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Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - 01:03 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

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Back In A Piece

"There are three kinds of humour. Parody, where you make fun of people who are smarter than you. Satire, where you make fun of people who are richer than you. And burlesque, where you do both while taking off your clothes."

- P.J. O'Rourke, The Official Filthy Rich Handbook


That's the ICT done with. A few things learnt this time:

  • No-frills Nokia 1280s (~S$30) are surprisingly refreshing to use - and last a long time
  • Crickets (at least, that's what I thought they were) are designed such that they can lick all their legs (like hamsters, come to think of it)
  • Boots of the same batch tend to disintegrate all together, and a passable field fix is with, what else, trusty black tape (or green at a stretch)
  • They got the new pixelated uniform right - it was fairly comfortable even when worn for days at a stretch (not by choice)
  • Time and freedom is precious...

I made an especial effort to remember more names this go, something that doesn't come naturally; I'm more a believer of getting acquainted over (a long) time. Card games do help, more specifically bridge and Saboteur, for which I had my previously lukewarm opinion turned around. Suggestion for low-profile saboteurs: discarding is often a wise move.

The army is also a place where one can sample various cultures, including musical taste (heard at full blast while squeezed inside a platoon-mate's car; half expected him to drift around the corners):


Conteo! Uno-Dos-Tres-Cuatro/Marchando mi combo forma un alboroto
[N.B. Translation for you lazy people]

Got to say it's catchy.

I suppose the local equivalent is Super Import Nights and the like, where men (there's no gender restriction, but it just turns out so) united by an encompassing love of photographing parabolic curves gather and make merry. Better that than fanning unnecessary flames. The late (married) driver was unfortunate in a way, though - Ferraris just have something about them that indiscriminately attracts hot young students in the wee hours of the morning, which may be part of the reason for the late Mr. Fish's vendetta towards them.

As is my usual custom when coming across a new artist, I delved into his body of work, and thought something sounded familiar in Taboo. If my ears are right, the refrain is largely the same as that in Stereo Love, and On The Floor for that matter - turns out it's an adaptation of an old Bolivan folk song, Llorando se fue, or alternatively the lambada, a Brazilian dance. Turns out that there's indubitably nothing new in this world.

Amusingly, Mr. Robo read that as the lambda (was never big on the study of programming languages themselves myself), while Mr. Ham read it as the eponymous profanity.


Boss cat demonstrates the attitude
(Source: Facebook)


I was happy enough on Friday that I even rated the cookhouse food as "great", and the locally-sourced books had also arrived, but most importantly it was notification of paper acceptance day. With the barest of trembles, I logged into the conference management system...

Undisclosed.

Hmm. Was that bad? I had no idea.


Saturday

Days of waking at or before seven (lying with boots on on the ground and without socks for gloves isn't particularly conductive to sleep) caused me to wake in the morning, and as I was clearing my backlog, Gmail Notifier popped up with a message:

Decision on ICPR 2012 submission 1707

Steadying myself, I started reading:

...We are pleased to inform you that the paper

Submission number: 1707
Title [snip]
Authors: Yong San Gilbert Lim*, [my supervisors]

has been accepted as Oral presentation.


Well then, it was the best start I could have hoped for. Two more to go then! It was all quite fun, really.

Morale at a high, I then went on a daytrip to JB with alvin and his pals (minus some pang seh kia, ahem), where the lack of sleep soon hit. Grabbed myself some Lao Qian Iced Coffee on recommendation, a hoodie and a couple of T-shirts, and five books, mostly on the cheap:

  • Culture Shock! Cuba (S$2 - and I thought the army was blunt in their interactions)
  • When Singapore was Syonan-To (S$2 - once heard it mentioned in conjunction with The Bamboo Fortress, finally got my hands on a copy)
  • The Secrets of The Five Dragons - Feng Shui and Singapore's Success (at S$2, why not? The good master has an explanation for absolutely everything. Some excerpts: Jurong Industrial Park is the "land of the flower basket" and produces dashing boys and charming girls; The Chinese High and Nanyang Girls' High were raised on land known as "sun and moon shining in unison" [NYGH has since moved]; land reclamation has changed Marina Bay's formation from "double dragons emerging from the sea" to "lobsters frolicking in water" [well, it's still called Marina Bay])
  • 三字经 - 百家姓 (S$4 - I can still read Mandarin!)
  • The Upside of Irrationality (~S$13, from MPH, still unopened)

Noted for the future: SuperCooperators and A History of God.

Dinner: Beggar's chicken, tie ban dou fu and other dishes, at just S$12/pax.


Sunday

What happened?



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