A very lovely friend of mine, M From Japan, was so concerned about how I spend my moments of unwanted ennui (and there is no shortage of this) that she air-mailed me solutions to such predicaments. I no longer have any problems fending off feelings of boredom, and I owe it all to the mechanization of simple moving parts encased in plastic molds that resemble fowl, bovine, and a bottle of soda.

Posted on September 25th, 2007 by Antiguit

Something sinister (and mildly sadistic) is afoot on the floor of my dormitory: taped onto a wall of the communal bathroom is a giddy cry to competition. The competition is called Survivor: Goldfish. It calls for the girls on the floor to purchase goldfish and look after it.

This is where things take a strange turn: the competition organizers must be a morbid bunch, because typed and underlined for emphasis is the phrase “Keep yourself and your goldfish alive and healthy for the semester [to win].” It might as well have said “99% OF YOU ARE TERRIBLE AT REARING FISH. WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT SAYS ABOUT YOU AS HUMAN BEINGS?”

Speaking of sinister, there is a picture of Robert Patrick in Policeman T-1000 garb watching me work on my desktop. Despite the malice in his eyes, I cannot help but admire his good, wholesome man-ness. I can only parallel this attraction to my feelings about the shark in Jaws (not that I would ever make out with a shark; that is, unless it is a shape-shifting, Robert Patrick-resembling, mimetic poly-alloy in disguise).

Posted on September 18th, 2007 by Antiguit

Was cleaning out my bookmarks the other day, and thought I’d share some of my more interesting finds for everyone to enjoy:

  • In The Footsteps of Joseph Rock: a weblog containing beautiful, beautiful, black and white visuals of Tibet as taken by explorer Joseph Rock, and then by his 21st-century counterpart. Goes to show that some places should never be touched by words like modernization.
  • UN Peacekeeping: a lovely, if not romantically sugarcoated, photographic archive showcasing what peacekeeping could be. The web page is very poorly maintained (last updated in 1998!), but perhaps it is simply keeping in line with UN habits.
  • Personal Stories: some people would say that war/conflict reporters are an entirely different breed of human beings. These are tales from the men and women who have no qualms about standing in the line of fire to get the story right so we don’t have to.
  • The Speech Accent Archive: an indispensable resource for sociology or linguistic enthusiasts, or simply a wonderful reference tool for those who want to adopt a new accent for the purposes of picking-upping, swindling, or prank-calling (in no particular order).
  • Jakarta 2012: a very cheeky and humorous short film about life in Jakarta set in the future, but taken during the flood-flavored month of February 2007.
  • Destination Jakarta!: “Goddamn, trust an Indonesian to bring a knife to a gunfight!”

Is anyone doing anything exciting this weekend? Share the slovenly spoils coming your way over the next two days!

Posted on September 14th, 2007 by Antiguit

In the short history of my university career, I cannot recall one professor who has managed a halfway-decent verbalization of my full name as presented on the class list. They perform the same rituals when their eyes fall upon my name: a pause to do a double take, a frown, another pause, a halting attempt on the first few letters, and then a sad grapple with the rest of it as their nervous voices fade off. The butchering of my polysyllabic name by the Anglo-Saxon tongue takes place on the first day of every class at every brand new semester. I thought I had endured the worst of the worst, until Tuesday happened.

“Bah-BEE Raham-AH-da-h’AKH-nee Soh-wee-ha-rah-TOH-noe.” He cringes and gives me an apologetic look. “How badly did I mangle your name?”

I think about lying through my teeth to save him the grief of attempts at proper enunciation (I like to believe generosity is one of my better characteristics). His rendition of my name was dreadfully tragicomic and, needless to say, worthy of a place in one of those awful movies about errant college-bound high schoolers. “It could have been worse,” I say unconvincingly, before slipping back into the sullen reserve of one who will continue to bear the burden of my mother’s drug-induced folly.

Posted on September 5th, 2007 by Antiguit

Things I could go for right now:

- Kuching kolo mee with bak chor and char siew
- Japanese chicken katsu curry
- Tuna and salmon sashimi

Things I could definitely go for fight now:

- Foot reflexology
- Black Russian
- Long Island Iced Tea

Things that made me smile when I was upset:

- Science Creative Quarterly
- McSweeney’s
- The BBC

Things that upset me in the first place:

- The choice of “music” plaguing my floormates
- The two days wasted on unpacking
- Loud freshmen

Things that amuse me:

- Overload/ Sugababes
- When The Lights Go Out/5ive
- Bootie Call/ All Saints

Posted on September 3rd, 2007 by Antiguit