happy mas selamat day!

after one year (and counting), our dear toilet escapee is still at large.

wah, to be able to survive such a long time in Singapore (assuming that he is still here) or to have been able to flee (with a limp nonetheless) under the then high alert conditions is quite a feat eh.

well, actually in these troubled economic times, i dunno WTH he would want to come out; actually detention centre better: zero inflation, free food and lodging, plus free monthly haircuts. no retrenchments, no ERP, and no USD58bil loss.

heh just joking, but seriously, where the hell in the world is mat selamat? if this is a game of terrorist hide and seek, well ok mat selamat you won, we give up; you can come out now.

GeneraTion Gap

if you are 24 and are tempted to join an under-25 GTG, don't.

if you do, you will experience what is known as the generation gap, a dreaded malady which leave sufferers feel like dinosaurs, make them go weak at the knees due to overwhelming feelings of inadequacy, and leave them lost and tongue-tied.

numerical figures count for nothing, 25 is the new 18 anyway; sheesh, just what was i thinking when i decided to head down? to regain my youth? try to connect with the younger generation? oh wells i do admit it was a little desperate of me, but surely not as bad as the time the PAP MPs danced hip hop at Chingay? haha.

boy, do i feel like my parents now... =(

Le Jardin des supplices

"Devant lui, bouche à bouche, ventre à ventre, des femmes nues, se pénétrant l’une l’autre, dansaient des danses sacrées, tandis que, accroupis derrière un paravent, des musiciens, soufflaient dans de courtes flutes…

Là, d’autres femmes assises en rond ou couchées sur la natte du plancher, dans des poses obscènes, avec des faces de luxure plus tristes que des faces de supplice, attendaient. C’était, devant chaque porte où nous passions, des râles, des voix haletantes, des gestes de damnés, des corps tordus, des corps broyés, toute une douleur grimaçante qui, parfois, hurlait sous le fouet de voluptés atroces et d’onanismes barbares. Je vis, défendant l’entrée d’une salle, un groupe de bronze dont la seule arabesque des lignes me donna une secousse d’horreur… Une pieuvre, de ses tentacules, enlaçait le corps d’une vierge et, de ses ventouses ardentes et puissantes, pompait l’amour, tout l’amour, à la bouche, aux seins, au ventre.

Et je crus que j’étais dans un lieu de torture et non dans une maison de joie et d’amour."

- Octave Mirbeau

Don't you just love le français? =]

square feet

Cool creative spatial visualisation work by Charles Platt on personal space around the world; figures gotten from the CIA Factbook then dividing each country's land area by its population. Monaco, who apparently has the world's densest population with only 639 square feet per inhabitant, is just a tiny dot. Surprisingly it is Australia with the sparsest population density and not China nor Russia, both whom I previously thought would have gotten the dubious honour. But then again most of Australia is inhabitable desert anyway.

Well if the entire world were to fit in a HDB block, Singapore would probably just get the spare utility/bomb shelter room.

there's none

So how does one cope with it?

I'm referring a feeling. The same intense, sickening feeling of your heart sinking that one sometimes get. Like talons it grips you and refuses to let go. You try and relax, thinking it's just heartburn and that it will go away with relaxation but it doesn't. No, au contraire it gets worse. And then when you realise what it is you feel weak. Absolutely soft in the legs. Your arms feel clammy, and you begin to sweat. Your brows arch together into a frown without you even realising it. The colour of life drains from your face. Your breathing shortens and quickens. You try taking a deep breath but it chokes you instead.

You feel helpless because you're fully aware that you're powerless against it.

Different people get it from different triggers, i guess. Some upon realisation of a truth. Some after they've been told something they didn't want to hear. Some after a breakup. Mostly it has to do with disappointment, i postulate. That feeling we've all had as a child when our favourite toy was forcefully wrenched from our arms. That same one we never wanted to feel again.

So what does one do in a situation like this? You pace around and it doesn't work. You lie in bed and it intensifies. You try to arrest the situation but can't. And why not?

Because to deal with something you need to know what it is.

I don't. Do you?

(Benny, 2009)

recession

sweet today i found out that my wind tunnel can simulate the world global economy, i.e., i get pressure readings which fluctuate wildly but after a while it becomes a generally decreasing trend.

useless random numbers. and dateline's just less than a month away. argh. =(

longing of the sad bastards

In the wee small hours of the morning
While the whole wide world is fast asleep
You lie awake and think about the girl
And never ever think of counting sheep

When your lonely heart has learned its lesson
You'd be hers if only she would call
In the wee small hours of the morning
That's the time you miss her most of all

XXV

ok just an article reproduced from facebook, something on 25 random facts about me:

1. i don't like capital letters
2. my ambition is to be a farmer, or maniacal world dictator
3. i live on beer and glucosamine
4. i am a bad salesman; don't look for me to sell your products
5. i have a great intolerance for bad grammar and bad pronunciation
6. in my dreams i am a huge furry blue polka-dot monster with 3 eyes and bad hair
7. i am always terrorizing pygmy colonies in my dreams as my aforementioned self
8. i am 1.68m tall and weigh 62kg, which gives me a BMI of 22.0
9. i have an A2 in higher chinese
10. i like girls who are sporty and tanned, read kafka, and speak french!
11. j'aime la langue française! et aussi toutes choses français!
12. i am an atheist
13. triathlon is my passion; tennis is my hobby
14. i almost died cycling in france when i didn't know that the train was coming and i crossed the track
15. if you can't make time for your family and friends, you can't make time for anything
16. my current favourite band is nada surf
17. i would love to live in a developing country, or maybe france
18. i am a strong believer in sustainable development and lifestyles
19. i am an ESTJ
20. i have had 3 serious relationships
21. i am currently single and available though! =P
22. i would like to travel next to india, nepal and all the countries ending with stan
23. i still have a few more ironman races and desert marches left in me
24. i have a very dark sense of humour
25. what i would be on 11 july this year

jetter jetter

in december, someone threw a shoe at Bush.

then in january, Seng Han Thong was splashed with thinner and torched.

today, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had himself a close encounter of the sole kind as somebody assaulted him with a flying adidas trainer. and in cambridge some more!

wow what next?

passing of an era

sorry fed but its been a great 5 years or so. you were once the undisputed king, but now inarguably c'est l'histoire. Vamos Rafa!

akan datang

Sometimes the head just has to succumb to the heart. And who better to succumb to, than something white, has 3 doors, and goes fast? =)

fuming

Q: what do you call a man who is always cycling behind traffic?
A: exhausted.

haha geddit? exhaust-ed, if you wish. damn lame joke i heard over the radio the other day and i thought was quite apt for cyclists in Singapore since we are constantly surrounded by motor vehicles and their associated gaseous by-products.

back to the once-a-week cycling routine, not there yet but still a start. recently got my bikes serviced and zhng-ed so now there's no excuse for me not to cycle anymore, unfortunately. well i guess if you cycle on weekends and start enough, it still CAN be pretty pleasant to cycle on local roads. now, if only we had some cols to climb..

might do some triathlon races in the middle of the year if everything works out. port dickson anyone? =)