The Books Nazis

Me:*put book face down on the page I was reading*
Boyfriend: Don’t do that.
Me: It will not break the spine – I know. [Note: After years of obsessing about my books' spines, I'd learned exactly how much each type of book can be pushed before they snap.]
Boyfriend: I just don’t like it. Just memorize the page [...]

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The Favorite Beatle

She looks up. “Henry, who’s your favorite Beatle?”
“John. Of course.”
“Why ‘of course’?”
“Well, Ringo is okay but kind of a sad sack, you know? And George is a little too New Age for my taste.”
“What’s ‘New Age’?”
“Oddball religions. Sappy boring music. Pathetic attempt to convince oneself of the superiority of anything connected with Indians. Non-Western medicine.”
“But [...]

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Small Pleasures

It is 1218 am. I’m reading The Time Traveller’s Wife while sipping watered down Bailey’s.
And I feel strangely happy. Maybe its the alcohol, but I’ll like to think that its a combination of small pleasures that culminates in a much greater sense of well-being.
The book I’m reading is a favourite that I’d picked up over [...]

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Discarding An Old Friend

Recently, I’d surprised myself with my sudden desire to work for a bank and do number crunching all day.
It’s baffling how it took so long, but somehow I’m finally convinced that numbers are the way to go.
Words, in the working world at least, is no longer a functional means of communication. It’s almost archaic – [...]

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Why Engineers Are Great

I have a new found respect for engineers.
They are no longer the imagined ‘Other’ of my humanities-inclined Self, whose perceived geekiness was invoked often by my friends and I for amusement.
Today was one of the most frustrating days of my working life so far. I spent 2 and a half hours after working hours in [...]

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60 Years Later

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
- Adapted from The Merchant of Venice from William Shakespeare
I’m always very, very disturbed by holocaust films, but I continue to watch them [...]

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The Art of Selling Out

One sells one’s soul in increments, slowly, over time.
- Anthony Bourdaine in A Cook’s Tour
Making silly mistakes at work is depressing. Being terribly inapt at Microsoft Excel is depressing – especially if you have to use it a lot.
Recently, I keep thinking that I certainly do not need a degree to do most of the [...]

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What Exactly Do the Chinese Eat?

(On Being Senile and What Comes Next)
Me: *seized by sudden paranoia* What if I become senile? What will you do?
Boyfriend: Sell you to China.
Me: Oh. WHY?! China doesn’t need more old people, especially senile ones.
Boyfriend: Ren rou bao (translate: human flesh buns)
It really shouldn’t be, but somehow I’m greatly amused.

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For the Love of U2

This morning, I was in the car with the Boyfriend and his younger brother.
As always, I fiddled with the radio, because for me, that is one of the key perks of sitting in the passenger seat – control over what everyone else listens to. That’s why the control freak in me is most displeased with [...]

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Drinks Night with the Lovelies

I know, way over-due, but this blog needs some photo loving!
Last Wednesday, the Girls and I went for a drink at the Ink Bar. Happy hour drinks (which was extended for us!) + almonds (as opposed to generic mixed nuts) = happy times.
Funny moments includes us asking the waiter inane questions when he wanted us [...]

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