my home is in empty spaces.

Ooooh.... Fantasia! You rock!

Courage? *chokes on laughter* His courage is the kind that is forced out of him. Peanuts.

Haircut. Now look 14. I haven't looked this 14 since I was 14. It's that cute little wispy fringe that does it, makes me grimace every time I look in the mirror.

Great, now nobody's going to look at me as a lean mean Life Science machine anymore. ;-) If I tell them, "I'll pound your guts into the ground!" my head would probably end up being patted. That's how strange I look.

Bah.

"... bah black sheep have you any wool..."

Hmm, I was crying again. Strange how something so meaningless can make you feel so much better after doing it. And end up thinking more clearly too. Double hmmm.

Yes I have gotten my Blogger button back and am now not infringing the Blogger folks' user agreement.

P.S. View Source.

My Blogger button has disappeared. Strange thing is that I didn't do anything to it, plus as a happy Blogger user I am -supposed- to have that button somewhere on my page. But it's not there anymore. Very very weird.

Anyway, something amusing. I take this comment off a certain guestbook: I'm very childish and that's why I'm doing all these things to -him-?

Muaha. Might as well open that comment up to the field of readers here. No personal attacks, hai! That goes for anybody. That means, what I'm looking for, is what other possible reasons you think there are for me doing all these things to -him-. Selfish, altruistic, whatever.

Results out. My CAP rose from last semester where it was rock-bottom in my entire uni career. That's all I required for this very long, very agonizing sem, with its complexicated combi of modules too - mission accomplished! =p And I can still do honours, but must do better next sem to pull CAP up. Touch wood, ai?

I remember I told Jax once, and Bjorn once, and no one else ever, in person, that ... I have problems putting my faith in men again.

Oh yeah, I did mention it in a blog posting sometime in February, not long after my blog name became "the unclean one".

Nonetheless, that notion still exists. Perhaps there is more to my liking of "Solitaire" than I had thought.

Degree of blast settings on my personal protection gear needs to be readjusted. They are very out of whack at the moment, not helped by someone's argument that I didn't protest enough - scarcely inspiring me to sheathe my swords, as it were. I need a good argument with intelligent and friendly opponents to retune.



So, the other thing I was thinking about today: Discuss how far individual freedoms should be subjugated to the greater good.

Is this more polsci than anything else? Philo, anybody?

*thinking*


Like a bridge over troubled waters
I will ease your mind

Down with the flu. In both senses. Ah... misery.

Clay Aiken, Clay Aiken.

Under the influence of J, I have finally gone out to see what's the buzz with this guy. Have his CD album now, called Measure of a Man.

Many good things. The best, I thought, was not his critically acclaimed Bridge over Troubled Waters, or other songs of that type, where he has to sing over loud drums and background. His voice doesn't have enough presence to carry over all those except in a very boyband manner - interesting in its own way, I guess, but bland.

I thought his best song was the one I had expected to dislike simply because of where I first saw its lyrics, which was quite recently. There's something incredibly heartstopping about hearing Aiken sing Solitaire with such grace. A lovely cover version, bringing to mind the other form of solitaire that is well-known: the diamond, glittering with all its pride, beauty and warm yet cool fire.

So here are the lyrics.

Solitaire

There was a man, a lonely man
Who lost his love through his indifference
A heart that cared that went unshared
Until it died within his silence

And solitaire's the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
And by himself it's easy to pretend
He'll never love again

And keeping to himself he plays the game
Without her love it always ends the same
While life goes on around him everywhere
He's playing solitaire

A little hope, goes up in smoke
Just how it goes, goes without saying

There was a man, a lonely man
Who would command the hand he's playing

And solitaire's the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
And by himself it's easy to pretend
He'll never love again

And keeping to himself he plays the game
Without her love it always ends the same
While life goes on around him everywhere
He's playing solitaire

And solitaire's the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
While life goes on around him everywhere
He's playing solitaire


Go, go listen to Clay Aiken sing this song. On the best set of speakers you can find. It's worth the search effort. Er, it's not on the main CD itself but the bonus CD - not every Measure of a Man album you buy may have that.

Enjoy.

Fingertips.... my fingertips are extraordinarily warm compared to hand. Maybe I got necrotizing fasciitis after stabbing my index finger with a knife this evening.

(I was trying to open a box of tofu.)

Or it could be the chilli padi I was manhandling too.

First came across "necrotizing fasciitis" in this book by Atul Gawande. Complications: A surgeon's note on an imperfect science. Pub April 2002.

Burning hot fingertips.

*quietly* Sometimes it disappoints me when I see how many people there are who subscribe to this devilishly warped version of Occam's razor:

The simplest explanation that fits all currently available known facts is the true one.



All following paragraphs in this entry are quoted from this website.

The original statement by William of Occam goes like this:

Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate.

Which translates literally into English as "Plurality should not be posited without necessity".

Occam's Razor has also been referred to as "parsimony of postulates" and the "principle of simplicity" and "K.I.S.S." (keep it simple, stupid). Another proverb expressing the idea that is often heard in medical schools is, "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." Like many maxims, it has deficiencies; African doctors are not well advised to follow it.

=)

Blogger has a new button.

I think it's tremendously ugly but that's just my opinion. =)

End of nonsensical post.

everything has flown off google. Very good!

Cryptic one-liner above, don't bother with that.

black and white, and five sides to every matter.

By the way, it feels strange to blog when at home; if I stay too long at the computer (which happens to be smack in the middle of the living room), my parents will inevitably come out and yell, "Why are you wasting all that electricity?!" =)

It's been a long time since I had the chance to play piano every day, and feel my palm muscles being gradually reshaped. It feels good.

Raining around S'pore for the past few days, had soggy meeting with prospective FYP prof on Wed (yesterday) morning. Spent the rest of the day after that hanging out at Orchard with a friend, but mostly just being soggy and cold while drinking latte and trying not to get too cold. =) I've been thinking as little as possible this week, simply soaking up the joys of new experiences & revisiting familiar ones like shopping. =) Blasting music at home now.

RJ's having a funfair this Sunday.

However, it's Mothers' Day too. Up to you. =)

The joys of peppermint chocolate chip ice cream.

There are two things that need not be said to the people who truly know me well.

1.
Nothing and no one on this earth will presume to speak for me based on claimed close acquaintance. No one. Not my parents, my sisters, or my friends. If you do, and I actually do know you, please come talk with me, because I would like to know why you are doing that.

2.
Similarly, do not draw swords for me. The people who have kindly privately offered to me to do so, I have all respectfully and firmly declined.

Because from prior experience, I know well how sapping and truly, massively soul-destructive it is to fight a fight which is not yours but you end up in only because you emotionally care for one party more than the other. (It comes from listening to people whine.) This behaviour is completely irrational - the conflict such a third party takes up is frequently unrelated to the original conflict between the first two parties because it inevitably involves the morals and beliefs of the third person as well, often without the third person realizing that. It all muddies waters to great unnecessary extent.


In case that was not clear, I expressly forbid all my friends and all the people I know to comment on his blog, in a "I am speaking for SM i.e. saying what she secretly longs to say yada yada (me: *much bemused look*), based on my (unspecified) close acquaintance with her" manner. If you have been doing so, own up now. I am curious to know who presumes upon his/her friendship with me to try and add points to my side, without my knowledge or permission.

Because there is absolutely no need to add anything more for me than what I have already said and spoken for myself to end the entire side of my story.

It is obvious that people are entitled to their opinions, and so is my anonymous commenter. I simply wish to say that you cannot draw swords on him and then use -me- as a cop-out mechanism. That is profoundly unfair to everyone because it is confusing.!