamins. It’d be a nightmare, I’d be passing out all the time or something.
I read this — The Skinny Pregnancy: When Putting on Weight Is Easier Said than Done — and thought, yes! I suspect I’m going to need more than a scoop of ice cream and three glasses of juice to make up the calories, though.
* My mum’s response was, “Parasite! Don’t call your baby that!” Heh.
Why Singapore Has the Cleanest Government Money Can Buy. We know that at some point, any more money doesn’t add any more motivation to do a good job. [tongue firmly in cheek]So clearly the government has found the sweet spot.[/tongue firmly in cheek]
Endings
24 January 2012 · Comments (1)
I was genuinely saddened to read that Heather Armstrong and her husband have split up (a trial separation). Neil says why care, I don’t know them anyway. There are people who are happy about it.
It’s not about caring about her or her family’s happiness on a personal level, but that they were a family and things got bad enough that the parents chose to separate. I’m always sad to hear about families / couples splitting up, all these people who seemed genuinely to care for each other. The emotional fallout for everyone is heartrending.
(I might also be extra emotional with the whole ‘pregnant’ thing — I cried at a movie trailer the other night. This has never happened in my life.)
So no one knows what really happened between Jon and Heather Armstrong, and I don’t care to know. I just hope their time apart helps them work out what’s best for them and their daughters, because that’s what counts in the end.
Reviews → Mr. Alfred M.A.
23 January 2012 · Comment
The introduction says that George Friel, the author of Mr. Alfred, M.A., was a teacher and hated it. You can tell, given the title character’s disdain for / exhaustion with his profession.
Mr. Alfred is a teacher in a shit part of Glasgow, teaching (mostly) shitty kids. His one ray of hope is Rose Weipers, a female student. But his feelings for her (which are never entirely clear — is he honourable or a dirty old man?) are soon found out and his life comes crashing down around his ears.
Like Robin Jenkins was really good at doing, Friel wrote very descriptively about life in Glasgow’s less-than-prosperous areas. History tends to repeat itself, or young people with nothing to hope for all turn out the same, no matter the decade. And lots of men still spend their evenings like Mr. Alfred — drinking.
Is it a cautionary tale? I don’t know. But it’s edgier and harder than Robin Jenkins. Worth a read if you’re at all familiar with the city.
And someone has giggled at me for not wanting a fancy smartphone — Invasion of the phone snatchers: iPhones a target for thieves on bikes. I have a smartphone, and so does Neil; they’re just not the type people want (read: old, not Apple, not touchscreen).