Mundane incidents in my life so far.

Last week, while fiddling to remove my earstuds (it hurt to press them against the phone receiver during long teleconferences), I dropped the backclip of one and failed to recover it. Now, I don't bother to wear earstuds to work anymore (well, not until the number of teleconferences decrease).

The glass piece also fell off my watch face for the second time since I've bought it (it's been 4.5 years but still). For an expensive Swiss watch, surely there should be better quality control than this? I brought it to the service centre, and it would be at least 3 months before I see it again.

Last evening, we went running again. I remembered 2 things from that run:
1) When I gasped after 8km, you turned and told me I could make it (for another 600m or so). I wasn't going to stop, but your words spurred me to sprint the last 100m.

2) I took you to eat XO crab bee hoon after the run, and we ran short of $2 for the meal. The coffeeshop lady was kind enough to waive the amount, and said we could repay her on our next run or when we were in the area.

And it's odd that I work downtown but still haven't ventured to check out the Great Singapore Sale. Maybe it's time for some retail therapy.

Writing a journal means that facing your ocean you are afraid to swim across it, so you attempt to drink it drop by drop.
- George Sand

If two people are in love, they can sleep on the blade of a knife.
- Edward Hoagland

You're the only one who's ever bought me a weapon. lol.

In years to come, skype would be blamed for keyboards full of spit.
- Anarchy, who still hasn't skyped

Today I had an eye infection, and wandered round the library squinting at book titles with my right eye half-closed. I must have been a bizarre sight to the other people browsing for books.

When I reached the J section, a guy turned to me and asked: "How many ways can you spell Joyce?". Taken aback, I replied "One". And somehow I felt obliged to spell it out to him, and I did.

How many ways can it be?

Amongst other reasons, I love you because you've never asked me why I wasn't able to instinctively do certain simple tasks. You just accepted that I couldn't and showed me how to, so I could imitate you and learn.

You have no idea what that means to me.

After we've watched the Fearless Freaks documentary, you decided to surprise me by buying the Zaireeka CDs.

Between the 2 of us, 3 hifi systems, a CD player, a laptop and an iPod, we managed to listen to all 4 CDs at once. The funny thing is, not only do the CDs need to be synchronised at the start of track 1, they also need to be synchronised at the start of every other track. So this is what we did for the entire length of the album.

I know it's hard to find someone who'll have the patience and inclination to do this musical experiment with me, so thank you. This won't be the last time you'll be listening to this album this way, you know. ;)

I followed your instructions and cooked my first ever dish yesterday, when 6 months of staying alone didn't even get me anywhere near this stage.

It's odd. Recently, I've started reading a blog which just as suddenly had disappeared. S: if you're still writing, will you consider dropping me an email on your new URL?

As for me, I've become less and less inclined to write. What is there to say? I don't think I'm treating people any differently than before. I'm still doing the same activities, but perhaps less frequently. The only difference is I'm just happy, but sometimes that's not what people want to hear.

The deepest thing I know is that I am living and dying at once, and my conviction is to report that self-dialogue.
- Stanley Kunitz, Poet Laureate

I've just found out from Dave that Kunitz has passed away. Sigh.

I'm in love with someone who can finish 6 feet of bubblegum in a day.

Today. You ran 16km while I ran 8. Still, you matched my pace for the distance we ran together. That was really nice. :)

The people are so friendly in Philippines that the security checks seem strangely out of place there:

The thorough check of vehicles, even down to the glove compartment.
The sign asking people to leave their firearms outside when they enter buildings.
The necessity to walk through a metal detector everytime I enter the hotel.
The need to show my plane ticket at the airport entrance, before I was allowed to enter the airport (and then being submitted to about 3-4 security checks thereafter).
The removal of my flip-flops for scanning at the airport.

Even so, I think it'll be interesting to visit this country and spend some time getting to know it.

We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.
- Carlos Castenada, mystic and author (1925-1998)

But how does one become a mystic?

Yesterday, I ran nearly 7km with you and this evening, I did a solo run of 8km.
Both times I ran along the canal, but tonight was probably the fastest I've run in a while.

It's either cos:
a) it's cooler to run at night
b) everyone else seems to be running faster, or
c) I'm secretly terrified of running in the dark (despite it being quite well lit)

Somehow I've managed to amass 11 containers for contact lenses though I only use a pair of contacts at any one time.

Everyday I'm learning something new about you, and it never ceases to amaze me.
Like the fact that you've read Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" before (and it's a bloody thick book).
Or how you're a somewhat gullible foodie ("Look, that stall says it's FAMOUS!").
Or how our laughter seems uniquely alike (you laugh like a young boy, while I laugh like a young girl).

In 2 days' time, it'll be 2 months since we've been together and I'll be out of the country on a short business trip.

I'll be glad to come back to you.

I was thinking about a PageRank algorithm for people, a kind of PersonRank.

If you know a lot of people but don't introduce them to one another, or if the people you know aren't introducing people back to you, then you'll suffer from a low PersonRank. But if you do and they do, you'll be able to score a higher PersonRank. And next time someone wants to locate a person, the social connector with the highest PersonRank will be the first to spring to mind right?

If I have the time, I may even be tempted to draw up a map of everyone I know and calculate my PersonRank. lol.

What fascinated me today:
Ian Rogers' explanations on "The Google Pagerank Algorithm and How It Works".

We ran together for the first time this morning, and all's right with the world.

Translation is the art of erasing oneself in order to speak in another's voice.
- David Cole

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.
- Leonard Cohen

I picked up 3 books from the library just now, and strangely, one of them doesn't seem to be sold on Amazon. They are:

1) John Womersley's "Single Professional Man"
Kiss-and-tell account of the mature-age dating scene, and the book I couldn't find on Amazon. Hmm.

2) James Surowiecki's "The Wisdom of Crowds"
Explores the idea that large groups of people are smarter than an elite few.

3) Eric Chase Anderson's "Chuck Dugan is AWOL"
Anderson's whimsical illustrations have appeared in the film "The Royal Tenenbaums" before, and I'm the last person to resist a book like this. Haha!

Tip-off from Tweewo:
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Now, how did this manage to slip past my radar? lol.