Terracotta Warriors at the Asian Civilisations Museum

I was there on a Friday afternoon with Jerry and we drew the a few of the warriors.

Argh! She had to click on the Trojan. Now, the system is unusable. Oh well. I can't restore it like previously. I had told her time and again that the emails from this source contain malware for the last two years. Nothing I can do now.

Summon Wilson!

Monday! The weekend was too short!

Night Festival

I was at the Night Festival with Kun Rong, Jerry, Amelia and Leos on Friday night. We missed the main event unfortunately.

I am going to go to town soon and find Jerry.

What a dreary Friday afternoon!

I want to go home and read my book on naval gunnery!

Distraction

I am terribly distracted by CivWorld, no thanks to Siu Hean and Alistair.

Oomphatico

Oomphatico. What a name. I had been there once some years ago and had had a good meal. I shall go there again one day.

Oh no! I hear from Siu Hean that the food used to be good. Oh-oh.

Drawing in Hong Kong

I should start making plans for my next trip. I would like to visit Hong Kong again. I would like to draw the buildings there. Perhaps, I shall go later this year, possibly in the November and December period.

Central allocation

I was reading an old article in Bloomberg Markets about Venezuela during lunch. The striking thing about the socialist petrostate is the bottlenecks when it comes to allocating the petrodollar billions. The delays in the central allocation of resources seem key. The ability to react to changing conditions, the ability to get information.

Entrenched

It is not unlikely that upon reading of what I had wrote, they would become more embittered and more entrenched in their positions. Their ego and emotions would not allow them to dictate otherwise even if the objective reality is otherwise. There will come a few rounds of cognitive dissonance and rationalisation and a new shaky edifice would emerge with howls of accusations of naivety.

The end of Borders

It was not unexpected. Six years ago or so, the selection had gotten a lot poorer. Books from small presses were suddenly no longer carried. The more esoteric histories and military histories had stopped coming. What replaced them were vampire romance porn, the likes of Twilight and such.

Then, the music section stopped carrying the smaller independent labels. It was Madonna and Lady Gaga everywhere.

Borders had deteriorated steadily then. When it first opened thirteen years ago, it was a fresh breath of air, being the first decent bookstore on our shores, the range was staggering then.

I have had many happy memories of that place. I had browsed and bought books. On late nights on weekends, it was a joy to be able to go there, browse and read. I remember the Borders Bistro where I have had pasta on numerous nights. I had met many friends there and we browsed. Former girlfriends, new friends, close friends and more.

I mourn for the old Borders.  Such wonderful memories.

Ricciotti at China Square

I have always liked Ricciotti at China Square. Fabulous desserts and good food. Last Friday, I had wanted to go there but I had ended up drawing and painting at the Hanis Café with Tay Lim Lim at the National Library. It was an evening of meeting people by chance. Tia walked by as did Joy later. Three accidentally meetings.

Perhaps, I will go there this Friday evening. Sketch, draw, read and think. It is practically deserted there in the evenings and on weekends.

Liberals

Those, who often claim to be liberal and seemingly display liberal attitudes, aren't. They, instead, harbour populist attitudes, often with extreme conservatism. Reactionary? Probably to a certain extent.

Disappointment

I am disappointed in a number of my friends and acquaintances (I had expected more), I think they chose to be deliberately blinded and had use a few sleight of hand methods to rationalise to themselves their choices. I doubt if I can convince them and I won't. Perhaps, in the fullness of time and distance, they can see it for what it is. Likely, they will forget the whole thing. Nothing more that I can say.

Rude girl

The girl on the telephone this morning was rude and sarcastic. I told her that I would not be talking to someone who was incapable of being civil and I ended the call.

The National Geographic Café is a nice place to spend an afternoon and evening sketching away. It is cosy and rather empty.

I was also drawing at the Tokyo Deli Café on Friday evening. The iced chocolate was okay but pricey. I wonder about the coffee. I don't know about the place. Perhaps, I will return, the location is convenient.

A nice weekend of drawing. I didn't draw enough. I will try to find time to draw more this week.

Mainly, that would be to summon the energy and find the mood.

Xenophobia

I wonder what happened to tolerance in Singapore. Xenophobia seems to be common these days. Ugly tribalism with people wrapping themselves around the national flag figuratively.

This does not bode well. I do hope that things do not become worse.

Undercurrents

Things move. You wonder why. Is there a rationale? 

The disengagement. The concerted rush to agree? Behind the scenes?

Me! I disconnect from you.

It becomes immaterial. New horizons, new vistas. New ground to explore, new sojourns into the unknown.

Invisible

Do you sometimes get the sense that you are invisible? It is a strange feeling. One can be physically present and yet, somehow, one's existence can be affirmed only by that of the very people around.