Books maketh the (wo)man

Not that I've ever made a friendship or relationship decision solely based on the books the other person reads or has read, but the New York Times' Sunday Book Review essay, "It's Not You, It's Books", made me giggle at parts. For instance, during this tidbit:

Jessa Crispin, a blogger at the literary site Bookslut.com, agrees. “Most of my friends and men in my life are nonreaders,” she said, but “now that you mention it, if I went over to a man’s house and there were those books about life’s lessons learned from dogs, I would probably keep my clothes on.”

The essay's about how much reading preferences affect a relationship and essayist Rachel Donadio asserts that "this may be a gender issue", but I don't think so. For those of us living in a society with near-100 per cent literacy rates, everyone reads. It's just a matter of what they read (reading online counts too), and how often.

If you're going to knock it down to just the reading of books, I've noticed that in Singapore, it's mostly men in the bookstores but mostly women who read in public places (where you often don't see anyone reading at all). I'm not sure what might be behind that apparent gender skew.

I realised yesterday after finishing Anne Enright's The Gathering (thanks, sarah!) that I've run out of books to read. I haven't been buying new ones, not after making that new declutterific resolution. In fact, yesterday evening at Kinokuniya, I took two books off their shelves --- Hermione Lee's Essays on Life-writing and Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree --- and some minutes later restored them to their places, deciding that while I wanted to read them, I certainly didn't need to own them.

Note to self: visit the library, stat. Meanwhile pray and hope that they have some real books available for loan.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: reading, books

It's my birthday and I'll brush my teeth if I want to

Even if the cat won't let me.


Actually, he got out of the sink after a couple of minutes, so I could perform my morning ablutions after all.

My birthday has been hot (where's the unseasonal rain when you need it?), somewhat work-filled but generally not too bad considering how much dawdling I did. This I document to reassure my brother, whose SMS to me this morning consisted of birthday greeings followed by "Hope the whole day isn't spent doing work."

My dad's SMS included a line to say, "Make the world a better place to live in" --- both sweet and guilt-inducing at the same time. I need to dust off certain ideas and get cracking on them.

My mother's SMS asked me what my plans were. To wit:

• I planned to back up my hard drive --- done.
• I planned to do a spot of work --- done.
• I planned to mix various leftovers into a chicken salad for lunch --- done.
• I didn't plan to finish the Leonidas chocolates oiseauxbleu gave me for Xmas, but there were only two left and I did.

Tonight's plans consist of dinner and maybe ice cream or something sweet after. I almost called Awfully Chocolate just now to get myself a whole 6" chocolate cake, but decided I would rather hold out for a real Lana cake when I have time to engineer an order for it.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: birthday, cat, Ink the cat

After working late tonight

I am sitting here at the laptop, reading blogs and having a glass of white wine before bed. The karaoke pub across the street --- which I summed up to Wahj an hour ago as "strictly of the dive variety", with a "HANDWRITTEN 'members only' sign on the darkened-glass door" --- has a very enthusiastic band tonight. The current tune: "Sweet Child of Mine". The new cat was sniffing my heel some minutes ago, but has now gone to sleep on the chair beside me. The old cat is looking expectantly from the couch towards the back window, as if he expects a bat to fly through it any minute.

Goodnight.

-----|||||-----

One problem with growing up in the '80s

... is that I woke up this morning with, inexplicably, Stevie Wonder's rendition of "I Just Called To Say I Love You" in my head. And it wasn't till I was halfway through my shower that I realised it.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Stevie Wonder, I Just Called To Say I Love You,

Two days later

It's a good sign when the two cats are snoozing together under the bed

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cats, Ink the cat, Sisu the cat

Ink has a playmate

Her name is Sisu.

She's quite feisty, despite (or perhaps because of) being half-blind.

They have spent most of the afternoon circling around/chasing each other, so this is the least blur picture --- never mind that it's also the most uncharacteristic --- I could get.

Despite the mild batting and swatting, they have not been at each other's throats (yet). Perhaps it's because Ink keeps running away ...

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cats, Singapore cats, Ink the cat, Sisu the cat

Tired as hell

It's a strange sort of day when I typo "mind-boggling" as "mind-blogging".

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: blogging

A monologue on mushrooms

Said to me, over lunch, on Sunday, about my week-old haircut:

You look a little bit like a mushroom --- but a nice mushroom. ... What's a good mushroom ah? Not button ... I dunno, fungi. You look a little bit like one of the mushrooms that's gonna sprout out of your umbrella.

My hairdresser would be so pleased.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: haircut, mushroom

Lessons learned from wedding planning

I don't do it often, so I learn something new every time. (Not that I'm planning to make a hobby out of this.)

• Depending on how the flowers are secured on the bridal car, it's entirely possible that they will render the boot of the bridal car unusable for storing important items like the ang pows (red packets with money) or bridal trousseau.
• Even pastors can make jokes about cross-dressing, if the groom gives them the opening to do so.
  
• Contrary to conventional wisdom about guests for Chinese wedding dinners, sometimes they are early --- 45 minutes early, all togged up in their evening finery and enquiring about their table seating assignments, when the receptionists for the dinner aren't quite settled into their jobs yet.
• People drink a lot during the first hour of dinner, less so afterwards.
  
• Hollywood tape is great for MacGyvering all sorts of things, including broken shoes (not the bride's, fortunately).

After the wedding dinner, I slept for many hours, but not enough. Even though I only had a couple of glasses of wine on Sunday night, I still have a little of that hungover feeling today.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: wedding, Chinese wedding, wedding planner

The biggest surprise of the wedding

I'm shocked by what passes for bridal suite decor these days.




I'm not sure that I could sleep with those sheets.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: wedding, Chinese wedding, wedding decor, bridal suite

Wedding day

Not mine, obviously, but I have much to do.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: wedding, wedding planner

Wicked weather

It's been a very strange March here in Singapore. First, an alleged terrorist escaped (okay, that happened on February 27, but the guy's still missing and the usually über-efficient Singapore government has been dead silent on the matter).

Then it started raining like it was December again, not just for one day but for almost two weeks already. I keep expecting to hear "All I Want For Christmas Is You" when I go shopping, but then the mail reminds me that it's actually tax season instead.

The other song that's been going around in my head is the Counting Crows' "A Long December" --- because with the rain, it's starting to feel that way.

Of course, now that I've blogged about it, the rain will probably stop.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Singapore, Singapore weather, rain

On being plain-spoken

After spending a day or so trawling through interview transcripts wherein government employees regurgitate corporate jargon as if it were the gospel truth, it was something of a relief to find out (via the World Wide Words newsletter) that in the UK, at least, the Local Government Association recognises the importance of speaking plainly and has singled out certain "non-words" that are to be avoided, such as:

• capacity building
• engaging users
• outcomes
  
• pathfinder
• stakeholder
• synergy
  

(Those are just six out of the top 100 "banned" words, by the way.)

The Local Government Association's logic is simple:

Without explaining what a council does in proper English then local people will fail to understand its relevance to them or why they should bother to turn out and vote. Unless information is given to people to explain why their council matters then local democracy will be threatened with extinction.

Besides local democracy, I think fruitful and intelligent thought is also threatened with extinction if people keep talking in Newspeak. You know society's in trouble when even teenagers are parroting phrases about "lifelong learning" back to you.

I am going to wave that list of 100 banned words in the face of the next government client who asks me why I didn't just use the language in their press release. Maybe their new motto oughta be: Jargon Less, Say More!

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: jargon, Newspeak

A Saturday's adventures

For all that I rail about crowds on a regular day, I don't mind occasionally plunging myself into the thick of one when I don't have any particular objective in mind. Evidence, to wit: the Great Chinatown Walkabout of several years ago, which was followed by the Great Hari Raya Puasa Walkabout, Comex last September, and more recently the Singapore Air Show last month.

Yesterday's challenge: the Singapore IT Show.


Part of me wanted to buy a terrabyte hard drive just so that I can say I have one --- but my 200 GB backup drive isn't even half full at the moment, so who am I kidding here? Nonetheless, my brain is still sufficiently new to the concept of a terrabyte that I kept referring to it as a "one-tetrabyte" drive. To which my friend enquired, "Is that like ---" beat "--- tetra pak?"

After a couple of hours in the crowd, it was time to get out of Suntec altogether.


At Food for Thought, I really like the brownies (Aunty Rubiah's, according to their website), but I can never finish one on my own. So I only order it if there's someone to eat the rest.

Fortified with caffeine and sugar, I was off to a hen night at Oohtique!.


At which I think I drank more than anyone else except the bride-to-be. It was only four drinks, but enough to earn me the following Truth or Dare question: What was your worst drunk experience?

(Tangent (TM Stellou): On a sort of related note, I once remarked that I have a couple of drinks, three or four times a week --- to which a medical professional at the table said, "You realise that's about the healthy limit, right?" Surely his maths is wrong?)

The story of my worst drunk experience, like the full details of what transpired last night, will stay only with those who were there to share it. Suffice to say that last night's activities ended around 1 am at Geylang Lorong 12, where a totally illegal pushcart vendor sells kick-ass carrot cake (chai tow kway).

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Singapore, Singapore IT Show, Food for Thought, hen night

Someone said ...

So apparently, I am very well-preserved for my age.

Huh.

-----|||||-----

An unexpected taste

It's extremely disorienting when the pork chops from a Western food stall at a hawker centre taste like Twisties (chicken flavour).

Fortunately, it wasn't my dinner.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Singapore, pork chops, Twisties

Stress is expensive

Because stress makes me go shopping and drop a tidy bundle on new dresses. Which I was planning to do anyway for the friends' wedding next week that I'm coordinating, but having work-related stress as a motivating factor means that I didn't look as closely at price tags as I usually do. With a friend in tow to play fashion consultant, it wound up being very much an evening of: Try. Look good? Buy. Sign.

On the other hand, I got two dresses (instead of one), and they can double up as stylish togs for work meetings if I feel like wearing something other than jeans, so may that work out alright.

My currently high stress levels are due to various work-related matters, none of which were my doing or much within my control. Playing wedding coordinator is actually the least stressful thing on my plate right now.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: stress, shopping, retail therapy, wedding planner

A screech, then a bang

There were two traffic accidents on my street this morning, in almost exactly the spot. This can't be good.

Fortunately, nothing untoward befell me when I crossed the street to get dinner, and back again afterwards. I hope the bad karma at that corner's worked itself out.

Too much sci-fi

I dreamed of Cylons and Terminators --- or rather, of robots that looked like Cylons but behaved like Terminators. Which made for a confusing moment in the dream when the room we were hiding in was discovered by Cylon-lookalikes, and we froze, thinking they were going to kill us all --- but they merely looked at us, decided we weren't part of their mission (in Terminator: The Sarah Chronicles, this is an important distinction) and moved on.

This is what comes of watching Terminator: The Sarah Chronicles before bed, while having Battlestar Galactica on the brain.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: robot, Terminator, Cylon, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar Galactica

Links of the day

I surf, I read, I share. In no particular order:

• For Wahj: The charms of Wikipedia (via Salon).
• For stellou: I Write in Brooklyn. Get Over It.
• For Daniel: 40+ Excellent Freefonts For Professional Design (via How About Orange).
• For a documentary-making friend: Taxi to the Dark Side.

Goodnight!
-----|||||-----

Missed the window

I spent all of yesterday thinking, "Oh, it's February 29, that only happens once every four years --- I'd better post a blog entry today."

Then I overslept, which made me late for lunch. Then I had to clear out some rubbish at the old flat and the friends who helped came over afterwards to the new place for a bit (with their dog, hence the encounter pictured above). Then I had to do the weekly flat-cleaning. Then (and oiseauxbleu will be particularly glad to hear this) I cooked. Then I had to get more groceries. Then I ran into a friend, who came over for the evening.


So I didn't blog yesterday and I went to bed feeling a little rueful at missing the opportunity to have a February 29 entry.

But it was only today, when I looked more closely at the dates of the pictures I took yesterday, then cross-checked the dates on my email inbox, and finally checked everything against the computer's date setting --- that I realised that February 29 was two days ago. So I'd missed it anyway.

Which just goes to show you where my mind's been.

For the record, I spent February 29 powering through some work in order to meet a deadline, then kicked off the weekend with steamboat at my favourite old-school steamboat place.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: 29 February, February 29, leap year