I was walking in a desert and I saw a lone camel. The camel saw me and knelt down and at the same time somehow signaled that I should get on its back. I was hesitant, but I got on the single-hump camel. I sat on the camel and it started to walk. We passed by a lake. In the middle of the desert. I thought aloud and said to the camel that perhaps we should get a drink of water there. And then the camel replied “we should drink only from running sources of water like a stream” (not verbatim, but something to that effect). I wasn’t the least surprised that the camel talked to me. After walking for a bit more, we arrived at this inn. There was a designated “parking lot” for the camel. I got down, parked the camel and entered the inn. It looked like an inn out of old Western movies – built of wood and contains a bar. I met someone in the inn. Someone I know in real life, but I don’t remember who.

And the dream ended there. How bizarre.

The green is quite refreshing methinks.

And I have put up a Twitter widget. For gawdknowswhat reason.

:D

And it’s about 21 deg celsius today. Maximum.

I thought I was here for summer!?

Went for the show at children-infested theatre at Lido with Su and Angela yesterday, utterly loved the show. I think this is one show where the sequel is better than the first instalment, but I don’t think I want to see a trilogy out of it. The unexpected romance, the narcissistic self-deluded king, the himbo hippo, the outrageous rescue mission, the cross-reference to pop culture and Marie Antionette … great fun stuff.

This time round there is less Bollywood dancing routines and more plot development. But somehow I get this naggy feeling that while they try to show that it’s all right to be different from the rest (kinda like that dancing penguin cartoon too? Happy Feet? Is that it?), it also all right for the mainstream to outcast and banish these “different” people. Sure, the malificent character gets beaten at the end, but still it goes back to a power-powerless situation. Oh well. Post-LIP hypersensitivity.

This is a must-watch.

Japan is currently engaged in some soul-searching about whether or not to lower the legal age of adulthood. Historically the official year for coming-of-age has been 20, and quite a big deal is made of this event every year around January 15 on Seijin-no-hi, or Coming-of-Age Day. On this day, Japanese young people who have turned 20 that year (with “year” being defined as the previous April to the upcoming March) gather in their city wearing fine new suits or beautiful kimonos to hear long, drawling speeches from politicians about life, responsibility, and the importance of contributing to society by working hard. Now a possible amendment to the Japanese Constitution is being considered which would officially lower this age to 18 from the current 20, which is the legal age for voting in Japan, as well as for buying tobacco and alcohol. (The age for driving is 18.) Most young people are opposed to the change, which doesn’t surprise me somehow. For some reason, Japan is a place where the younger generation isn’t in a hurry to grow up, and it’s common for children to live with their parents well into their 20s, or if they’re the oldest son or daughter of the family, forever, since they’ll be taking care of the parents as they get older. There’s something about the Japanese psyche that makes many young people more than happy to “grow up” at a slower pace, whether it’s the famous “parasite singles,” who live at home forever and never marry or make households of their own, or the more common “freeters,” who work part-time jobs without ever deciding on a full-time career. Perhaps it’s a side-effect of having fewer children born over the past generation, meaning more doting on each child by parents compared to the old days.   – J-list mailer Nov 7

Another aspect of the mailer is how he would intoduce a product, like really write a long-ish write-up about the product and put in his own evaluation and experience with it, making it very personalized.

If you’re interested in receiving these, I think you can find a way to put yourself on their mailing list (not sure how, maybe sign up an account with them), or I could forward them to you.

So we waited, and while waiting, some nosey neighbour came around and disseminated more information. Apparently, it was a daughter with the mother, and presumably another male relative. The daughter was trying to run away from home, and while the mother was chasing, the mother actually shouted for passers-by to stop her, claiming the daughter is crazy. Then somehow the mother caught her and so they sat around on the floor in some sort of lattice to stop her from running away. While sitting on the floor and bawling and screaming, the daughter found time and interest to light a cigarette. Then we started thinking if she was actually high on drugs or something.

After standing around to observe the drama for 20 minutes (yes, response time for the police was about 20-25 minutes, despite me telling them there IS a fight. I guess if it was a real parang knife fight, they’d be bring bodybags by then.), the police arrived and then the truth came out. The daughter has depression due to some relationship problems, and she was trying to run away from home to (1) be with the guy (2) kill herself, so the mother had to stop her, etc. and ended up in a mess on the floor in the middle of a driveway (and resulting in this poor Ikea van having to reroute itself.) Sounds almost like TV, really.

If you are in Singapore, this is how you can donate towards the quake in China:

It took me less than 30 seconds to donate, well, a measly $20 via Ibanking, much faster than setting up an online transaction to an online shop. So instead of buying some more clothes and accessories that you don’t need, why not donate and help by donating?

For more information, visit www.redcross.org.sg.

Generate ten random words and link those words together using no more than 100 words, I’ve called it the 10×10 challenge.

Here are my ten words :semantics, friendship, sauce, approves, poetic, dire, automated, sells, draining, peer

I sit in my draining semantics class and peer out the window. I look at the automated vending machine that everyone approves of and wonder if it sells friendship because the dire state of my social life is nothing poetic, only pathetic. But then again, isn’t friendship just like the dipping sauce of life; it is not terribly consequential? (59 words)

Well, obviously that is not true. Sure my semantics class is draining but there is no vending machine outside my class, nor do I think my social life is pathetic.