Four reasons to be angry.

1. US just lost to Brazil, in heartbreaking fashion. I was so hoping for a US-Mexico final.

2. National Geographic reports that Singapore's biodiversity has been ravaged. Paints an awfully bleak picture for the effects of rising population everywhere.

3. The comments have stopped working again.

4. Ice cream, my newest kick, is really bad for you, according to a new study by the people who previously ruined Chinese and Italian food for everyone.

Playing around with the Terraserver web site. Here's an overview of where I grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ, age zero to ten, and a guide to the marked points:
1. Our house.
2. The church parking lot that I first rode a bike without training wheels.
3. The church (Pope Pius X) where we went every Sunday, and I had my first communion.
4. I used to catch big preying mantises here. I had an awesome insect collection.
5. I caught a ton of cool butterflies here, at a larkspur bush.
6. This used to be a field. One time playing softball(?) here, where if I remember correctly, my sister ended up with stitches after a collision.
7. My friend Dale's house.
8. My friend Terry's house (I think).
9. Here I knocked over a small tree in the yard of my friend Donny, and had to work it off in their garden.
10. Mean Mr. Taylor's house. Once our kickball went on his lawn and he took it and put it in his garage.

Up the street from the new pad is a hawker center and a wet market. Marjorie and I walked up there today for dinner.

I was hoping she could see the wet market, but it must just be a weekend thing. I scoped it out last Saturday, and it's a trip. Everywhere is fish -- whole fish to cook up, fish heads, aquarium fish, prawns, crabs... A bucket of dead squid in their own ink. And, a container with about thirty live bullfrogs. Also they have meat, fruits, and vegetables galore.

Tonight we found the grounds of a "bird club", which probably explains all the caged birds we see hanging outside area houses. Apparently, the old men bring their caged birds to this site in the evenings and hang them next to each other so they can sing to each other. They have larger cages in the back containing numerous birds. Interesting.

Dinner was a decent chicken murtabak and a Nasi Lemak that we tried unsuccessfully to order without anchovies...

At last, a photo from Sydney. I'm looking more and more like my dad every day, it seems... We have other photos, but they weren't taken with the digital, so this is all you get right now.

Nature walk. We went back to the Fort MacRitchie reservoir today, in an effort to check out the tree-top canopy walkway we recently learned they've set up. Unfortunately, the tree-top walk was about a 4.5 km walk in, so we only just walked some of the other nature trails. New bird: the terminally drab Olive-Winged Bulbul. Also saw another Greater Racquet-Tailed Drongo, some swifts, a kingfisher, a (water?) monitor lizard, a lot of turtles, and a lot of these guys. They weren't that happy to see us, it seems; they kept dropping sticks on us. Just one would've been a coincidence; after the third, we figured we ought to move on.

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest results have been posted. This is the contest where the object is to come up with the worst possible opening line for a novel. I was going to enter this year, but I couldn't firm up my entry in time. Next year maybe. There's some good ones this year; as usual, they aren't the ones that won.

Unemployment sucks! Not that I expect anyone to be sympathetic. I was not fired, I quit. And even if I'd stayed with my job I'd be idle now due to the summer break. I don't handle the removal of all structure from my life well. But, now that Mark has his employment pass and my dependent pass is days behind, my days of idleness are numbered. As soon as I get my pass I'm going to look into to some employment options and sign up for some classes. There's an interesting night photography course on offer at the photographic society and some Indian cooking classes at the American Women's Association. As for the job, I may sub at my old school (the pay is good without the responsibility for planning), but what I'd really like to do is find my way back to early intervention. First stop, the Autism Research Group which is advertising a need for teachers. Wonder if they'd want someone part time (full-time Autism work takes a really special person, I'm maybe half-way there, therefore half-time capable)?

Random observation. If you were dropped here (by the hand of the Astronaut?) in Singapore, at some random place, within your frame of vision there would likely be:

Ten highrise apartment buildings

Twenty people

Thirty trees

Five cars

Five mynah birds

Two ravens

No litter

Birthday dinner. We just got back from our favorite Thai restaurant (Diandin Leluk), and again, we talked about it the whole ride home. This time, though, we talked about how disappointing it was. They must've changed chefs. We are so bummed.

During dinner we were also accosted by a manic, mostly-toothless man who walked up to our table and engaged us in a conversation that went something like this:

Him: You are Americans?
Me: Uh...
Him: From America?
Me: We, uh, live in Singapore.
Him: But you are Americans? They are friends with Cuba now, yes?
Me: I guess...
Marjorie: Not really...
Him: They are friends, and Jimmy Carter went to visit with them?
Us: ...
Him: They also have great music there, huh? [Imitates a trumpet player]
Us: ...

He left, finally. Not sure what that was all about.

Marjorie got me the new White Stripes CD, another CD by the Eels, a Ben Franklin biography (I've been on a biography kick lately), and a new shirt I like very much.

Aw, shucks. Yes, my 28th year was pretty crazy. Let's hope my 29th is even more so! *

I just, at long last, picked up my employment pass, making me an official resident here. That's a nice birthday present. I'm 2 Legit 2 Quit!


* Note: Figures presented may not represent actual age.

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Dear Mark(ie)
Happy Birthday to you!!
Hip Hip hooray!
Hip Hip hooray!
Hip Hip hooray!

Last three lines courtesy of our trip Down Under (that's how they do it there).

Happy Birthday Baby! It's been quite a year, hasn't it?

Words of wisdom:

BILL MOYERS: Which is funnier? CROSSFIRE or HARD BALL?

JON STEWART: CROSSFIRE or HARD BALL? Which is funnier? Which is more soul-crushing, you mean? Both are equally dispiriting in their -- the whole idea that political discourse has degenerated into shows that have to be entitled Crossfire and Hard Ball. And, you know, I'm Gonna Beat Your Ass or whatever they're calling them these days is-- mind-boggling.

Crossfire, especially, is completely an apropos name. It's what innocent bystanders are caught in when gangs are fighting. And-- it just boggles my mind that that's given a half hour, an hour a day to-- I don't understand how issues can be dissented-- from the left and from the right as though-- even cartoon characters have more than left and right. They have up and down.

Read on. Very funny stuff, and wise. I miss The Daily Show. We do get it once a week, but it's not enough...

Ouchy. More soccer follies. Marjorie came out to the game with me today, and got to witness me block a full-on shot with the worst part of your body that you can block a shot with. The sort of block that leaves you rolling on ground in a fetal position, hands cupped... I was able to keep playing, fortunately, but I'm still a little tender. We again beat a team that totally outplayed us, so bully for us defenders. I played like hell though.

New birds spotted: a pair of brown-capped woodpeckers, and a flock of Asian glossy starlings, who seem to be our new neighbors...

Blog recommendations. Marjorie and I have both been enjoying Eeksy Peeksy, a beautiful and often moving blog written by a man who writes like I wish I could.

Also of note is Borneo Chela, the blog of an American student doing ecological research across the water from us in Borneo. The best place to learn about tree shrew sex and how to care for your stick insects.

Lastly, check out the blog of Bin Gregory, an American who converted to Islam and also lives in Borneo. Having an intermediary who speaks your language really can help you learn a lot about a religion, and a culture.

Seems as though the whale we saw off Bondi was probably a humpback whale, not a right whale. It's the humpback's migration time. I've seen whales in Boston and many dolphins off the coast of Florida and South Carolina. It's always a thrill to see these amazing animals in the ocean.

I'm one of those sickos who loves to fly, and the flight back was a very interesting one. We passed directly over the famous Uluru (formerly Ayer's Rock), but it wasn't until we were already well past that I noticed our flight path took us right over it. Bummer. North and west from there is some serious desert. There was nothing -- not a house, not a road, nothing -- for about 400 miles. Drawing on their most imaginative thinkers, the Aussies have named this the Great Sandy Desert. (The name is even more embarassing when you learn that the region is almost devoid of sand.) We flew off of Australia near Derby, then south under Bali and Lombok (we could see the volcanos again), over Java, and up the Javan Sea, over very many small uninhabited islands and atolls.

Entertainment on international flights just gets better and better. Every chair had its own little video screen, as is now the norm, but now there were over 30 movies to choose from, and you could pause and rewind all you want. In addition there were tv shows, video games, news, and a do-it-yourself playlist for music where you could pick songs from about fifty different albums. I can't wait to read back on this in ten years and laugh at how paltry it is. And I'm still waiting for the free in-flight internet access.

Back from Sydney. It was nice. I really wish we'd had a few more days there, and not just because Death Cab for Cutie are playing there on Friday.
The walk yesterday from Bondi to Cogee Beach was a bird geek's paradise. We saw lots of new (to us) species of Australian Birds, including Cockatoos, King Parrots, some kind of Cormorant, some type of honeyeater, some willy wagtails, fairy wrens, and some beefed up mynahs and magpies much bigger than the ones we have in Singapore.
The water was gorgeous as well and we saw some kind of whale (Southern Right Whale perhaps) right off the beach at Bondi where people were surfing.
Sydney's a nice place, it reminded me a bit of Boston with milder weather and without all the colleges.

We survived the bridge walk -- it was a lot less strenuous or scary than we expected. It was pretty cool, mostly in the way that for all my life, whenever I've driven over a suspension bridge, I've always wondered what it would be like to be able to climb up the supports. A bit of fantasy fulfillment, there, but I'm not sure it was worth the price. Fantastic view, if nothing else. We have pictures we'll scan in when we get home.

Tomorrow we're going to walk the trail along the cliffs down around the famous Bondi Beach. We talked about seeing a rugby match but apparently they only go on on the weekends.

Weird musical coincidence, along the lines of the Christmas/Ho Chi Minh City/Clash one six months ago -- Elvis Costello has a song with the Brodsky quartet that goes:

Care of St. Ignatus House
Willoughby Drive
Parramatta, New South Wales
This fifth day of July

Parramatta's right up the road, and the fifth was just the other day while we were here. Wonder if there's a St. Ignatius House on Willoughby Drive.

Greetings from Down Under! I felt a bit superior for about a second about traveling to three continents in one week, but then remembered that Mark had (again) bested me years earlier on his journey to Cape Town, South Africa, by way of London. Ah well....
Sydney is lovely and cold (about 50 degrees Farenheit) a very nice change from S'pore. The city is, overall, much more European feeling than I had anticipated. It's nice; people are polite, the skyline is pretty, lots of homeless though, atleast compared to S'pore where there are practically none.
We've taken in the aquarium, zoo, views, and toured the CBD and Rocks areas. Still have the Harbour Bridge climb ahead of us, and hopefully we'll make it out to Bondi Beach. The plan for tonight is to take in some good live music and Mod Oz cuisine (maybe eat some Kangaroo).
The whole time I've been here I've been assessing the city by "could I live here?" standards, and I'd say, so far, it makes the cut. Lots of local bands and international acts touring through (something sorely lacking in S'pore), good public transportation, nice pubs, four seasons with mild winters (the days are really short though now, sun goes down about 5pm). Many of the good qualities of Singapore (safe, not U.S. and thereby different, interesting wild life) and many other things S'pore lacks (bands, good beer, cold weather, more polite people).
We saw an anti Iraqi war protest on the fourth of July. It was anti George Bush and anti John Howard. While I agree with the protesters and their cause, I felt odd, almost ashamed, after seeing them walk by. I'm with the Dixie Chicks, I'm ashamed that man is my president.

Space! Our new pad has space! We spent our first night there last night, and slept well. Apart from no hot water in the kitchen (it has a separate heater, which doesn't work), all seems fine. There's a convenience store, a butcher shop, a cafe, and a small restaurant as part of the complex, which will be nice.

Transportation will be the continuing headache, though. It took me 45-50 minutes to get into work today -- a longish walk, a long wait for a bus, a short bus ride, and a long subway ride. We're going to have to figure something out.