Nonrandomly Random

Another weekend alone, yay. So you can see, I do have an excellent social life, watching TV at home and reading library books.

I'm 22, have no obvious deformities, no physical/mental retardation, so why am I spending all my weekends alone? It's not like I want to. I'd like to believe that I'm a victim of circumstances, but oh well, if I'm alone for that so many weeks running, it leads me to only one conclusion.

I'm a social inept.

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So I shall waste my life being alone, mulling the themes in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Life presents us a paradox. Given that there is no conclusive role for our existence (unless you're religious), what do we do?

Do we try to put meaning to our lives, doing things that we deem meaningful, giving ourselves roles and responsibilities? After all, we have only one life, to mess it up and waste it would be a terrifying prospect.

Or since our role in existence isn't clear, do we do a Sartre-esque 'life is absurd' and just let the world go by, basking in the lightness and freedom of not having responsibilities?

It's too much for my poor brain. The book's like concentrated orange juice concentrate - a spoonful is tantalising, a sip is mindblowing, but a whole mugful would burn your gullet from inside out.

I've only read one third of the book so far. And that's in 2 separate sittings.

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Mark Ronson's Version seems to be a pretty darned good album. But somehow it slipped under my musical radar until now. What Mark Ronson does is to pick a favourite song, make a totally unrelated artist re-do it in a totally different way, giving a fresh twang to the songs we take for granted.

Check out Mark Ronson's take on The Zutons's Valerie, with vocals from Amy Winehouse.

To buy, or not to buy?

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And yay, now that my blepharitis has cleared up, I can take photos of myself again!

On a good hair day:



Today:



To prove a point - I need a haircut, otherwise I'd look like some punk-revival band member from a remote part of the UK trying - and failing - to look like a rebellious version of the Beatles.

Where oh were do I get a decent and cheap haircut? I'm hairdresser-hopping and have yet to find somewhere I like.

Haven - Say Something

Nothing

You know, it was a boring day,
and I have nothing to say.

Write something
About nothing?
It's like squeezing water from a rock.
While staring at the clock.

I'd like to write about nothing.
But it won't mean a thing.
As the world passes me by,
No desire, no try.

And this poem has gone off-track,
It's 2 minutes of your life you won't get back.

Richie tagged me

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

1) I spent the greater part of today, stuffing tubes into the mouth of strangers and helping them to breathe.

2) I get very bus-sick on bendy buses (especially the rear carriage) but I've never felt nauseous on a ferry or boat before. As for aeroplanes, the smallest of turbulence makes me uncomfortable.

3) I'm a closet audiophile, with a hi-fi set consisting of high-end JBL bookshelf speakers, and my Sennheiser HD497 and Creative EP630 are in regular rotation on my iPod nano.

4) At 3.9kg, I was born a fat baby. Grew up as a fat kid, yada yada.

5) I love to tinker with stuff. I assembled the desktop computer at home, I repair simple cold solder problems on my electronic appliances and my bike is maintained myself, from simple things like cleaning and lubing to more complex stuff like hub overhaul and brake installation.

6) My love life's pathetic. Never ever dated a girl long-term.

7) While it's pretty impossible by now, much of my ambitions still lie in the field of automotive engineering. Designing intelligent car transmissions, aerodynamic road vehicles, etc.

8) I wish I had more good friends who would hang out with me every now and then, so that I won't have to coop myself at home about every weekend. Yeah. I'm looking at you.

I’ll tag the following:

Alec, Iwan, Kate, Kieran, Pkchukiss, Ryan, todaealas, xalmon

Tired

Been shoving tubes into the mouths of strangers.

Back in Bugis

Returned library books - SUCCESS
Borrowed decent library books - SUCCESS

Comic novel The Watchmen, Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage

Buy a nice short sleeved shirt - FAILURE

The better looking ones are either too damn expensive, or simply don't fit my malproportionate body. Gee. I'm a freak.

Look for new taillight (current one died out) - FAILURE

GHC in Bugis has an excellent range of Cateyes, but I've had bad experiences with Cateye. A dead speedometer is a sporadic event, a dead speedometer and headlight is bad luck, and a dead speedometer, headlight and taillight within 4 years simply points to poor workmanship. But then Cateyes are bright and have decent mounting systems. So I really dunno if there's any alternative I'm willing to choose...



A Toyota Hilux cab. They're phasing out the Yellow Top livery, so this will probably be the last time I see this guy in black and yellow.

More iPod Photos

Just to add to the collective knowledge of teh Interwebs, here's how the green iPod nano looks like with photos taken properly using manual white balancing, and at 2 different angles.


Did I mention? Paolo Nutini rocks.




Podcasts are seriously leet. Subscribe to them, and when you sync your iPod up, you get all those fresh, hot-off-the-mic podcasts ready to spice up your boring commute.


And oh well, the ueberly-shiny mirror-like back is starting to accumulate hairline scratches. Thank goodness it's back of the iPod, rather than the front (like in the unforgettable 1st gen Nano fiasco).