Thursday, August 30, 2007 23:33
no existe un momento

i think one thing the army has given me, if i were to assess the effect of two years of mind-numbing servitude under ineptitude and among provinciality, would be a heightened sense of race: racialism, or, to put it a little more crudely and a little more controversially, racism. i never used to be a race-conscious person; rarely, if ever, did i find myself thinking about race and ethnicity, and comments to that effect by friends from ethnic groups other than my own should serve as sufficient testimony.

but it seems i am not joined in this by others i have come to know here, among whom some of the better friends i have made, who carry with them racial baggage of considerable weight, and such ponderous trappings unfortunately cloud and colour their impressions and images of non-chinese (there are only three indians among nearly eighty people in the company, and no malays; as it happens two of the three are good friends of mine). it pains me each time someone makes a racially-motivated remark, even though it isn't directed personally at me, and i inevitably feel at the same time embarrassed and ashamd, of such narrow-minded and distinctly uncivil behaviour. i wince, and condemn the insensitive comments, which most appallingly appear to be made offhandedly, casually, but to no apparent avail.

it is here that i confess, that i have scandalised even myself, by having allowed the frequent repetition and reiteration of such callous insults to infiltrate my mind. i have caught myself, albeit just once and even then only in my head, thinking something most basely racial with hardly any provocation. but once is once too many, and i fear that what starts in the head will insidiously begin to manifest itself one day outwardly, to my detriment and to that of everyone else. i am so fond of friends like vaish; i cannot imagine such insensate thoughts or words jeopardising our relationship and our affection. it would be most disgraceful, not to mention painful and lamentable, should things arrive at such an abhorrent and undesirable head.

i am aghast. vigilance is required at times as these, and vigil shall i keep, lest such an ugly monster rear its head anymore. it is imperative that i should immediately seek to realign my associations to more closely fit my belief and principles.

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Friday, August 24, 2007 20:40
on ugly babies, winnie the pooh, and a blueberry cake

i clean forgot my birthday was coming, until i logged into facebook last night to see claud's happy-birthday message on my wall; i forgot again today, until seok gave me a present; then i forgot again. this time, the waitress at Dharma's* brought out a delectable blueberry cake, replete with two large, yellow candles and a sign saying "Happy Birthday", to make sure i wouldn't forget. so sweet of all of them—daniel, seok, grace and jovi. (:

daniel: "i don't like ugly babies! ugly babies are damn ugly!"
grace: "what the hell, ugly babies are damn ugly? if you say stupid babies are damn ugly still makes sense la. hey eugene i'll tell you something: pretty babies are damn pretty."

*a north indian restaurant along clarke quay on the lower stretch of the river. they serve up a mean platter; so mean, in fact, that it didn't occur to me to take a photo of it until we were halfway through. but seok did.

this is going to be a great birthday (:

Friday, August 10, 2007 01:29
i am the patriot

so much for nationalism. here's what happened to my national day bag, barely minutes after getting it:

vive la république. i'm going to bring this to france next year. and i managed to procure a green strip from someone else, so i can become an italian patriot anytime.

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Monday, August 06, 2007 22:58
for vaish

i have to wake up at 5am tomorrow, but because vaish is such a gute freundin who's going to be here only until the 13th i definitely have to make a note of all this first. -grin ohh the dinnertime extravagances.

(1) vaishnavi's birth canal and its toll charge

vaish: no, no indian boy has contributed to my reproductive process. this birth canal is staying shut; it's a roadblock.
ian: so what's the toll charge?
vaish: it's very, very expensive.
ian: well i'm not paying, so it doesn't matter to me!
me: wait, wait. you have a toll charge? so that means you're, er...
ian: —for hire.
[ian and i stare intently at vaish]
vaish: ...shit i really fall into these things.
(2) claudia the '60s hippie

claud: come on, tsz san, share it! they don't know!
tsz san: nah, nah, don't want.
claud: come on! i've already shared myself!
[table erupts in laughter]
(3) vaish's freudian slip

vaish: i'm going to cab home. [points to thong] you can come along and share a cab! because we're going in the same direction.
ian: i'm going in the same direction too, to yishun.
vaish: oh yay! let's do it! 3 people in a cab!
me: [amidst peals of laughter] oh my god!
vaish: [makes to whack me] oh you bloody pervert!

i will never order the vegetable briyani at komala vilas again, because right now it's midnight, 4 hours after dinner, but i'm still as full as i was when i gave up trying to finish the plate. but the mango lassi was really delicious, and dear vaish was so sweet as to treat us to it! aww. (: ian, thong, claud and i bumped into aps at little india station as we waited for vaish (who at the time was already at komala's—hmph), learnt that she was there about her arms (hahaha), and got her to drop by afterwards, so it was a table of 7 for half the dinner, including tsz san.

aren't you glad, vaish, that you have nice friends like us who celebrate your homecoming thus! you bad indian you who has never brought your friends to little india and showed them to its delights haha i will never forget the look on your face as you looked at claud in wonder when she told you that aps had brought her to little india thrice already. "she's such a good indian," huh? ;)