Blazing fast just got blazinglier
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
My brain is possessed
I have such a horrid headache. It feels like an octopus has gotten a clamp on my brain and it is squeezing slowly and methodically. Yeow.
But otherwise, I'm happy to be spending the day at home. I think I need to instil a few more habits on my "off days" to keep the headache at bay, like waking up earlier, going for a morning jog, and most importantly, GETTING MY CUP OF JAVA.
Not that anyone out there cares about the trivial bits of my life. Ah, the illusions of blogging.
Anyway, my sister and brother-in-law arrive from Shanghai this evening. They will be putting up in my tiny HDB flat for an entire month so I'll have my huge angmoh bro-in-law and his affectionate self (and stubbly chin) in very close proximity to make up for the two years' absence. I mean, I'm excited I get to hang out with my sister, but I'm also quite stressed because I don't know how to fit everyone in. It upsets my routine and I'm afraid that my neatly separated life will fall apart. Hanging out with the fam also makes me feel like a heathen because they are so expressive about their faith. I think it is the preacher's kid syndrome, without the clergyman father.
Oh the joys of family.
Sometimes I get so stressed by the details of the moment that I forget the preciousness of the moment. (I call this the Martha syndrome. I'm full of syndromes today.) I won't get to hang out with family and friends forever, on this earth anyway, and I need to remind myself of that fact when I get stressed about manoeuvring so that I can please everyone. God help me remember so that I won't be a sour plum this June.
June Resolution #1: I will not be a sour plum.
June Resolution #2: I will not be driven crazy by expectations.
June Resolution #3: I will have a cup of Java to keep the octopus at bay.
The adventure continues...
Monday, May 28, 2007
Peace for the soul
I have been really stressed this last week. When I am stressed, simple decisions paralyse me and I get grumpy. Smole got the brunt of my irritable self, the poor thing. But as I ran into Lower Pierce Reservoir and came face to face with the sun setting into the still reservoir water, I felt the stress melt away. Suddenly I felt as if I could cope with all the various expectations held of me, and that the big hairy stressball that was clogging up my heart could easily be plucked out and disentangled.
I'm falling in love all over again.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The Tragical Comedy Or Comical Tragedy Of Mr. Punch: A Romance
"That's the way to do it" has an eerie ring in this graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. When Mr. Punch kills the beadle, he yells out "at'sthewaytodoit!" The puppet show is damn eerie manz. Mr. Punch throws his baby out of the window, cudgels his wife to death, and even kills the devil himself.
Mr. Punch is about how we form our childhood memories. The narrator remembers his childhood in bits and pieces that don't make sense. He remembers a heart ice-lolly that costs a shilling, the feeling of a crocodile puppet coming to life, the reassuring bulk of his grandmother on a stormy night, the colour of the sea, but like Humpty Dumpty, he can't fit the pieces together to make it make sense.
This shroud of incomprehensibility is aided by the dark and shadowy background McKean uses. The only characters that are composed from real elements are the puppets, making them seem larger than life in the memory of the narrator. Real life gets interwoven with the puppet show, and both are infected with fantasy. How else do you fit a naked mermaid sitting on a rock in a run-down amusement park?
An excellent review here.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Woe is me
My Address Book is lost. Every single contact in it disappeared during an isync, save for three: Apple Computer, Me, and one new contact I had added today. Woe! Woe! At first I thought — no worries, I've backed it up; but no, I have apparently backed-up my iCal data FIVE times, but I've never done it for Address Book. How did I manage to overlook that?
At first I didn't realise that the problem with with my wiped out database on my Mac as I noticed the problem first on my mobile phone. Thinking that it was a problem with the data in my phone, I synced it again, effectively closing the door to this workaround as my data in the .previous is exactly the same as the .data file.
Others have experienced exactly the same thing. It doesn't make me feel any better.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
My TaxonomiCal Complex
I spent some time this morning reorganising my to-do lists by context. I read David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) in March and back then I didn't have enough work to justify a complicated filing system because I was in between jobs.
But my list got cluttered and unwieldy very quickly and I got more and more frustrated. I had appointments sharing the same group as tasks as they were lumped under "Work" and "Personal", so I sat down and split 'em named 'em and ordered 'em. I wish I can stick in a little divider so that I can separate the appointments, tasks, and reference calendars; oh how I long for Leopard.
Under appointments, I have Class, Work appointments, and Personal appointments. Every event I have to be at can be slotted, forcibly or not, into one of the above calendars. The purpose of my Appointments group of calendars is that they tell me when I have to be where.
Under tasks, I have @town, @desk, @computer, @library, @home, and @office. When I am in the office, I can simply untick @home and @town, and my to-do list magically whittles itself down to tasks I can actually do right there, right then. Why worry about sunning my mattress when I'm in the office? If I have fifiteen minutes to spare in front of a computer, I can check out my @computer list to see if I can do a bit of backlog googling.
Then there are my reference calendars that helps me keep track of stuff. There is Birthdays, KIV, Mailtags (I may scrap this one 'cos I can't access Apple Mail in office), and On call. These are informational calendars that give the larger picture so I can plan my tiny NextActions tasks. For example, I may have "Run the 10km PAssion run on 8 July" in my KIV calendar, which will remind me to stick in "Sign up for PAssion run online" in my @computer task (v. impt), and start planning progressively longer and speedier runs in the lead-up to the race in my Personal appointments calendar.
I feel so accomplished — and I haven't even done anything yet! :)
This Monday Feeling
The sense of foreboding last night has been replaced by a gnawing
nervousness that I can't pin down the reason for except perhaps that
it is Monday or that I am at a hormonal low. I only have half an hour
of work today; I have finished my marking; the holidays are almost
here — I ought to be estatic, but I am not, and I don't know why.
Frankly, having to be in charge of a roomful of teenagers always
scares the bejibbers out of me. Some days are worse than others I
guess.
And I still desperately want my own place.
Read More!Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Quitter by Harvey Pekar
The Quitter reminds me Will Eisner's To the Heart of the Storm, except that I think Eisner's was better. I didn't really enjoy this one. The blurb says it is funny and heartfelt, but I just didn't feel it. Maybe because it is a "boy's story"? Who knows.
Anatomy of a Rose by Sharman Apt Russell
It is white the same reason snow is white — because of the pockets of air in the petal. If you find that a preposterous idea, the next time you walk under a frangipani tree, pick up a flower from the ground and crush out the air pockets in the petal with your fingernail. The result? A limp, transparent petal that is no longer white. This is true for the majority of white flowers.
Did you know that some trees give out toxic substances to keep other plants from growing too close? One Greek scientist in 1 A.D. described the shade of a Black Walnut as "heavy" and "poisonous".
Other plants such as the Alpine Pennycress absorb large amounts of lead, zinc, and cadmium, storing them safely in their cells. In Boston, the Alpine Pennycress was used to clean up a backyard that was contaminated with toxic waste! Apparently, Sunflowers are also capable of absorbing radioactive material. That bit of information made me a bit worried about eating too many sunflower seeds...
(Like my photos? Smole and I took these at MacRitchie a while back. Flowers make the best models.)
Epiphanies at church aren't always good
Had an epiphany at church today. It was while i was standing at the pew and singing 'Come Holy Spirit' when it came to me like a cold gust against my butt cheek. When i was getting dressed this morning, I had forgotten that my well-loved ten year-old khakis had a huge rip right across where my butt meets my thigh. Crap! And there were decent folk standing behind me too.
I gave thanks to God for slingbags.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
A good week
I'm feeling pretty good about what I accomplished this week. I've marked 68 compositions and 49 letters. Being a runner, it felt natural for me to keep track of my stats, i.e. minutes per script. When I first started, I was doing compos at about 13.3 min/script. Now I can mark a letter at 5 min/script and compos at 6.6 min/ script. It is helpful to know your rate 'cos when you hit, say, 10 min/ script, you know it is time to quit for the day and go to bed.
It is incredible how in an hour and 45 minutes, they can generate for me 48 hours of work. 48 hours is calculated at 10 mins/ script. I'm crossing my fingers that it will take me less time than that, 'cos I wouldn't be able to make the deadline without having to stay up all night if I mark at that rate.
Anyway, let me leave you with a gem of a mistake from one of these scripts.
"I am the only child in my family so my mother did not beat me just naked for a few days and forget about it."Priceless. Read More!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Sony Ericsson k618i
This phone gives you more bang for your buck than your average under-$100 phone. I bought it for S$98 on a two-year contract nine months ago, and if I am not mistaken, the price is now S$68.
S$68 is not bad at all, considering how much you can do with this nifty gadget.
I hotsync my phone at least once a day — syncing my phone and my computer is a breeze with bluetooth technology; it takes all of fifteen seconds — and this means that I get all my addresses, telephone numbers, notes about my contacts (e.g. kids' names, birthdays, etc.), to-do lists, to-read lists, and events (including notes) on my phone. When I am visiting a good friend in her HDB flat and I can't remember if she lives on the 5th or 7th floor (and I am too embarrassed to ask), I can whip out my phone and check out her address.
Having my to-do lists synced means I don't have to remember my long list of books to check out. Whenever I see a book I'm interested in that I'm not yet willing to buy, I'll stick it into my to-read list together with the library branch and reference number, and forget about it until the next time I'm at the library.
Syncing my phone with my calendar also means that I can run through my day's events on my way to work. I can rehearse outlines, make sure I have everything I need for a meeting later in the day, check when my buddy is on call, and see if I'm free on a certain day for dinner. It is all in my pocket. In fact, when my computer is turned off, I don't have to worry about not hearing the alarm because whatever alarm I set in iCal is synchronised with my phone too. I can input a running appointment at 4pm in iCal, set an alarm for 10 hours earlier, sync my phone, and my phone will beep in the morning to remind me to bring my running gear.
And it is connected to the internet. When I am stuck in a jam on my way to the esplanade library at 7pm on a weekday and I can't remember whether the library is actually open, I can look up the opening hours online to decide whether I should give up and get out of the jam. When I am in Concourse buying confetti for a wedding and the bride says mysteriously, "Did you read the email I just sent?" three times in a row, I can check my gmail account with my phone to reassure myself that the bride did not send an "I'm-upset-and-want-to-call-it-all-off" type of email. And I can update my afterthoughts blog whenever inspiration strikes.
Now for the downside. The sound quality is just not that hot. This phone picks up a lot of ambient noise, making it almost impossible to have a good conversation if you are not in a quiet room. Compared to the stellar voice quality of a low-end nokia phone, this one looks pretty bad. I wonder if it is because the microphone is extra-sensitive because it is a 3G phone? It is also less hardy than a low-end Nokia. Drop it a few times and it'll get chipped and cranky. You don't want to drop this one too hard. I've already dropped mine.
When I am talking to a friend in a train and I keep having to say, "Hur? Whaddaya say?", sometimes I just want to chuck it all and go back to a low-end Nokia, but when push comes to shove, I doubt I will 'cos I can't give up the added functionalities that I've come to rely on.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Fight Hunger: Walk the World 2007
Walk the World is organised by the United Nations World Food Progamme. It takes place in all 24 times zones (cool or what?) and there is one in Singapore! It will be held at Bedok Reservoir TOMORROW (12 May) between 3:30 and 5:30pm. Check out the Singapore website here.
Place: Bedok Reservoir
Date: 12 May 2007
Time: 3:30 - 5:30pm
Cost: Free (I think)
See you there!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Sprachgefuhl
Sprachgefuhl is my new favourite word. Smole and I love the way it rolls off our tongue. It is what we aspire to have: an intuitive sense of what is lingusitically appropriate.
*ah-hem* For example, readers praised mis_nomer's sprachgefuhl and her graceful, melodious phrasing — that is, when she remembers how to spell.
Or, for example: Sharman Apt Russel writes with sprachegefuhl. She makes boring subjects come to life with her pen.
That is a real sentence that will appear in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Frustration
I'm having a remarkably frustrating day. I don't know if it is
because it is because it is so hot and humid today that it is making
everyone irritable, or whether it is just a series of unfortunate
events. In any case, I'm very peeved.
After a frustrating day of pitting my will against the students', I
had one boy walk out of my class in defiance five minutes before the
bell rang. So I had to hunt him down after the lesson and give him a
talking-to. It probably ruined my day more than it ruined his, the
irony of it all.
My mum also has gotten ideas in her head. She doesn't usually do
this but I think it must be the flurry of weddings this year that
made her comment about this random guy and to ask my dad to introduce
him to me. Damn it. I'm frustrated that my family worries about me
when there is nothing to worry about — I do have a life plan — I just
cannot tell you because you wouldn't understand it.
And then, because somebody gave my dad this old HP OfficeJet 4100 All-
In-One printer, I felt obliged to set it up for the parents, but
after 2 hours of installing, uninstalling and installing it again on
the PC, it still wouldn't work. I finally decide to install it on my
Mac and it took all of fifteen minutes, only for me to find out that
the scanner is faulty. Damn these old printers. What a waste of time.
I also encountered an error when I tried to claim some money online.
And I spent a lot of the day hungry.
I need to move out soon.
Read More!Sunday, May 06, 2007
Mailboxer for Apple Mail
The search function in email applications has improved dramatically over the years. So much so that I've gradually done away with the laborious task of manually organising my emails into folders, or even creating complicated rules so that my inbox with be sorted in a sensible way. Instead, I rely on spotlight to find the email I want.
But this means that at least once a day, I'm typing in the name of my boss into the search bar to look for a particular email or attachment.
Mailboxer changes all of that.
Mailboxer is a pretty sweet utility that helps you create Smart Mailboxes in Apple Mail according to your smart groups in Address Group. What does this mean? It means that the next time I need to look for an email from my boss, all I need to do is to click on the boss' name in my smart mailbox folder, and it will do the necessary.
Alright. This is how you get started.
1. Fire up Address Book.
2. Create a new Smart Group. Add the emails you want to be in that Smart Group. Remember to choose "any" of the following conditions from the top drop-down menu.
3. Download Mailboxer.
4. Run Mailboxer from your Applications Folder.
5. Select the Smart Group you created in Address Book. Choose the name you would like it to appear as in Apple Mail.
6. Click "Create Smart Mailboxes".
7. That would create a Smart Mailbox in Apple Mail.
I have a Smart Mailbox for Friends and one for Work. Mailboxer also has the option of creating individual smart mailboxes for all the contacts in your Address Book, but that's a little over the top for me.
When you need to change any of the contacts in your Smart Mailbox, just edit your Smart Group in Address Book and run Mailboxer again. When you are tired of being so organised, you can delete the Smart Mailboxer with just one click.
Mailboxer is donation-ware.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Weight by Jeanette Winterson
Sexing the Cherry made me go gaga over maps and the huge fat ugly and powerful Dog Woman. I can see the Dog Woman in my mind as clearly as if she is real. And she is real, in the sense that she lives on paper and in my mind.
And Weight gave me the coolest metaphor about the past, present and the future ever. It is a retelling of the myth of Atlas carrying the weight of the world. Atlas was condemned to carry the weight of the world for all eternity because of a war with the gods and was given temporary relief when Hercules offered to carry it for a while. In retelling this myth, Winterson changed it forever.
At the brink of making an important decision, have you ever wondered if everything was fated? As if every little thing in your life led to this one moment, and you can't help but decide the way you will? Sometimes I do. For example, when I decided to major in English Literature, it was a culmination of little coincidences: struggling with English in Sec One, a teacher's off-the-cuff praise in Sec Two, etc. etc.... It is as if I couldn't have decided otherwise. I think some people who are bonded to our government feel the same way — that they couldn't have made the decision not to sign when they were 18 years old because, well, there were no other choices in their little psyche then.
Winterson calls this present moment Weight. Because this present moment is weighed down by all our past and all our future, and we bear it on our backs. The question is — do we have the freedom to put it down?
Winterson's Hercules is bothered with this question and so he slaps his head with his hand to get rid of it. In a way, all of us will have to deal with this question sooner or later — if we want to be free.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
The time
`Tell me the time' you say. And what you really say is `Tell me a story.'
~ Jeanette Winterson, Weight, 7
`What is the time?' she asked. `Well, we woke up late,' she replied.
`We had a late night you see. We were watching a DVD... actually, no, I was watching a DVD, you were sleeping and drooling on my arm the minute it started. I don't think you even remember the title of the DVD do you? So, I had a late night, and you had a late night later when I woke you up, so we both had a late night, and the time is 11:45am.'
Labouring on Labour Day
Work, work, work...
But I'll get to go out in the afternoon to play squash, yay! Smole got a "new" squash racquet from the Cash Converter Shop which isn't as heavy as the $6 one. We may trade back the heavy one to the shop. Hee hee.
As an aside, I met a really nice Fitness Trainer who gave me a complimentary body composition scan. Apparently, to reach my optimum body composition, I need to PUT ON 1kg muscle and 1.8kg fat. 1.8kg FAT!!! I mean, what the??? (The Fitness Trainer also complimented me on my push-up form. "Better than my guy clients," she says. Woot.)
I suppose the results do make sense though, since I did lose about 3kg after I stopped running as much. BUT I'M NEITHER UNDERWEIGHT NOR BONEY — FAR FROM IT! — AND ALL THE FAT I PUT ON WILL GO TO MY CHEEKS ANYWAY!
So I'm goin' to the squash court to build back some of 'em mus-cle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
