Slow sleepy Sunday. Waiting for the sun to come out and the pool to clear. Go before noon and there'll be one or two classes going on which means half the pool is taken up. Think I need to start running more as well. Getting flabby.

So what if one of my new shirts looks like I have two dozen luminous nipples under Zouk's flourescent light?

Stayed true to the things I knew when I was younger/And food and love was all but left to hunger/It's when I stray from the truth as I grow older/Too much leaves an empty hollow hunger

I think about you on a moonlit night/And all the stars all seem to weep/When there's so much love to lose/
There's never any time for sleep - Beth Orton

Mind blowing. The Made-to-Order Savior: Producing a Perfect Baby Sibling

Had lunch with mom after work (I hate working on Saturdays) who's visiting and passed me tons of stuff as usual. Bought the latest Green Arrow and The Little Endless Storybook. Green Arrow is progressing slowly and I'm still not convinced Kevin Smith is a great comics writer. Little Endless Storybook is based on the seven Endless characters by Neil Gaiman, and it's cute but that's about it. (Death looks like Betty Boop with a new haircut) Nobody at DC seems to want to mess around with Gaiman's characters too much.

The battle over Kurt Cobain's last song. Sad. Hopefully the song will appear on the Net and won't be buried for eternity.

Just watched Romeo and Juliet, the play. I'm kinda hating all this multicultural stuff; the play seems oddly displaced in space, and the male lead had an overpowering American accent. Still it was nicely staged but not brilliant. Not a bad way to pass the evening. Also found out a friend is planning his wedding next year, so congrats Trjstan! Finally settling down! ;)

Even Neil Gaiman is blogging.

Headache but took some panadol. Going to a play tonight with some friends. Not sure about weekend but mom is in town so probably have lunch with her after work tomorrow. Yes, working on Saturdays. I used to think it was an aberration. I think I'm still right on that point.

Ho hum. Fridays. Turn into Saturday soon.

Met up with some secondary school friends today. Realised we've known each other for 15 years. Had dinner at this Russian restaurant, and finally learnt the difference between Far East SHOPPING Center and Far East Plaza. We had a nice chat, one of my friends, a doctor, told a story about a guy who had a ring or tube inserted into his dick but wanted it removed because it was causing his wife too much pain. So he just cut up the guy in the clinic and took it out. ARGH.

It's NBA draft day, and one of my favourite players, Shareef Abdur Rahim has been traded from Vancouver/Memphis to Atlanta. He's always been a class act; the anti-Iverson. There's a lot of high school players going straight to the draft; some may lament the fact, but why bother going to college where most have a hard time keeping up in school? I remember in Berkeley when Jason Kidd was on campus he hardly attended classes, and he just managed to get through his SATs. (800 when you get 600 just for writing your name)

Particularly when the lure of big dollars might be the only way out of poverty, the NBA is too much of a lure.18 year old millionaires hard to accept. Well, sports is big business. One of the best films ever was Hoop Dreams, a documentary about two Chicago high school players trying to make it to the NBA. I always wondered what happened to the two players; I know they never made it to the big league, but certainly hope they find something worthwhile.

Bloody tape-eating VCR eating up again. Taping The Sopranos, and I haven't watched The Sopranos and The West Wing from last week. My TV viewing time has increased, though I need to divide it into work-related and non-work related. I haven't really got into The West Wing yet, but am giving it a try. Favourite TV program at this moment of existence though is Whose Line Is It Anyway? Simply brilliant, and the batch of comedians they presently have possess the right amount of eagerness and deadpanning skills to really make the show a joy to watch.

The Emperor of Ice-Cream

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

- Wallace Stevens

Project Eyeball announced their last issue will be tomorrow. It wasn't a bad paper, but priced at 80 cents was too expensive. At least the online version remains. I hope writer-poet Alvin Pang manages to keep his job. They also killed the bimonthly book supplement in ST, so no more freebie comics for me. I reviewed Alan Moore's Promothea and From Hell, both excellent comics.

Been reading a lot about depression. Read the excerpt from this book, The Noonday Demon (Yes you do have to register but it's the New York Times and it's bloody worth it) by Andrew Solomon. It's quite a messy chapter about depression, and definitely feels like a preface. Still, it's worth reading. The writer contends that depression is necessary, all part of being alive even if it becomes incacipating. (And no I'm not crippingly depressed for those who ask.)


Welcome this pain, for you will learn from it.
- Ovid

Boy looking at other blogs that are so well-designed makes me feel I should do some thing to this one to make it more pleasing.. but NAHHH..

Can someone explain the lyrics to Coldplay's Yellow to me?
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.

Duh.

There's a sky like this out there somewhere, but not here in good ole Singapore, where at night it's like a dead television screen.
Taken from one of my favourite websites. Astronomy Picture of the Day...
Makes me think of that Dubstar Song "I Watch The Stars Go Out"...

I realise that when I wear short sleeve shirts I look like a petrol pump attendant..

Another one to add on the depressing songs list, Ron Sexsmith. Freedy Johnston too but he's not as bad as Sexsmith. (Great name.)

Hmm.. I take back my statement about sending blogs to outer space. I think we might bore the aliens to death and they might be forced to incinerate us. Too much navel-gazing isn't good for you, and probably anyone besides yourself.

They call us lonely when we're really just alone.
  - Aztec Camera

Bought $78 worth of clothes today which must be some kind of record for me. I don't really like shopping; I'm in and out of there in 10 minutes and the salesmen probably never had an easier sale. Two shirts; one short sleeve and another long. My mom should be happy. She's been asking me to get rid of my T-shirts for ages.

Slept the sleep of the dead yesterday. Feeling totally tired out and it's just Monday! I don't sleep too late usually, but I wake up pretty early; about 6ish sometimes. I log on, check mail, check sports scores, then frequently drop back to bed. It's a bad habit, and like most bad habits, hard to change.

Friend got laid off at my ex-company. Not a good feeling. I was laid off once and the feeling of loss and betrayal was painful. Those were the days of aimlessness, but that which doesn't kill you does make you stronger, somehow. Those days of hunger after being laid off were excruciating, wondering where the money to pay off rent was going to come from and trying to avoid the fate of becoming a teacher that my mom desperately tried to hoist on me. Thankfully I found a job after a contract stint for the film festival, where I was doing of all things, Public relations, right in time to live through the dot com bust and now here I am.

Tell Me Why
I Don't like Mondays
I Want to Shoot
The Whole Day Down
- Bob Geldof

Was having dinner at some food court just now. At the table to my left, a couple seemed to have just finished arguing. The woman was looking outward, seemingly in anger. After a painful silence of about ten minutes she stomped off and the guy made an effort to follow. Just as I was finishing my meal, a middle-aged man in a singlet started shouting at a woman I presumed was his wife, while their child tried to concentrate on her foot. I thought, come on, you're in public. Treat your wife better. Why disgrace her in public?


Kind of depressing. Monday looms like a heavy rainstorm. This is another make or break week; I don't know what's going to come out at the end of it.

Friend and I were discussing depressing songs last night. Saddest song I ever heard was I Can't Make You Love Me, sung by Bonnie Raitt, not the George Michael version please. Also pretty much everything by The Smiths, though there is a touch of Brit humour to some of their songs. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, for example. Couldn't really come up with much else; maybe Boys of Summer. That phrase about Never Looking Back sounds truer the more you listen to it, and the older you get. (Yes the age thing again...) Another one: Brick by Ben Folds Five. Exactly the song you need to hear before breaking up with someone.

Went to the gym and swam today. Been working out a lot. I wonder if it's the threat of middle age coming. I'll be 31 in just over a month, and trying to stay fit. Actually I do feel better about my health these days; a year ago I had a cough that lasted almost six months, and the doctor could never figure out what it was. Antibiotics, cough mixtures, throat sprays; all were useless. Eventually it decided to go away on it's own like a tenant that just decided to pack up and leave. I seem to get it every year, but I'm glad it hasn't made its unwelcome return this year.