Torn library books

Yet another library book with torn out pages. Ugh. Every other book that I had borrowed from the library seems to have torn out pages. In this case, it was about 20 pages of photos of the Terracotta army and diagrams. In a previous case, it was a single page from a book about an American officer in Afghanistan who was mourning of the death of a single soldier under his charge. I had to go to a bookstore to read that one page. In yet another case, it was illustrations of Japanese infantry in World War II. What is wrong with the people here? This is appalling.

I have started on the new game Krater!

"Scientific evidence for God's existence is being claimed today by theists, many of whom carry respectable scientific or philosophical credentials. "He" who is neither a "she" nor an "it" supposedly answers prayers and otherwise dramatically affects the outcome of events. If these consequences are as significant as believers say, then the effects should be detectable in properly controlled experiments."

-- Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (draft: 2001), ch. 3

Nightmare mode completed

Diablo 3. I managed to slay Diablo on Nightmare mode last night. Since my wizard is level 49, I can't proceed to the Hell mode. I would need the wizard to be level 50 to do so. I guess I would have to grind for xp now.

And I still have to attend a wedding lunch after work tomorrow. I can't wait for some freedom. Free time.

Friday! Finally!

I will go run this evening. Heh.

Back from Junction 8 and the Bishan Library. Heh.

I shall visit Bishan Library during lunch and borrow a few volumes. Heheh.

I do need to sleep earlier. I should also paint earlier.

There is no point in being annoyed with the lost book from Book Depository or the customer service from Book Depository. I have placed a new order. Things do get lost in the mail.

It does look like the book from Book Depository is lost for good. Nothing that I can do.

Focus focus. Get the tasks done and I can go running this evening. And write my diary after. Perhaps paint too.

Losers

I was reminded of the idiot of a Hellboy recently. Haha. I wonder if he has imploded yet. He was pretty unstable in an emotional sense in all that time I knew him. He reminded me of a fat loser who went away.

It was finally time to get a new mobile. I had decided against anything from the evil empire, Apple Corporation. It is a matter of principle that I will not get any iproduct.

Two emails to respond to. How would I word them?

The start of a new week! Monday! WOO!

This weekend feels rather short. I didn't do enough. Friday night was nice as I did manage to draw quite a bit. I was too sleepy on Saturday afternoon and evening.

A nice drawing session at Portrait After Dark last night. Enjoyable!

Two drawings of demons uploaded.

A dreary afternoon.

A good 5 km run yesterday. I will run again today.

Wednesday! I should have gone running yesterday but I painted instead.

To read

“To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” 

― A.C. Grayling

Diablo defeated!

Diablo was easily defeated in the normal mode. Now, onto Nightmare and beyond.  It is getting a bit tedious.

The weekend was too short!

Arrogance

The very mention of the 'arrogance of man'. Isn't it very arrogant and presumptuous on the part of the person making the utterance to assume that he speaks for mankind? To place such a judgement on 'Man'?

Singapore International Piano Festival

I attended the Singapore International Piano Festival at the School of the Arts over the weekend. It was an enjoyable programme. I appreciated the programming and the pieces played. The venue was the School of the Arts, off Bras Barsa Road and Selegie Road. The current location was great. Last year, it was held at a hall in NUS and it was inaccessible and inconvenient and my little sister and I had given last year's recital a miss despite wanting to hear the pieces in the programme.

The concert hall of the School of the Arts where the recital was held was splendid, great acoustics. The hall was somewhat hot. Each of the three locations which I had sat at was hot too. I could hear a lady beside me muttering to her companion about the heat and we were seated at row A.

I attended the recitals given by Khatia Buniatishvili, Chiyan Wong, Stephen Hough.

Khatia Buniatishvili
LISZT Sonata in B minor
LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1
CHOPIN Three Scherzi (1, 2, 3)
STRAVINSKY Three Movements from Petroushka

Chiyan Wong
SCHUMANN Kreisleriana, op. 16
BÜLOW-LISZT Dantes Sonnet 'Tanto gentile e tanto onesta' S. 479
LISZT Années de pèlerinage -
Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata , S. 161/7
Au Lac du Wallenstadt, S. 160/2
BELLINI-LISZT-WONG Paraphrase der Hexaméron Variationen des "Marsch der Puritaner"

Stephen Hough
BEETHOVEN Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight'
HOUGH Sonata for Piano (Broken Branches)
SCRIABIN Sonata No. 5
LISZT Sonata in B minor

I enjoyed the recitals and I was immensely delighted by the choice of the pieces in the programme this year.

Mars Polaris

Tangerine Dream's 'Mars Polaris'.

Diablo 3

I finally got my Diablo 3 game a week ago from Wilson at Epic Gear in Sim Lim Square. It is compelling and engrossing like the previous Diablo 2 game. I have also bought the guidebook. As Lynx had pointed out, the data in it was obsolete as soon as the game was released and patched. I knew that but the information that I was looking for would not be that radically changed anyway.

Are you playing it?

Gold Rush: Treasures of the Ukraine

I am thinking of going for the Gold Rush, Treasures of the Ukraine at the National Museum on the 4th August, Saturday. I will be bringing my sketchbook there. Timing will probably be at 3 pm to 4 pm. I will confirm details later. $11.00 admission. I want to sketch ceremonial armour and weapons. Anyway, it is a free and easy thing, when you arrive, just go in. My interest is, of course, the steppes cultures, arms and armour and more. No, we won't be travelling in a group and cracking jokes, it is closer to a solitary affair. Feel free to join us. Usual sketching follows after the visit.

We will see about the maritime museum in the near future, possibly the week after.

"The belief in supernatural forces remains to this day a yoke on the neck of humanity, but at least Thales made it possible, for those of us who wish it, to be free of that yoke."

-- Vic Stenger, Physics and Psychics (1990) p. 83. Thales (625?-546? BCE) was a Greek philosopher who was the first to posit a godless universe that runs entirely on natural laws.