True Words

In that face, deformed by hatred of philosophy, I saw for the first time the portrait of the Antichrist, who does not come from the tribe of Judas, as his heralds have it, or from a far country. The Antichrist can be born from piety itself, from excessive love of God or of the trugh, as the heretic is born from the saint and the possessed from the seer. Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them. Jorge did a diabolical thing because he loved his truth so lewdly that he dared anything in order to destroy falsehood. Jorge feared the second book of Aristotle because it perhaps really did teach how to distort the face of every truth, so that we could not become slaves of our ghosts. Perhaps the mission of those who love mankind is to make people laugh at the truth, to make truth laugh, because the only truth lies in learning to free ourselves from insane passion for the truth.

-- Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose"

Ethnic Differences?

I dunno, it fits my stereotypes...

http://www.pengguo.com/?p=48

The Fallacy of Self-Identification

Ever notice that people who tell others they're funny, smart or hot usually aren't?

It's probably related to this.

100 Years, from Five for Fighting

This is perhaps my favourite song this year -- timeless.

I'm 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

I'm 22 for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars

15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

I'm 33 for a moment
Still the man, but you see I'm a they
A kid on the way
A family on my mind

I'm 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life

15 there's still time for you
Time to buy, Time to lose yourself
Within a morning star
15 I'm all right with you
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

Half time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on...

I'm 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

15 there's still time for you
22 I feel her too
33 you’re on your way
Every day's a new day...
15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

Lyrics from here

A Lazy Weekend

I spent the weekend terribly.

Friday night, I won a nice big chunk of Jo and Mike's money at mahjong, playing until 6:30am. So Saturday was completely wasted -- I woke up at 6pm and started calling people for dinner. Had dinner with Shyue Chou at Orchard Cineleisure in some place on the 6th floor. Don't remember the name, but the food was... unimpressive.

Went off for drinks with Khan, Joanne, Mike and Elaine at Dempsey Road, and had terrible fun with Joanne. Poor Joanne, I'm busy building up her suan resistance...

Joanne: You know, Khan, he's being really condescending every time he pats us on the head.
回春: Aww... what a great insight, Joanne! Well done!

Stumbled home quite drunk on wine and dejection, but was well cheered up by having supper with Jo. Mee goreng, somewhere in West Coast; the perfect alcohol sponge. On the way to pick up Mike at Dempsey, unforgettable singalong with the windows down and the music roaring. I need to learn to drive...

Went for a second round at Dempsey Road, then had kopi -- not coffee, but kopi -- at River Valley Road, yammering away with the Americans right next to us who were desperately trying not to draw attention to themselves being American...

Then, of course... mahjong.

Poor Jo.

And today, all I did was wake up, get new library books and veg out here yammering away on Blogger. What a perfectly useless lazy weekend.

まだ泣きたいけど。。。

Sors salutis
Et virtutis
Michi nunc contraria
Est affectus
Et defectus
Semper in angaria

Hac in hora
Sine mora
Corde pulsum tangite
Quod per sortem
Sternit fortem
Mecum omnes plangite