"Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum" (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.) - Ambrose Bierce

Random Playlist Song: Trevor Pinnock - The English Concert and Choir: Handel - Messiah - The People That Walked In Darkness (bass, air)

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.


Random Trivia bit: The term 'arabesque' is of French origin and derives from the elaborate interlacing designs which are a prominent feature of the art and architecture of Arabia (some of these are similar to Celtic ornamentation of the kind found in the Book of Kells), as well as of other Middle Eastern countries.

The curvelinear lines of the arms and legs in the ballet position known as "arabesque" (a position in ballet in which the dancer stands "en pointe" on one foot and raises the other perpendicularly behind her) were apparently also thought to be suggestive of the Orient.

In music, the arabesque is a short, ornate, rather whimsical composition (similar to a bagatelle), usually for piano; some notable examples are by Schumann and Debussy.

In literature, the term generally applies to an intricate, fanciful, and grandiloquent style of writing (Edgar Allen Poe's 2 volume collection of stories, published in 1839, was entitled "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque").

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KOTOR 2 (Knights of the Old Republic 2) is going to be out for the Xbox in less than a week, but I'll have to wait 2 months for the PC version. Among other things, it means it'll come out during term time.

Damn M$!

I shall have to content myself with monitoring StarWarsKnights.com religiously.

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Someone: i got damn pissed [off]. and everytime i'm pissed [off], i go to ur blog HAHAHAHAHAHA

and then i read stupid things, and then i stop being pissed for awhile
which actually means, i visit ur blog v often, considering how often i get pissed

Me: I can set up a therapy service

Someone: therapy? xiaxue does better la
she'll belittle u so much, u'll just be so small
there'll be no space for self-pity

kimberly: what abt when I write stuff that pisses you off? then worse what haha

Someone: oh, if that happens i go to xiaxue
then i go to mr brown if all else fails

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The madness of Singaporean youth about Singapore Idol used to puzzle me, till I realised that their energies are diverted to this manner of pursuits because while in other countries they'd be doing things like hiking (and other types of physical activities), smoking pot, spraying grafitti, taking part in demonstrations or engaging in political activism.

However, since they can't partake of those sort of activities here, they channel their energies to religion and Singapore Idol.


After hearing the 2 Singapore Idol finalists sing, I am aghast, for they both suck. De gustibus non est disputandum.


Someone: "little ah lians tYpInG liKe tHiS should get their handphones confiscated. damn... why couldn't they have SI during the Os or something? hurr."

Someone else: "Cos then YJC would have an entry score of 28 pts"

Yet another person: "The Powers That Be really ought to kill of any idiot who tYpEs liKe tHiS or sPeL lYk dIs because it's freaking annoying and it should be banned!!!"

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My father is being paranoid again.

Somehow he thinks that my programs, such as Soulseek, are responsible for the spate of troubles plaguing the desktop, which is currently existing in an undead state - definitely not fully alive, yet not quite dead either. This ignores, of course, the fact that even after a clean format, with no programs installed except Windows XP, the desktop was already screwy and BSODing like nobody's business.

He claims that this is like a smoker going off cigarettes but still getting lung cancer. As if programs are capable of spoiling hardware (peeking and poking being a singular exception, as far as I know), and as if any software author would be crazy enough to do such a thing (and ignoring the fact that other people have no problems using those same programs).

When I pointed this out to him, he said that he wanted to be "safe", so no extraneous programs shall be installed on a hypothetical future desktop. I said he might as well call in the exorcist and feng shui master (Master Chew comes to mind), but the inconsistency of his logic did not faze him.

Therefore, in the spirit of being safe, given my seeming ability to screw up the computers I use, I shall not touch a hypothetical future desktop in any circumstances, not even to install software or do troubleshooting.

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I Know What You Did Last Raya (Malay, U)

Directed by: Prof. Madya A. Razak Mohaideen

Starring: Erra Fazira, Azleen (Senario), Mazlan (Senario), Waheeda, Zamarul Hisham, Khatijah Tan, Eddy Yus

Genre: Comedy

Childhood friends Fazli, Lan, Syahida, Yassir and Mira are now young professionals living in the big city. The night before Raya, they travel back to their hometown together in Lan's Mercedes-Benz. Unfortunately, their journey is cut short when they accidentally run down an old man in white and his goat, killing both. After clearing any sign of evidence they continue their journey home vowing never to reveal what happened. But strange things start happening on Raya morning, and the five start to panic. When they return to the city, each of them begin to experience eerie events – someone is trying to kill them.


When I first heard of this show, I thought that the secret and sinful thing that they did last Raya was eating when they were supposed to be fasting.

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In Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2004 list (how often each word was looked up), while 'Blog' comes in in 1st place, 'Cicada' gets 6th place, and - get this - 'Defenestration' is 10th.

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Today's User Friendly Strip:

Rayn> hello sid060 how r u
sid060> Fine. Are the "a" "o" "y" and "o" keys missing from your keyboard?
Rayn> no why
sid060> Why can't you type out the words "are" and "you" instead of using "r" and "u"?
Rayn> i don't type very fast
sid060> there's something to be said for using both hands to type