Back.

Following three 1.79m tall models from Ukraine all around town today was an exercise in... I dunno what, but it was an exercise alright.

Generally, I love women who are distinctly comfortable in their own skin - not appearing comfortable for the sake of appearing so - and these girls were quite something. I like!

But it was tiresome. Not speaking the language didn't help much. Being with three girls without knowing what they're saying all day can be really tiring. I can't smile for that long.




After it was over, and I was exhausted and tired and mentally preparing myself for the long night ahead (its still the beginning, even now), I guess maybe I was looking to let off some steam.

So it was just that guy's bad luck that I walked past him just as he snapped a photo from a digital camera, held discreetly in his hands which were down by his side as if he was holding it as he walked past. But it was held at a strange angle, so it looked deliberate.

The flash went off, which made me look, and I saw him lift up the camera almost immediately after as he stood at the bus stop, 'previewing' the shot.

I looked around, a bit bewildered. Where are the short skirts or big boobs? The only bit of flesh I saw was from a woman in mini-shorts and heels.

That's it? I thought I might have made a mistake.

But the dude just kept looking at his camera, and I suppose he just had that kind of face that made me want to yell at him.




"Did you just take a photo of that woman in shorts?"

He turned, and the look on his face was all the confirmation I needed.

"No! No, no...."

"I saw you. I saw the flash go off."

"No no no you can see the photo."

And I did, and obviously he missed his mark because the shorts was almost not in the frame. So what now? Failed attempt means no attempt is it!?

"So what's the point of this photo? Why did you even take it in the first place?"

--- stammer, more 'No no no no no' ---

"It was an accident, is it??"

"Yes, yes.. accident, accident."

"But you immediately went to look at the photo you took! I saw you!"

--- stammer, more 'No no no no no' ---



I said some other line, calling him sick and what not and just turned and left. I would've told the woman, but he didn't have a photo anyway, and talking to him didn't help me blow steam, it made me pissed off.

So then I was thinking, whether or not he did do anything wrong. Public property and all that. Plus pple take photos of cute strangers all the time.

I dunno, maybe it was the perverse-ness of this situation, and how I had spent all day worrying men behind me on the escalator were looking up the models' skirts....



Aiyah. I have a lot of work to finish.

Immortally Challenged

After trawling through a euphemisms site and other ways to describe death, I think the one above is my favourite so far.


Exhausting week. If you couldn't tell already, since I'm posting after finishing stuff at 4 am. Ideally I shouldn't sleep, but realistically I have to.

Someone asked me, wah Jess, why you always stay at work till so late?

Slight misconception there, that long hours = hardworking. To me, long hours = slow and stupid.

But oh well, we do what we can!



Tongkat Ali coffee has been a very good friend.



Exhausting week also, because I have been doing research on single fathers and spoken to a few of them. There is something very very very draining about these interviews, and I think maybe its because I am just not used to hearing men say things like this:

"I have just grown to love them more and more. They need to be loved so much and to be safe and secure, it breaks my heart that they wouldn’t have an intact family and that they have to carry those scars and wounds for the rest of their lives. Sometimes I look into their eyes and I see their vulnerability, and it physically hurts me to think they will have to one day face this themselves."

Its one thing to read this in an email interview, and another to have the emotion and the pauses and the deep breaths when hear it spoken to you.

The Sembawang music shop near my house turned out to be a gem of a place. I bought a Travis singles compilation and A Scanner Darkly VCD for $12.90 each.

Maybe I've not really been in-tune with the prices of such things these days, but these are bloody cheap in my book.

Not too sure why I chose Travis though, over all the other slightly more 'recent' stuff they had on offer. Maybe it was the CD cover. Or the fonts. Or the fact that seeing their name made me smile.

Its been a long long while. I think the last time I really listened to them was back in 2001 after the Coldplay/Travis concert. I still remember what I wore to that place. Some shiny silver top from Bodynits which I can't seem to find anymore, and I suspect I left it behind in Darren's place. Dammit. I liked that top.

That was also the first time I went to Rice Table. I remembered thinking it was a helluva bad idea because I ate till I was going to burst and you can't help but be conscious of a bloated tummy when you're wearing a shiny top.



Have been very stressed. Mostly because the article I'm working on is supposed to be the opening article and I don't really feel very confident that its going to do the magazine much justice. They may just switch it to the back, and I really really wouldn't mind.

But then again, this is the reason why I left ST, because I had forgotten what stress felt like. Stress, not just nervousness or anxiety. But pure stress that stems from ugly feelings of insecurity and questions about your own abilities. And stress that requires you swallow all that down just so that you are able to function.

I always did have a masochistic streak in me.



A Scanner Darkly proved slightly disappointing. I liked the idea and all, but a brief read of the original script by Charlie Kaufman makes me think that Linklater made a slight mistake adapting it by himself.

And I don't really appreciate drug-laden performances anymore. The hyperarticulate Robert Downing Jr. was of course utterly entertaining, and that scene where they argue about the purchase of a 18-speed bike was really quite something - but I think maybe real life is harder to deal with and I guess I don't relate to whatever point the director is trying to make.

But I love the title of the movie.

And now I am wondering if the numerous bug/aphids/roach-references is any indication of an influence from Kafka? Themes of alienation, identity, self-imprisonment? It has to be.


I just felt like talking. Back to work now.

Coincidences

Strange week.

I'm not too sure what it means, but almost every person I had to deal with this week was Saggi. It became so obvious that I would ask halfway through the conversation, "So when's your birthday?"

1. Model from Czech Republic (Re: See Above)
2. Bubbly girl I liase with from the modelling agency
3. Prominent local lawyer whose wife passed away
4. Local 'celebrity stylist'
5. Ghim Lay


So its a bit of an overdose, but I'm happy because I liked all these people (some more than the others), and its just so agreeable to have something in common with nice people.


I was also reminded time and time again this week what an utter embarassment I am/was to my race/ethnicity when I was forced to converse in proper Mandarin and realised it was more painful than studying it in school.

And that's REALLY saying something.

I did try my best, but it was not easy speaking to people in Hong Kong and then sending an email to China, and then trying to decipher a website entirely in Mandarin before having to give an interview in, you guessed it, Mandarin.

In living rooms all over Singapore tonight, I will be ridiculed and shamed. My parents' parenting ability will be questioned, and there will no doubts be conversations about the sad state of youth and their lack of respect for culture.

I AM SORRY!!!!

I will listen to more 95.8FM.



I really never did feel so ashamed about it before. Maybe because I never really had to try very hard. Taxi-driver conversations are easy to get around because you don't have to sound smart. Or at least non-idiotic.





Also. I do believe that Bruno is Sacha Baron Cohen's best character. Less on the slapstick, pile on the talk. Its probably the 'smartest' character around who allows people to make the mistakes themselves instead of creating a slapstick situation.

Another reason of course, is that he did to Giselle da Model what I've been dying to do for a long time. Go up to a random stranger and:

"HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW ARE YOU!? How have you been!? I haven't seen you in a while!? Remember the last time??"

Never have the guts and probably never will =(




Oh and if you didn't know already. I have a camera again.

Skin Deep

Choosing a model is quite a strange experience. Its an almost perverse feeling, that sense of power you have over women who are undeniably more beautiful than you. And yet, it is probably one of those things that you get used to over time. Passing snap judgements, unabashedly grading people by their looks. I'm not so sure I want to get used to it, but I suppose such feelings are already inherent in most of us.

I kinda like not having any control over who my subjects are.

Ramble Bamble

Just another one of those which will go on and on until I am forced to take a pause so that my wrist doesn't go into spasms. Mixing a shot of solid espresso and U2's 1993 Zooropa tour on repeat mode is bound to elicit some happyhappyhappy rambles.

In the National Library's study lounge trying to get a bit of work done. I officially do not do any work at home, mainly because I can't. Maybe after I've invested in a nice desk and nice table lamp and a filing system. Right now, there's an inconvenient lack of table space. Which is ridiculous, since I've two tables in the room.

But yes. The study lounge is full. It is the middle of the first month of the year - what are all these people studying for!?? It is very perplexing. I don't think January existed in my academic life. It was always Feb-May and July-Oct.

Had to do a simple assignment yesterday, ended up sitting in the middle of a tailor's learning about bespoke tailoring and exchanging sarcastic banter with the British old man who came to get his suit fitted.

I will never tire of sarcasm, deadpan faces, irreverance and self-deprecating humour. Its a crying shame that few people get it right. You have to be sincere about the self-deprecating people. Not a half-hearted attempt to fish for compliments. I don't know why I am so addicted to these things. Colonial hangover?


And then I went off for Grandma's birthday dinner.

Birthday dinners are always rather schizophrenic in my family. Unless we actually bother to head down to some restaurant, which rarely happens. It'll end up being a mixture of home-cooked food and stuff bought from outside. it is always slightly weird to eat KFC chicken and pizza together with chilli crab and horfun, and then steamed fish and bak kut teh. They just throw all the usual favourites on the table. So much for planning the menu eh?


Ooh. Just realised that three dudes with very well-chiselled arms (lean and toned, not chunky monkey) took the table in front of me. Well-chiselled arms, like irreverance, is rather addictive. Its hard not to stare. Give me a moment.


Hm.


Maybe the airconditioning unit will break down. Maybe they will decide its a good idea to study without their shirts on.


Hm.


Ooh. One of them just picked something up from the floor.




Pardon the irreverance.


I'll get back to work now.

Organs Plan Intervention

IN a valiant effort to save their environment, various organs in Jessica’s body have decided to stage an intervention on Wednesday.

“We know the last attempt kinda didn’t go the way it was supposed to, but we really have no choice but to keep trying,” said Brain, who felt slightly responsible for not playing a larger role in preventing the regression.

Liver, which only consented to a quick interview due to “poor health”, expressed gratitude that the other organs were similarly interested in rectifying the situation even if they were not the ones being affected directly.

“I’m sure they understood it was only a matter of time before they were in the same shitty state. I mean, I work twice as hard as any of the others.”

Liver pointed out that processing a couple of gin and tonics were a reasonable amount of work. However, as the couple of light cocktails gradually progressed to harder liquors being mixed with various beers and wine, “I started to get very pissed off because there's no such thing as OT pay in this shitty workplace.”

Most interviewed were not too sure how effective the intervention was going to be since they lacked the "surprise-and-corner element". Another source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said it was doomed to fail since Jessica had already agreed to a "meeting" with old friends on Friday.

"I mean, what are they going to do? Sit and talk and sip tea? I think we all know her better than that."

Having-One-Beer Plan Goes Awry

Today's headline is (similarly, and from now on, always will be) brought to you by The Onion Day-To-Day Calendar.

Having-One-Beer Plan Goes Awry

YPSILANTI, MI-Due to outside influence and unforeseen events, the having-one-beer plan that 29-year-old Keith Flemming devised at the outset of Monday evening went awry.

After receiving a news bulletin that

"Nato-led forces have killed up to 150 Taleban fighters in a battle in eastern Afghanistan",

I decided to once-and-for-all find out for sure which conflicts/wars are still going on.

I'm tired of reading things that make me say,

"Oh I didn't know they were even/still fighting."

So here's the List.

War On String May Be Unwinnable, Says Cat General

Today's headline is brought to you by the Onion 2007 day-by-day calendar.

No real reason for the blogging hiatus. Its just become a bit more inconvenient, is all. The internet connection is now primarily connected into the desktop comp in my brother's room, and I seldom find enough motivation or energy to unhook and restart.

In other more scintillating news, I finished off Buffy Season 7 over the weekend. I figured it was better to get it out of my system rather than think about it during the work week. Now I just want to watch it again, and it wasn't even that great. The Spike-Buffy thing was unconvincing, but because I want to believe it so much I willingly submit to denial. And after seeing Nathan Fillion (pleasant surprise), I want to watch Firefly again to wash off the bad taste of watching him as Caleb.

Work is beginning to pile up. I think I have it easier than my colleague, but then again he's smarter than me.



I miss having a camera.

Flooded

So I didn't get a chance to do the birthday blog. Whisked away to Muar to do some work for Mercy Relief. Is nice that Guiqing and Liwei's here as well.


So apologies to the few unanswered Merry Xmas smses.


Its not really that bad here. The hotel we're staying at is as posh as we could possibly get I suppose. Yesterday, I caught a couple minutes of Star Wars on cable. The breakfast buffet has excellent nasi lemak.

Its nice to see at least I still have my priorities in order.

But seriously, the flood areas we've visited are seriously submerged, as in knee-deep, waist-high, roof-reaching.

And in a very selfish and indulgent way, I'm happy to be back to Aceh-ish times in cargos and tshirts and messed up hair and my aviators, hauling stuff around like a coolie. A nice change from the month-long Emerald Hill get up.

Seeya'll soon.

Mmm Mmm

Just three things before the day unfolds:

1. The weather is fucking wonderful this morning.

2. Terz's camera is a god-send (in more ways than one), and now I want my own 5D.

3. The weather this morning is reallyreally wonderful.


Tralalala people!

Deep breath

So I've filed most of what I need to file for the inaugaral issue, and this weekend was series of deep, long breaths (and long long naps) as I get ready for the second.

After being out of the writing game for so long, it feels a bit nice to know that after three weeks, I can tell you what's a Reit, on top of naming the top richest men in Singapore, as well as tell you how many casinos there are in Macau and how much they are expected to earn by 2010, and oh yeah I also found out where Ivan Heng was educated and what the difference is between private, fund and wealth management is, and what are some ways hedge funds make money, and also that the PR lady working for A*STA**R has a melon for a brain, and how much CDL has in its land bank.

Its been a slow, ardous and very very painful couple of weeks. My ego has been bruised and beaten, incompetence-level raised to high alert, and I've fallen off the no-beer wagon.



On the plus side, I think I'm truely comfortable with the phrase "I don't need them/him/her to like me", and I discovered that professionalism at the workplace is truely underrated, and I am at heart still more conservative than I had expected. Also, I've reconfirmed my personal belief that 1. Respect is not guaranteed with Age/Experience 2. Respect has to be earned.

This is generally not good, because as my father would have me believe, I am an utter failure at hiding disdain.





Small kitty sits next to the laptop, eyeing me. She does that a lot. Sit prim and proper with paws in front, staring and staring and staring. She can do it for a long long stretch of time. Its almost as if she feels out of place. The girl they invited to the party because she just happened to be there when the invitations were being given out.

Who knew

I checked out the meaning of the word 'Jacuzzi' online:

1. a brand name for a device for a whirlpool bath and related products.
2. n : a large whirlpool bathtub with underwater jets that massage the body
3. a killing machine that snags victims with powerful evil suction






OH.

Full Glory

You.

Yes, you.

You with your fancy shirt and shiny shoes. I don't understand you. Your lifestyle, your mannerisms, your behaviour, and most of all - the arrogance that literally pours from your veins.

When I watch you, I feel like I am watching an exotic primate on display at the zoo. I know its a monkey, but my God, its like nothing I've ever seen.

Kopitiam : Monologue

Eh wah lau what you want to eat. The menu damn hard to read leh. I want the fruity drink. Huh but so many flavous ah. Mix them? Quite weird one leh. Nevermind lah.


Eh how ah, miss my rabbit leh. No lah how can, he pay the rabbit one leh. I take care and he pay. I think hor he very long never wash the cage liao leh. I tell him, if you don't want the rabbit to die right, you better wash lor.


Cos I am from express stream mah. And I die die don't want to do N level. I smart one what I can take O level one. But I stop school in Sec 3. Six years liao leh, you think you can just like that take O level meh cannot lah I tell you. I also don't want so long never study then like that go and take. How can?


You know ah, when we break up I take so long to get over him you know. Then ah when the hurt not so bad liao right, wah lau he come back then wah lau how can you like that, its like damn difficult you know.


You really don't want to try ah


No lah, I want to study lah. I want to get my O level. 18 years old liao I still don't have my O level, really fuck leh.

"Panel to probe why many youths taking the wrong path"

I giggled on the train quite badly when I read that in the papers.

But hey it was a successfully written headline because I read the whole damn article to look for more funny lines.

Can I please ramble now? Thank you.


What on earth do they mean by "Why"? Do we really need an Inter-Ministry Committee on Youth Crime? How about Inter-Ministry Committee on Bad/No Parenting? What about adults that are taking the wrong path? How can we abandon them?? We must figure out why they're taking wrong paths too! Shouldn't the headline read why MORE youths are taking the wrong path??

I shall now offer my suggestions as to why "many youths" are shunning the right and heading south.


1. Bad/Absent Parenting
2. Exposed to too many Gangster flicks as an infant
3. Better pay
4. Taking over family business
5. Not enough chicks on the right side
6. Hair just looks better messy
7. Bullied by class nerds when in primary school and determined to never be smart
8. Was a Saint in past life and is making up for it

Well, I Guess That Genocide In Sudan Must've Worked Itself Out On Its Own

June 8, 2005 Issue 41•23


I was pretty worried a year or so ago when the news came out that thousands of people had been indiscriminately slaughtered in Darfur. It was unsettling to hear that citizens of one ethnicity (Arab, maybe?) were systematically mass-murdering the population of some other ethnicity (Was it the Ganjaweeds? It's been so long since I've read their names!) But lately, the main stories in the news seem to be about Deep Throat, the new summer blockbusters, and something about stem cells. Since I'm sure I would have remembered if the U.S. had intervened in some way to stop it, I can only assume that the whole genocide-in-Darfur thing has somehow worked itself out.

Well, that's good news then, isn't it?

I also seem to recall that this genocide was causing a massive exodus of displaced refugees, with millions starving to death while attempting to flee to neighboring nations. Since I haven't seen any petitions or heard any emotional entreaties for somebody—anybody—to please, for God's sake, do something... Well, I'm gonna guess that the major humanitarian crisis must be over. And thank God, too! The whole situation sounded really awful.

Not that I wanted to be an alarmist, but when I first heard about the Darfur conflict, I thought to myself, "Uh oh! Sounds like another massive ethnic cleansing, not unlike Bosnia and Rwanda!" Those genocides sure were unfathomable! And not only because of the inhumanity of the acts, either—the blind indifference with which the world allowed the killings to continue unchecked was upsetting, too.

Well, someone must've invaded or overthrown a corrupt government or something like that. I know it wasn't the U.S., though. I may not be all that up on current events, but I do follow the news enough to know when my own country attacks another country. Maybe it was one of those genocides that solves itself without substantive international intervention. Well, that's one less horrific reality of modern geopolitics hanging over our heads!

Good thing, 'cause for a while there, it seemed like the Sudan situation was pretty serious, especially when both President Bush and Sen. Kerry talked about it in the presidential debates. Heck, that the Darfur conflict qualified as genocide was practically the only thing they agreed on! So, if both presidential candidates acknowledged on TV that genocide was taking place, it's pretty safe to assume that someone stepped in before more innocent victims were systematically butchered. Right?

What a great turn of events! Frankly, I'm relieved that all the horror, death, and human agony is over. I mean, after all those reports of ongoing murder, rape, and looting, I confess I was a little surprised when I didn't hear much more about it, beyond some international sanctions and aid packages. Ah, but what's the point in belaboring the grisly details? Why go on and on about which paramilitary militias were killing and raping which women and children? The important thing is that the conflict's apparently over.

Evidently, the hatred has been healed, peace has been restored, and the perpetrators of this unimaginable crime have been brought to justice. It sure is good to know it all must've turned out all right. It's like they say: No news is good news! Right?


© Copyright 2006, Onion, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Onion is not intended for readers under 18 years of age.

Speaking Loudly with a Small Stick

At least 200,000 dead, and 2.5m displaced.

" SINCE THE FIGHTING BEGAN BETWEEN Darfur rebel groups and the central government in Khartoum in 2003, several hundred thousand people have been killed, with millions more displaced to squalid, overcrowded camps. The government of Sudan bears the greatest responsibility for these deaths: Soon after the Darfuri rebellion, the government launched a counterinsurgency strategy principally aimed at wiping out the ethnic groups from which the rebels came.

To do that, the government bought off and armed individual ethnic groups in Darfur. With their proxy militia on the ground supported by government air power, the government systematically cleared out "rebel strongholds" (otherwise known as towns and villages), to brutal effect. By the following spring, refugees were flooding over Darfur's western border into Chad. "



And they said 'Never again'. Hm right.

Just received an sms following a 'Private Number' call which I answered only to hear silence.

"Helo i haf ur no in my sim card sorrie to dizturb ya i heard ur voice are u a gurl"




Aw such a keeper.




Update : 5 mins later


"My fren go back bangladesh i use his sim card bt let mi ask r u indonesia or phillipine girl?"


Yup definately a keeper.

It doesn't get more tragic than this

On wiki searching for some stuff and came across this:

"Tara Rose McAvoy, 18, reigning Miss Deaf Texas, killed by train while walking on tracks."

Apparently, she was smsing someone.




Yup.

Language Log

Language Log is amazing. This is how I will start my day now. Its not even 11 am and already I have finally discovered why my lines of happy wit fall flat all the time.

Reverse sarcasm? Doesn't work.


Yet another shameless attempt to sponge-off Tym's brain. I tell you, she's so silly.

(See? It really doesn't work.)

In transit

You won't be hearing from me for awhile. You know the whole thing about 'sink or swim'? Yeah, this is the sinking during swimming phase. I didn't expect getting back into the world of words to be this difficult, but it sure as fuck is.

It takes me so long just to digest an article, and while I've read more papers and scanned more headlines than ever before, nothing seems to be getting into my head.

Today at work, a 20-year-old colleague expressed shock that I was born in '83. I never know whether or not its a compliment when people think you're older than you really are.

But I suppose things can only get better. I've established that I really enjoy being in office alone at night, and when they finally install the electronic card system I'll be able to do that more. There's something very therapeutic about playing music without worrying about it disturbing someone else. Its just you, an empty house and some stranger's beautiful voice.





And so ST ended. Just like that. Without a day or two to rest between jobs, I haven't really had the breathing space.

The photo at the top is my favourite from office. One of the lifts had some tech problem, the door open/close buttons wouldn't work. Many a times you see people standing in that lift like a moron, waiting patiently for the damn door to close by itself.

So they posted a sign before the repairman came along and spoilt all the fun.

Please take a look at the photo and read the extra helpful comments. It makes me laugh every single morning.

My last job was nothing spectacular. Product shot at a hotel lobby. Hotel manager gave me a free peach/sake mix in a smoking lobby - and I had some precious minutes to just sit and subsequently realise that this would be my last assignment for a long time.

People ask if I'm sad, and I don't really know how to reply. I can't blame them since they don't know me that well and its a fairly routine question. I suppose the only way to answer is with my own rhetorical question - How could I not be? It was like breaking up with someone that I loved. I bitched and moaned and whined and griped, but it still doesn't change the fact that it was, and still is, a huge part of my life.

Ah Jess, you're a sentimental fool.

Sometime back in September 2004 there was a crossing of paths when two men met in a dark room. Both are undeniably major influences in my life.

This little bit of info has got to be the most scintillating piece of trivia I've stumbled across in recent times. Most trivia I bother to read or collect are about people/places/things that I care about. Except for Paris Hilton, who I do not particularly care about, but the amount of trivia concerning her enters my mind via internetomosis.

But anyway.

Who on earth would have ever guessed, that at a taping of The Charlie Rose Show, Jon Stewart sat waiting backstage as Lee Hsien Loong spoke on camera.

I've no concrete proof that they actually met, but I am willing to bet there was at least a brief brushing of shoulders as Jon went on stage.

I stumbled on this while watching this hour-long interview with Jon on C-Span:



Approximately 13 minutes into the interview, he mentions the Minister of Singapore. Of course he does this with his usual flippant wave of the hand and a rather dismissive tone, but I don't really care.

My obsession with Jon grows. Its getting ridiculous. I already have fifty bucks set aside for his book as my birthday present to myself.





Haven't had a chance to talk about Bangkok. So much has happened since I came back, it seems like months ago that I went. But well, it was great.I wouldn't mind living there. You know what they say - same same, but different.

Moving In, Moving Out

I suppose at some point or other I have to talk about the events of the past week, and perhaps its only apt that I do it now.

So now I have a desk and a computer, Prince is wailing over the speakers, the key to the office sits next to me. I will be running out later to grab some coffee and smokes, and right now its just me and my music occupying this very beautiful three-storey shophouse.

I feel like I've been holding my breath for the whole of the past week, and I'm just waiting to exhale.

The line would be nicer if there weren't a Whitney Houston movie with the same title. Fuck.

But yes, I start my new job in a week or so. I've yet to wrap things up at the other end, and I think next week will be crazier than the last.

I was going to write about what its all about, and why I'm leaving, and why this what-the-fuck move seems perfectly logical in my mind - but I've been doing that for the last five days and I really can't do it anymore.

Sawa-byebye-dikap

As I told Malcolm, "There's a massage chair there with my name on it."



Seeya Monday!

Like a Dog on a Leash

Am plugging this video taken off a comment on Zynfandel's blog.

Because personally I've always been intrigued by role-playing as a method of research or teaching. Which is why I liked the movie The Experiment, and why I like this video.



Its a five-parter (although part 5 is missing), and its about a teacher dividing a class into brown Vs blue-eyed kids - all for a lesson in discrimination.

I wonder if animals discriminate.





And oh! Mom brought back a bathrobe, my request, from her office. Clearing of stock and all that. I love bathrobes. Makes me feel like I'm in a hotel. And generally I do like hotels, other than the obviously haunted ones, because of how impersonal and anonymous everything is.

I'd have prefered one in white, a la Audrey H. in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I remember the shock of her waist in the bathrobe. What on earth could there be left under all that material!

I can have the same waist too, I realised, since the belt of this bathrobe ties on quite snugly. Just can't sit or do things like breathing, that's all.



Ah what a beauty. Based on this photo, Lulamae and I have more in common than you could ever imagine.