Better Living Through Buttermilk

Because I dislike deleting things

2009-08-13T01:01:00.000+08:00

I'm now blogging here, at a relaxed pace.

QOTD

2006-09-27T12:15:00.000+08:00

Things one doesn't expect to hear in a discussion about a group assignment on the plays of Alfian Sa'at--

'Can't we just group homosexuality, threesomes and prostitution under "Sexual Deviance?"'

How disappointing

2006-09-13T23:45:00.000+08:00

to declare an intention to start blogging again and then immediately find one doesn't really have the time for it just yet. Apparently I have like one million tests next week, one or two of which I might actually have to study for. (Logic 2110 is not one of them. More on that in a later post.)

More significantly (to me), I've been sucked into doing, guess what, the NUS Literary Society's magazine. No, I never learn. At least this time I won't be collaborating with people who live on another continent (actually two other continents) and who could up and disappear at any moment.

On a related note, I'd like to ~~encourage~~ ~~urge~~ ~~beg~~ encourage what readers I have (all two of you) to send something in for the Creative Writing Competition:

The [NUS Literary Society] Creative Writing Competition aims to recognise outstanding student writing and encourage the practice of creative writing among local youth. It contains two categories--poetry and fiction--and is open to all students undergoing pre-university or tertiary education as well as persons serving full-time National Service. Each of the two categories is judged by an established local writer, with prizes going to the top three entrants in that category.

The judges for the 2006/2007 CWC will be Suchen Christine Lim (Fistful of Colours, A Bit of Earth) for short stories and Yong Shu Hoong (Isaac, dowhile) for poetry. The closing date for entries is 30 December 2006, 5pm. Email nuslitsoc(at)yahoo.com.sg to receive a copy of the entry form, including guidelines.

The Creative Writing Competition is made possible by the continuing sponsorship of Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.

Even if you have the writing ability of a bean sprout, give it a shot. Trust me, unless there's been some miraculous change between last year and this year, the volume of submissions will be low and the overall quality lower. A dubious prize package and a meaningless accolade for just $2.00? It's a steal!

Now It's On

2006-09-12T20:59:00.000+08:00

I bet no one believed it was really a hiatus. Well, it was.

Hi all. I'm back.

Well

2005-10-13T19:15:00.000+08:00

I've gone on hiatus, a proper one. Let's say till next year. I guess I should've mentioned it earlier. Sorry.

Meanwhile, on reality A

2005-09-09T15:39:00.000+08:00

Various things have been keeping me from blogging lately. A quick recap:

1) Got back together with JH after a fair bit of drama and just-being-friends. Saw her off at the airport, a first. Her parents make me v. uncomfortable.

2) Went on my first (mini-)exercise as a signaller and learned never to listen to one's comms spec when he says it's okay for a buried road crossing to have a little bit of the line poking out, because he's not the one who'll be up in the middle of the night frantically searching for the field telephone and finding it in the bushes six metres from where it was left, because a 5-tonner snagged the line, snapping it off the field telephone and leaving it stretched out along the side of the road.

Also learned not to carry too many spare batteries in your manpack, because it will kill you.

3) Saw my internet connection go down for three days then, seemingly by magic, go up again.

4) Fell ill. Conjunctivitis on Tuesday seguing into fever today—troublesome because I'm leaving for Thailand tomorrow night for an exercise. It'll be a drugged-up, miserable me who gets off the plane on Sunday.

See you in two weeks' time.

Godawful

2005-08-28T10:22:00.000+08:00

I was about to delete this seemingly unremarkable bit of religious spam from my last post, but decided, on a whim, to have a look at the site first. It turned out to be a page of rather unusual testimonies from ~~the Church of the Righteous Rich~~ New Creation Church. Here's a sampling of headlines:

Property sold at reasonable price

A job that came with a promotion!

Pay increased by five per cent!

God heard my sighs and blessed my business

And here's the best testimonial of all:

From rock bottom to million-dollar round table!

Dear Pastor Prince,

I would like to share with you about the abundant grace that God poured upon my family and me in 2004.
.
.
.
At the end of July 2004, my sales hit rock bottom. I was listed last in the whole branch and around 320th out of 420 advisers in the company. I was devastated and cried in my heart. I started to sigh and I told the Lord that I give up totally, and that He has to take over and come true for me.

At that time, you preached the sermon, A Groan Will Reach His Throne. After looking at the board which listed me at the bottom, I walked away, but the words, “the last shall be the first”, rose up and came out of my mouth. It was like the Lord was telling me that He was in control and that He will turn things around.

From August to December 2004, the favour of God was so strong on me when I dealt with millionaire businessmen and doctors in their estate planning (even though the initial meetings were so tensed). His favour descended upon me while I presented and it turned the situation around. Truly, a moment of God’s favour can do much more than what years of fleshly efforts can achieve.

At the end of 2004, for the first time in 12 years, I qualified for the MDRT (million dollar round table). Only the top 6 per cent of advisers in the industry qualify for this international award.

I finished the year as the 2nd top adviser in the branch and 10th in the whole company. I qualified for a trip for two to Barcelona, Spain. It was a business-class flight plus suite-stay all fully paid for by the company! The holiday was worth about $20,000!

Also, I was totally healed of the allergy without me realising it until later!

Hallelujah, all glory to Jesus!

My first thought was that this was a parody site, but my church-going mum has heard of New Creation and assures me it's genuine. There's more here if you really want it.

Awful

2005-08-20T14:14:00.000+08:00

I borrowed but, (that anthology of student writing edited by Cyril Wong) from the library on a whim and I don't regret it. It is gloriously terrible. Look:

stalker
by Bernard Koh

i am not your average lover.

my bleeding heart will place his hands
on your shoulders and hold you gently -
firmly under the water until you say yes

or die.

I think this poem would be ten times better if that last line read 'or DIE!!!11' instead.

The other poem that sticks in my mind is by David Tang, who seems to be Singapore's top manufacturer of bathos: 'I Miss You' opens with 'Life seldom treats us well, / I have to strongly state' and does not get much better. It also includes the phrase 'Stygian dimness', which is a bit like saying 'catastrophic inconvenience' or 'Hitlerian naughtiness'.

-
Three criticisms I did not expect to hear during stand-by-bed (locker inspection, basically) in an operational unit:

'Your toothpaste tube is too small.'

'Your fork is on the right side of the spoon. Wrong! It should be on the left.'

'Your toilet paper roll. . . funny shape!'

Engrish of the day

2005-08-15T20:31:00.000+08:00

More like Engrish of the Year, really. This shirt is the shit.

Daily whine

2005-08-14T21:41:00.000+08:00

This morning the whole battalion was supposed to go down to the Carnival@Marina (I cringe to type that) for some strange reason—perhaps the attendance numbers needed a little boost to get the project across the abject failure line—and so, dutiful soldier that I am, I got my blear-eyed self down to Marina station at 0945h on the dot. For what? To wait fifteen minutes for everyone to arrive, take a bus to the carnival proper, brisk walk through half the carnival grounds (a matter of no more than three minutes, I kid you not), and then be told that we were dismissed. 'Thinking organisation' for you.

'NDP memories' indeed

2005-08-11T20:03:00.000+08:00

So NDP is over, and what did my unit—barricade-lifting, crowd-controlling, grandstand-constructing sai kang warriors to a man—get for its pains? 3 days of off from the division commander, which our CO, it is (possibly unreliably) said, then cut to one. For the sake of comparison, my friend in Provost got 13 days off.

I'm a little lost for words. It's not surprising that performers should get more off, but 13 times more? Crowd/traffic control may sound easy, but only if you've never done it before. It isn't always the crowds that pose the biggest problems, either.

Example:

(A group of about ten policemen are standing around my gate half an hour after the preview show. Two of them are officers. I am the only SAF man there.

Five police vehicles pull up. They wish to enter. Their officer gets down to speak to me.)

Me: Sorry sir, but my instructions are to prevent all vehicles from entering until further instructions.

Police officer: My men need to go through and load up their stores! Call your superior and ask.

Me: (on walkie talkie) Hullo sir, this is Nicholas. Some police vehicles want to enter through my gate to load up stores. Can I allow them through?

PC: No no no! Why are you asking me this? My instructions were very clear!

Me: (to police officer) Sir, I'm afraid my PC says no vehicles may enter until the roads open.

Police officer: What? Don't waste my time! I want to talk to your PC now.

Me: (on walkie talkie) Hullo sir, this is Nicholas. One of the police officers wants to talk to you.

(no reponse)

(on mobile phone) Sir, Nicholas here. This police officer wants to talk to you—

PC: No no NO! I have no time! You better not call me again unless you want me to give you EXTRA!

Me: (sweatdrop)

(to police officer) Uh, sir, very sorry, but my PC is unavailable at the moment. He says—

Police officer: Ridiculous! What is his rank?

Me: Second lieutenant, sir.

Police officer: (forehead bulge) MEN! Remove these barricades! We are going through!

Policemen: (to me) Sorry ah, brother.

(my barricades are swept away in a tide of blue)

Me: (on mobile phone) Uh, sir, Nicholas again, sosorrytodisturbyou but they uh, removed the barricades and are now entering through my—

PC: WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THEM!

Happy birthday Singapore and all that. May I never have to witness another from this side of the fence.

Fattened calves beware!

2005-08-08T18:41:00.000+08:00

NDP will be over tomorrow, and I'm so back. Stories of my intrepid adventures in crowd control to follow.

not 24h off the plane

2005-08-01T16:58:00.000+08:00

and already she's left me.

no fucking about, huh.

happy birthday to me.

Necessary hiatus

2005-06-24T18:46:00.000+08:00

Army stuff will keep me from blogging with any regularity until after National Day at the earliest.

That is all.

Yay for unity

2005-06-20T00:34:00.000+08:00

Army personnel will quarrel over anything. I was doing marshalling duty at a corner of the Padang during yesterday's National Day Parade rehearsal and there was this section of orange netting we'd put up to prevent people from going behind the grandstands, but which the artillery people wanted taken down so participants could cross. Our officers eventually relented, on the condition that the arty guys would take over responsibility for human traffic at that entrance; apparently they didn't, and it ended with our PC having words with the arty guys' officer (or she might have been a warrant) and our acting OC making a point to tell me and the other marshals not to put up the orange netting (a half-a-minute job) once the participants were done, because after all it's the arty people who took it down. Uh, okay.

In other news, sunburn sucks. Next time there's a rehearsal, I'm going to make sure I get assigned to a post on the other end of the Padang, where there actually is some shade. I swear, I drank all the contents of my green water bottle plus five small bottles of Newater between noon and 3pm and didn't need to go to the toilet once.

The return of fragmented posts

2005-06-17T20:40:00.000+08:00

The army is so wonderfully efficient. My company spent yesterday afternoon putting up orange netting around the grandstands-in-construction at the Padang; it took that long due to all junior commanders' well-known obsession with making everything remotely string-like as taut as is humanly possible. Then we spent this morning taking it all down and putting it up again in a slightly different configuration. And then we went for a break and came back to find that some guys from artillery had removed a large portion of it so they could work on the tarpaulin on the field. Well done, artillery guys. We only secured the netting with lengths of steel wire; why wouldn't we be happy for you to remove it?

-
Apparently, giant gerbils infest China. It isn't right that a perfectly serious ecological disaster should sound so entertaining ('An explosion of gerbils is decimating vast areas of grasslands. . .'). I love the little profile of the Great Gerbil. Via Asiapundit.

-
Under 'music news no one gives a shit about': I finally got around to listening to the Dirty Three CD JH passed me and am surprised to find I like it. I'm no music critic and certainly no musician; the best description I can give is 'like Gybe! but less longwinded'. Warren Ellis is now officially my second favourite Warren Ellis.

Stuff I'm planning to buy some time in the near future: Picaresque by The Decemberists, In Case We Die by Architecture in Helsinki, and Marquee Moon by Television, that last also introduced to me a few months back by JH, who I'd never heard say anything complimentary about punk before. Surprises surprises.

-
And now I have to go figure out a way to dry my right boot by tomorrow morning (a hair dryer will probably have to be involved at some point), as I seem to have worn out the sole to the point where the motion of walking causes it to suck in air (or water) through the heel. It rained today in the early afternoon; I was puttering about the Padang till half-past six. Do the math.

Full circle

2005-06-13T12:32:00.000+08:00

Rifleman, Delta Company, infantry unit
Runner, Commander's Office, division
Clerk, Admin Branch, training institute
Signaller, HQ Company, combat engineer unit
Signaller, Delta Company, combat engineer unit

Fuck.

Now that's entertainment

2005-06-12T21:17:00.000+08:00

Here's why you need a positioning clause when you take out ad space online:

Via Stay Free!

Writerly whining post

2005-06-11T22:21:00.000+08:00

I've been a little burned out on all kinds of writing lately. Usually when this happens I stop consciously trying to write, refuel by loading up on reading material and just let things happen, but it doesn't seem to be working this time. I don't think I've turned out more than half a page of probably unusable fragments in the past month, pretty phrases that lead to nothing further. Army stuff (of which more later), Whatnot issues and worries about uni aren't helping. I need a breakthrough. Alternatively, I need to go see Donald Lau about a job. . . .

Guns love Bush but he does not love them back

2005-06-11T04:07:00.000+08:00

US Secret Service visits blogger over photoshopped picture

Via Doug Lain's Blog, Jeremy Lassen, noted publisher of fantasy/horror/sf at Nightshade Books, was either asked or forced to take down his blog by US Secret Service. Allegedly, Lassen put up an image of kids aiming guns at President Bush in protest over what he perceived to be violations of First Amendment rights.

That Jeremy Lassen. I told him from the start that his plans to dominate the free world with an army of preschoolers were doomed to failure.

By the way, here's the Secret Service action the picture was in response to:

Shortly before the gallery opening of "Axis of Evil: The Secret History of Sin" last Thursday at Columbia College in Chicago, two Secret Service agents came to the gallery to ask questions and take photos. "Axis of Evil" is a provocative exhibit of mock postage stamp art that explores the question, "What is Evil?" and includes many disturbing images. Among the works prompting questions was artist Al Brandtner's "Patriot Act." It portrays President Bush with a gun pointed to his head in a style that parodies the typical American Flag and Presidential Portrait postal stamps.

According to The Chicago Sun-Times, Secret Service spokesman Brandon Bridgeforth commented, "We are doing some inquiries into the art exhibit. We're just doing some looking into it."

I'm blogging this out of mild interest, but my heart's not really in it. It's difficult to work up a feeling of outrage or whatever knowing that if someone did something like that here in Singapore and a visit from the ISD plus removal of the offending blog were all that resulted, that in itself would have to be considered a great victory for freedom of speech.

Real tits send fake tits to Aceh

2005-06-10T19:55:00.000+08:00

Australian medical aid to quake-ravaged Indonesia included breast implants

A health specialist complained on Thursday that medical aid sent by Australia to victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia included breast implants and other "inappropriate" goods.

Jan Rice said on ABC radio that she traveled to the worst-hit province of Banda Aceh with a government AusAID delegation three months after the disaster and found the donated implants in a store room.

Rice, a specialist in wound care from Monash University's Victoria College of Pharmacy in Melbourne, said she also found drugs that were out of date and other useless supplies.

"I found a box with breast implants in it and drugs out of date," she said.

I was a bit let down to discover that 'other "inappropriate" goods' just meant expired drugs and (later in the article) unusable equipment. The phrase brings to mind so many more interesting, spam-ish possibilities. (Via Flying Chair.)

Telling it like it is

2005-06-09T20:04:00.000+08:00

From the cover of a pirated DVD:

Via BoingBoing.

(The title of this post is a lie. I actually loved the movie.)

Two great tastes that taste great together

2005-06-08T19:04:00.000+08:00

Seen on a set of Battalion Routine Orders—

Safety Message of the Day
Secondary smoke harms your family members.

Thought of the Day
"That which does not kill you only makes you stronger."—Nietszche

Signboard crusaders

2005-06-07T20:02:00.000+08:00

From the forum section of (where else?) today's ST—

Earnest asininity or a clever mockery of the letters that usually get sent in on this topic? I can't decide.

Adventures in cinebiography

2005-06-05T22:09:00.000+08:00

My mom's watching that Sylvia Plath movie from a while back on Star Movies. This has to be the first time I've seen a biopic shot like a horror movie—sinister music, shadowy rooms and corridors, footage of the moon being covered by clouds, evil-looking trees swaying in the wind, the female lead lying half-submerged in a tub, sudden blackouts etc. I keep expecting a monstrous oven to leap out from one of those ominously dark doorways (there are many) and swallow her up. 'Behind you, Sylvia!'

My favourite bit is when she says, 'Before we met we were like two halves walking around with gaping holes shaped like the other person', or somesuch twaddle, and the actor playing Ted Hughes is looking at her with this blank expression, like he's thinking, 'Hold on a second, now how would that work?'