- "Your name must be Sherry... 'cause you're so intoxicating!"
- (Sprinkle water on the lady) "I'm sorry, but you're just too hot."
- "Do you mind?" (Woman: "Huh?") "You are distracting me with your beauty!"
- "I hope you brought crutches because I've gone all weak on seeing you."
- "Do you sell insurance?" (Woman: "No...") "Well I should've bought some because I'm dying to know you."
- "Look out the window at the sky!" (Woman: "Well yeah?") "Don't you see something missing? Your starry eyes...."
27 March 2006
Cheesy Pick-up Lines
Don't ask why, but here are some really bad ones!
25 March 2006
O? Positive.
Went to bleed myself again, this time with a friend, my army buddy Amrish. Despite it being a Saturday, there was quite a crowd at the blood bank. Everything proceeded much faster than before: no more mollycoddling. But thank goodness they still used anaesthetic. The nurses still have the same warped sense of humour: upon asking if there would be anaesthesia applied, she replied with a hopeful smile, 'well yes, unless you don't want any?' And why is it that everytime I wince (okay, squirm) at being stuck, there's always an old veteran donor across the room smirking at me?
Overheard when the lifeblood was being drained from my veins:
Nurse: You can use this coupon to redeem a drink and snack outside.
Donor: Do you have any spirits?
N: No, not these days at least. We used to give donors Guinness Stout thirty years ago, because there were so few of them then. But not anymore, not after having problems with some getting drunk.
D: Pity.
Well one can imagine that losing a litre of blood and making up for it with a pint of beer is not likely to result in sobriety!
Overheard when the lifeblood was being drained from my veins:
Nurse: You can use this coupon to redeem a drink and snack outside.
Donor: Do you have any spirits?
N: No, not these days at least. We used to give donors Guinness Stout thirty years ago, because there were so few of them then. But not anymore, not after having problems with some getting drunk.
D: Pity.
Well one can imagine that losing a litre of blood and making up for it with a pint of beer is not likely to result in sobriety!
19 March 2006
Porridge in church
More porridge!
Porridge!
Rather coincidentally (with the great porridge watch) had porridge in church today. Yummy thick congee with bits of chicken!
15 March 2006
Parritch
" '...Ay,' he continued, as soon as he had ousted me from the stool and spoon, 'they're fine, halesome food -- they're grand food, parritch.' He murmured a little grace to himself and fell to. 'Your father was very fond of his meat, I mind; he was a hearty, if not a good eater; but as for me, I could never do mair than pyke at food.' " -- RL Stevenson, Kidnapped chap. i.
Nasi sudah menjadi bubur -- Malay idiom ('rice has become porridge') referring to something which has been done and cannot be retracted.
The BBC Magazine Monitor has started a new series called Porridge Watch, to highlight instances of porridge being mentioned in the media, after an observation that porridge is mentioned more often in the press than one would expect (more than cornflakes, for instance). Some readers have written in with their own porridge observations, while the monitor staff have been busy with their own updates. Upon reading their observations, I too have been convinced that a conspiracy is afoot to promote porridge in the UK media. A fraternity of grain-wholesalers, perhaps, who wish to drive up the consumption of grains and cereals for some nefarious political purpose? Or the work of an evil biotechnologist who has seeded fields around the world with allergenic strains of oats and rice, hoping to cash in on a cure that only he possesses?
The word porridge itself ('parritch' is a variant) throws some clue on its method of preparation, having been derived from 'pottage', i.e. prepared in a pot. Various kinds of porridge exist, depending on the grain used to make it, and the wateriness of the preparation. Gruel, for instance, refers to thin, watery porridge. It isn't surprising then that the word gruel also refers to torture or punishment ('gruelling'). Congee, on the other hand, is thick and viscose, having been boiled until the rice grains break apart. Porridges can be sweet, such as the dessert pulut hitam, made from glutinous black rice boiled with sugar and topped off with coconut milk, or savoury, like Chinese congee. Aside from water, milk is also used to make porridge, e.g. in the oat porridge that was the staple food in Scotland. The high starch content of porridge, and its ease of cooking, makes it very convenient for the cook and the consumer: it doesn't require elaborate effort, and it supplies abundant carbohydrates. Its soft, semisolid consistency makes it easy to eat, and partly explains its being fed to both very young children and very old people.
The above might serve to explain why porridge might become popular again: its versatility makes it an excellent base recipe on which to pile elaborations and additions, its reputation as poor-man's simple food is antithetical to highly-processed and industrially-complicated food choices that the modern consumer is inundated with, while its history might invoke wistful nostalgia of simpler times past or happy childhoods bespattered with lumpy porridge. Who knows, it might just be the next bubble tea.
Nasi sudah menjadi bubur -- Malay idiom ('rice has become porridge') referring to something which has been done and cannot be retracted.
The BBC Magazine Monitor has started a new series called Porridge Watch, to highlight instances of porridge being mentioned in the media, after an observation that porridge is mentioned more often in the press than one would expect (more than cornflakes, for instance). Some readers have written in with their own porridge observations, while the monitor staff have been busy with their own updates. Upon reading their observations, I too have been convinced that a conspiracy is afoot to promote porridge in the UK media. A fraternity of grain-wholesalers, perhaps, who wish to drive up the consumption of grains and cereals for some nefarious political purpose? Or the work of an evil biotechnologist who has seeded fields around the world with allergenic strains of oats and rice, hoping to cash in on a cure that only he possesses?
The word porridge itself ('parritch' is a variant) throws some clue on its method of preparation, having been derived from 'pottage', i.e. prepared in a pot. Various kinds of porridge exist, depending on the grain used to make it, and the wateriness of the preparation. Gruel, for instance, refers to thin, watery porridge. It isn't surprising then that the word gruel also refers to torture or punishment ('gruelling'). Congee, on the other hand, is thick and viscose, having been boiled until the rice grains break apart. Porridges can be sweet, such as the dessert pulut hitam, made from glutinous black rice boiled with sugar and topped off with coconut milk, or savoury, like Chinese congee. Aside from water, milk is also used to make porridge, e.g. in the oat porridge that was the staple food in Scotland. The high starch content of porridge, and its ease of cooking, makes it very convenient for the cook and the consumer: it doesn't require elaborate effort, and it supplies abundant carbohydrates. Its soft, semisolid consistency makes it easy to eat, and partly explains its being fed to both very young children and very old people.
The above might serve to explain why porridge might become popular again: its versatility makes it an excellent base recipe on which to pile elaborations and additions, its reputation as poor-man's simple food is antithetical to highly-processed and industrially-complicated food choices that the modern consumer is inundated with, while its history might invoke wistful nostalgia of simpler times past or happy childhoods bespattered with lumpy porridge. Who knows, it might just be the next bubble tea.
12 March 2006
Fulminate
My baby left me for a blue banana,
my baby left me 'cause they're oh-so-rare.
She said, "well Brandons they're a dime a dozen,
but blue bananas I have none to spare."
my baby left me 'cause they're oh-so-rare.
She said, "well Brandons they're a dime a dozen,
but blue bananas I have none to spare."
11 March 2006
Some Things
A young Muslim girl's family in India is facing opposition from their local mosque committee because she practises classical Indian dance. From the article, a whole host of issues seem to be involved. Ostensibly, it is the Hindu roots and religious content of Indian dance that make the mosque committee unhappy, but gender might be another reason for their cold shoulder, since the girl not only performs well in dance, but is an excellent student in school. Furthermore, the committee's argument that the girl's family falls outside their mosque's locality might point to some sort of local conflict. Fortunately, her parents are supportive of her endeavour, and the girl herself has an optimistic outlook. It's sad that people's prejudices make them reject talent that they should be celebrating.
04 March 2006
Beware the Ides of March
In 11 days we shall be celebrating the 2050th anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. However, the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars means that the actual anniversary should be commemorated 13 days after the 15th of March, but why toy with tradition?
"Caesar Et tu, Brute? -- Then fall, Caesar!
Cinna Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.
Cassius Some to the common pulpits, and cry out
'Liberty, freedom and enfranchisment!'" -- Julius Caesar, iii.1
"Mark Antony Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
So let it be with Ceasar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious,
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it..." -- Julius Caesar, iii.2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4765882.stm
"No one is so strong as to be unperturbed by the unexpected." -- On the Gallic Wars, xi.39
"Caesar Et tu, Brute? -- Then fall, Caesar!
Cinna Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.
Cassius Some to the common pulpits, and cry out
'Liberty, freedom and enfranchisment!'" -- Julius Caesar, iii.1
"Mark Antony Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
So let it be with Ceasar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious,
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it..." -- Julius Caesar, iii.2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4765882.stm
"No one is so strong as to be unperturbed by the unexpected." -- On the Gallic Wars, xi.39
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