Sunday, April 30, 2006

Elliot Yamin


You're in ad nauseaum territory when you begin to blog about American Idol. But I just have to -- especially when in this season there is Elliot Yamin.

Serious talent.

Everyone knows this guy can sing and he's a slow burner indeed. This number in my blog is a great example of his artistry -- it speaks volume. He's so good that I'm not even sure the bulk of American voters get him.

Friday, April 28, 2006

No Topic

Woke up feeling weird. Can't quite pin this state of mind and hence this entry.

You'd normally recognise any stream of thought and this is what INTJs always do [me, at least] -- but this morning attempts to monitor the inner dialogue in me and try to match it to what I want it to be seemed vacant.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Deepthroat


These days going to the doctor means having to consume stuff you never heard of -- just to get well. I didn't know some of them were so pretty-looking like sweets but the appearance can be deceiving as most of them taste horrid. I actually had to lace my water with a bit of sugar to help me gulp these things. I don't know if that's adviseable and I'm such a chicken shit when it comes to these things.

It's strange that my old folks can down a glass of 'ubat periok' [that's traditional medicinal herbs boiled in water] with such ease and here I am gagging at the slightest touch of paracetamol down my throat.

Anyways I'm not too sure why the doctor gave me too much medicine, it's just a common flu damnit! The medical clerk did inform me of what these were for but I guess I wasn't paying much attention. The prospect of getting a 2-day MC was all I wanted to savour at that point of time.

And I was not too happy with the list of medicine too and so I googled them. I love my family doctor you know but I just want to be sure. You all can sue him on my behalf for malpractice if I don't make it ok?

The orange and red capsule is the anti-biotics Amoxil. It is used to treat a range of bacterial infections. These may be infections of the chest (pneumonia), tonsils (tonsillitis), sinuses (sinusitis), urinary and genital tract, skin and fleshy tissues.

The pink one is Dexchlorpheniramine or market name PolaraX. Dexchlorpheniramine is used to treat sneezing, runny nose, itching, watery eyes, hives, rashes, itching, and other symptoms of allergies and the common cold. I think this is the first time I'm having these.

There are two white pills you see in the pic. One is the humble paracetamol and the other I think is an antacid of sorts -- I'm not too sure, plus I'm supposed to chew them.

The last one, the white and blue capsule is Napan -- a mefenamic acid that is commonly used to relive pain particularly associated with menstruation. Yup that's what I got from google unless I'm now too groggy to type or read accurately. Geez... now I'm bleeding?

Whatever it takes to cure me la doctor.

'night.

Monday, April 17, 2006

This Can't Be Good, Can It?

Thought of hitting the sheets after the previous entry.

But Britney sings this song and I just have to change the radio-button. The first few bars on the piano -- now that's haunting stuff. A pretty depressing but cathartic song if you could imbue your personal experiences onto it.

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Mood: Self-indulgent, though I prefer the Malay word shiok sendiri.


This can't be good -- blogging past 11pm on a Monday night.

Merapi



Recent increase in the volcanic activities of Mount Merapi has prompted a volcanologist to raise the alert status on the volcano from vigilant to standby. The alert level is just below the most serious warning -- beware -- that usually precedes an eruption.

I really hope the folks living on the slopes of that volcano heed this warning. You got to love these people, you know especially the farmers who work the land for frugal subsistence. Though Merapi is in central Java -- I've seen folks like them up close working the padi fields when I was in Lombok. Images like that tend to stay in my mind forever and keep me grounded.

'Night.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

I Just Pimped My Daughters

There is so much write-up on who's who in the GE and how SM fielded questions [admirably or not; depends on how you look at it] from a bunch of young voters. Same story. Same old record. Yawn.

But the news, which derailed me from all that election buzz was the sordid story of incest.

There was this monster who raped his own daughters -- with help from his wives. I have to admit I was really uncomfortable reading that story in the Straits Times, especially so when it reported how the monster subverted parts of the Quran to justify incest.

Equally shocking too when I read how the monster's wives played pimp by cajoling their daughters to heinous acts. Motherfuc@@s! These people ought to be shot!

Remember some years ago there was this phony religious teacher who had many wives, one of them was a polytechnic student? Apparently many still find sharing a husband acceptable. I know I'm threading a delicate line here what with the Quran says that a Muslim man is allowed to have four wives at the same time and I certainly know the social context, history and implications when such a dictum falls in place during the Prophet's time and era.

I just find it hard to find any polygamous marriages that I respect these days.

Ok ok ... just to clarify things here and do a bit of education for readers because what good of this blog if it fails to do its part to inform, right? Lol! Anyways...

The Quran says, ''marry only one". The context of this phrase is the following verse from Surah Nisa -- "Marry woman of your choice in twos' threes' or fours' but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly, [with them], then only one" [Al-Qur'an 4:3]

Before the Qur'an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and many men had scores of wives, some even hundreds. The word Harem comes to mind here.

Islam put an upper limit of four wives. Islam gives a man permission to marry two, three or four women, only on the condition that he deals with them justly.

In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says, "It is very difficult to be just and fair between women". [Al-Qur'an (4:129)]

Therefore polygyny is not a rule but an exception.

Many people are under the misconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to marry more than one wife, and sadly that monster's story only perpetuates this.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

April is the Cruellest Month ...

... and I don't mean that in a T. S. Elliot obscure, hopeless, elegiac, soul-searching, moral decay kind of way haha -- I just think nights here in Singapore are gettin' hotter and more humid than ever. The fan in my bedroom has been working endlessly each night -- I won't be surprised if it emits smokes of 'burnout' one of these days.



On nights like these I wish I'd know how it feels like to be a seal pup on the polar caps. Just look at that face! All praise to God!