I'm a little down from my pre-vacation high now, since I'm finding that a lot of people aren't sharing my enthusiasm. People I had hoped to visit are all "Oh you're coming to the US? That's nice." Well fuck you guys, I'll visit some other city. :p

It's still SF and Boston for now but I'm hoping for Vancouver or Toronto or both too. And maybe one random US city out in the boonies. I'm glad domestic flight prices seem to be low right now, and if this site is any indication, hopefully the USD will drop by Oct. :-x

- - -

I need to work on fixing my caloric intake for my diet. Dropping sugar and high glycemic carbs hasn't been as bad as I thought, though I could reduce it further, but I'm still eating too much, even if it's the right kinds of food to eat.

Ugh, I just had corn for lunch and from that site above, it's one of the few veges that is high-gly. Ah well. Carrots and peas as well. Grr, all the vege that are conveniently found in cans.

Oh, fructose is low-gly. That means the Iced Tea Freeze isn't all that bad. And actually, the site says high-gly is good to consume after working out so I guess I can go back to having my OJ + vanilla! W00t


- - -

I found and bought Outlaws of the Marsh (Water Margin) and have just finished the first of four books. It's a surprisingly good read, considering it's a translation. Very engrossing and the translation's been done well, so far as I can tell. There are some quirks, like the frequent use of "Of them we shall say no more" to indicate the departure of side characters, and the ending for every chapter with e.g. "How did Lin Chong come to join the bandits of Liang Shan Marsh? Read the next chapter to find out!", but those are more silly than annoying.

So I'm near the end of the first book and it's where Pan Jin Lian is being set up to be the lover of Ximen Qing ("the Honorable Ximen" LOL) by her greedy neighbor, who's telling him what Pan would like.

Neighbor: "You must be hung like a donkey."

Ximen: "I have had a big cock since childhood."

O.O  That's quite risque ancient Chinese mythology, lol. I wonder how that read in the original text.

- - -

Poo, just checked and found out I didn't win the US green card lottery. :(

I hate being a Libra sometimes - especially when I can't make up my mind.

I like familiarity and I like new stuff... the US would be comfortable and familiar, and anywhere in the EU would be new (kinda). Fun is not a factor since I'm sure I'll have fun anywhere that's not here. Cost is, however. I'd have to pay for accoms in the EU, and for domestic flights in the US, but the latter will be less. I suppose with my unstable job and unimpressive savings, I should take the cheaper option. I'll probably wind up visiting a coupla cities I've never been to, like Toronto (yes I know that's Canada).

Still, I'm conflicted, despite all signs pointing me to the US. I think it's unfortunately just how I am. I should probably just book the damn ticket and get it over with. It will be 10/10 to 11/1 (or 1/11). Three weeks and 16 days of leave (I have still have no idea how much leave I actually have but it's probably flexible). I get to spend Halloween in SF before I leave so that should be fun. Despite all my visits to SF, I still haven't attended any sort of big parade or party there.

Ugh, and I'll have to tell my mom about it at some point. *headache*

- - -

And the guilt begins.

I spent an hour deliberating whether I should buy an Iced Tea Freeze at Spinelli's after gym. "There's probably a lot of sugar in it." "I had a really good workout though." "Sugar from mango juice shouldn't be as bad." "But they probably added sucrose to the juice." "It's got tea and lemon though - that's healthy."

An hour of that. I finally got the damn drink. It's not as good as the OJ + vanilla blend but it's still a nice refreshing post-gym treat that's not too unhealthy.

Spent more time browsing the supermart for healthy stuff. It's kinda fun - I'm so domestic. Went and compared the fat and sugar content and costs of various foods. Canned turkey is quite expensive at $4 a can but it's quite tasty and surprisingly healthy. Except for the high sodium but I chug plenty of water daily.

There weren't any sugar-free granola bars so I settled for the Quaker Oats Cookies n' Cream ones that had the least sugar (5g) despite it being a combination of evil foods.

Still feeling good about all this, even if I'm hungry (and consequently cranky) a lot now. Three months is ample time for me to get in good shape. Just hope I don't fall ill or anything.

OMG IT'S A SIGN

I only wish I had such a sign to guide me career-wise.

But anyway, Dave told me this morning that United Airlines is having a Mileage Plus Saver Award Sale. So where previously I didn't have enough miles for a free trip to the US, now I do!!

And since this is happening while I'm flip-flopping on where to go, I'm taking it as a sign!

I called up the local office of United to confirm that it's applicable for me and it is, the only condition being that I have to book it online.

*gaspgasp* I can feel my excitement building.

The promo expires on the 24th so I have to make my final decision soon. I don't want for the best flight times to be sewn up either. :-d

*gaspgasp*

Bah, typed this yesterday and forgot to post it.

- - -

Day 2 of my diet...

In lieu of a ham sandwich, I shredded up some ham and [whole wheat] bread, and tossed it with greens and olive oil. I used too much olive oil. Never knew I could use too much but there's a certain lingering feeling in my mouth that says I did. After googling "too much olive oil," I've found that the recommended amount is 2 tablespoons/day. Good to know. Olive oil is still super healthy irregardless. I love it when I love a healthy food.

I went to the gym again this morn. Quite proud of myself ...

I just realized this is starting to sound like an unabridged Bridget Jones's Diary.

Anyway, I haven't gone to the gym two days in a row for a really long time. This morning I woke up and my internal debate began as usual. To go or not to go. For once - and hopefully it'll stick - the better side of me won. I think I can easily manage four times a week now. Come Aug or Sept 14, I'll probably push for five. I haven't done five times a week since I came back from the US in 2004 and had to lose all my in-a-relationship fat. I wasn't working then so it'll be more trying now, with regards to time, as well as the fact that I'm older... and now a smoker...

I bought a can of low-fat turkey 'n beans this morn. Should be good with shredded bread and greens.

Also bought a can of salmon that was on sale because it's expiring soon but I wasn't paying attention and realized too late that I was charged full price for it. Grr.

Trying to be healthy isn't cheap... -_-

I bought $40 worth of healthy groceries this morning post-gym for my office lunches and snacks, and I spent the rest of the morning QQing to anyone who would listen to me QQ over the various messengers, lol.

Lunch was a can of light tuna in water and some fresh greens (from a packet), tossed with olive oil, along with a kopi-si kosong (coffee with evaporated milk, no sugar). It was actually pretty good. Would be nice if I could manage a hot lunch sometime but there's not even a microwave here.

Decidedly I'm gonna be more low-carb than low-fat, which at leasts allows me white coffee - I can't stand black - even if it's without sugar.

I was tempted to buy the expensive arugula from Cold Storage but upon closer inspection, it was unwashed and some leaves had been feasted on by bugs so bleah, I'll wait till I happen to drop by a Carrefour. Went for a bag of washed mixed greens that was okay but somewhat pricey too.

I actually love tuna and would eat it more often if it weren't for the FDA recommendation that the safe amount to eat weekly is just two cans. I'd buy canned salmon but that costs three times as much. So I got lean ham instead, and I'll make a sandwich with whole wheat bread tomorrow. Actually I think I'll rip the bread and ham and toss it with greens and olive oil, lol. I don't like balsamic vinegar or anything tart so it's good that I at least love olive oil.

I'm gonna have to think of other stuff to have for lunch.

I actually have a good feeling about this. I can feel my resolution in my bones, much as I did two years ago when I whipped my fat ass into trim shape for my US vacation. I didn't feel this way so much last year before the Oz vacation, I don't know why.

Feeling blah and fat today. I think it's time I begin to diet, since a) tomorrow will be 3 months to my vacation, and b) my increased gymming hasn't brought about a decrease in size, which means I'm eating too much.

I hate dieting, mainly coz of the self-loathing I feel when I break it. It's not so much that I desperately want to eat fatty/carby foods but oftentimes it's just so unconscious that I don't realize till after that I've eaten something I shouldn't have. I feel hungry and then without thinking I head off to stuff my face. It was so much easier when I lived alone because all I stocked up on was healthy foods. Now there's so much junk food around the house.

I was gonna put off dieting till 2 months before vacation but I seem to be at an impasse now and well, it would be nice to fit into my smaller clothes again. It's good to know that I can - with a lot of effort and discipline - shrink to a more attractive size, but gawd, I'm so tired of doing it every year. And it definitely can't be healthy to grow big and small and big and small and big and small... I need to control my eating better. Maybe I should smoke instead when I feel like eating. :-x

My main problem is what I'm gonna do for lunches on weekdays. There's really no healthy food to be found within walking distance. There used to be a yong tau fu stall but it closed. I'm gonna have to start packing lunches... ugh.

- - -

And speaking of vacation, I still haven't decided on where to go. -_-"""

Oh wow, just $550 to go to Spain. Thai Airways is having a promo for various European cities but the only bargain for the US is NWA ($850) and that has a stupid maximum stay of just 14 days. Still, if I factor in the fact that I'd have to pay for accomodations in Europe, going to the US where I can stay with friends would still be cheaper even if the ticket costs a few hundred more. Blblblblblblb

Oops, nevermind, I think $550 is before taxes.Blblblblblblb

- - -

The thing I'm most dreading about it is telling my mom I'm going on vacation, upon which time she'll proceed to layer on the guilt as if all my savings belong to her. Half tempted to just tell her the day before I leave.

- - -

And speaking of savings, my grandma - the one with cancer - is getting a dedicated maid with nursing skills whose salary and expenses will be shared amongst her five children. My mom's share is $200 monthly and she proposed I share half of that and I agreed without hesitation.

I'm not a very charitable person... It's not that I am unsympathetic but I guess I'm just selfish. My priority is my own happiness. There is of course the vicarious happiness from helping others but for me, that only applies with people I'm really close to, which means a few friends and my siblings. But I'm glad to be contributing to the fund above because I don't spend time with my grandma. We're just not very close and I can't speak much Hokkien.

- - -

I'm so happy my 10-man raid team downed Yogg-Saron this past weekend. It's the culimination of a lot of hard work, not just in raiding, but in administration, since I'm one of the co-raid leaders. For you non-WoWers, it's like training hard for months for a competition and then winning it. :p

- - -

Audience tracking showed Brüno played, majority-wise, to men and people over 25. There was no demographic mention of the two groups believed to be most offput by the antics of Cohen's Austrian reporter character: gays and straights.

Lol. It's probably offensive but as long as it offends both orientations equally. :p

- - -

http://icanhascheezburger.com/?p=165900 heehee

I was disappointed that Torchwood was just going to be a 5-episode mini-series this year, but so far the first episode is looking really good and I've been hearing a lot of good buzz from UK folk who've seen the whole thing.

HELLO HOTTIE

A guest star, Rik Makarem, is a super-hottie and I love that he's a big tease and being liberally flirty while ambiguous about his sexuality. He's a model with martial arts training. Yum. Pity he's not gonna be perm (and that he and Jack didn't get it on).

My gym track of the moment is Electrokid's cover of Eye of the Tiger. Always loved the song and I'm so glad I found a version I can use at the gym.

My non-gym track of the moment is Dionne Warwick's Heartbreaker. It's a song from my childhood and I hadn't heard it since then till I came across it recently and my familiarity with it just blew me away. It's been some 20+ years and I still recognized it from hearing it being played a lot when I was a kid. I love it when I discover such songs.

Hum. Reading up on Dionne Warwick on wiki, I just realized that her That's What Friends Are For single was released to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research and it raised over $3 million for the cause, and that was way back in 1985. Very admirable. I have new respect for her.

- - -

Grr. ((*@(*#(*@(#(*@(#@(*(

Not having the best day but nevermind, I'd rather move on than rant. I hope everyone around me can feel the animosity I'm exuding though.

Malaysia Ends Use of English in Science and Math Teaching -_-

I've always believed I'd fit in better in a Western country but if I had to live in Asia, I'm actually quite happy to be in Singapore. Even if I think it's stupidly conservative here, it could be worse, and I love that it's so safe.

- - -

Shi Pei Pu, Singer, Spy and ‘M. Butterfly,’ Dies at 70

What a life; what a story.

- - -

British Scientists Claim to Create Human Sperm ... by milking a man?

Anyone else find this development kinda freaky?

- - -

I get the http://syndicated.livejournal.com/overheardnyc/ feed in my LJ Friends and I find it amusing but oftentimes it seems I'm the only one who does, lol.

Girl #1: You should see Star Trek.
Girl #2: But I don't like Star Trek.
Girl #1: I didn't either at first, and now all I want is to fuck Captain Kirk.
Girl #2: That's ridiculous.
Girl #1: I'm not ashamed to love.

--Times Square

Overheard by: I'd Fuck Him Too

- - -

Crust Is a Canvas for Pizza’s New Wave

It's interesting that the NYT has an op-ed about pizza now, since last week I had dinner at a new pizza place at Suntec. I'm generally not one for pizza - I like it well-enough but not so much that I would seek to eat it if it weren't put in front of me. But this new pizza place - Thin Crust or Thin Pizza or something like that - had fancy pizzas that sounded tasty so I give it a go. Actually the pizza was just okay - the "thin crust" was kinda like papadam (greasy, crispy cracker), but what I loved was the liberal amount of arugula they gave as a side.

Arugula - also called rocket for some reason - is like my most favorite vege, ever ever. I love that with its unique nutty taste I can eat it as is, whereas with other salad veges I only take with dressing.

Sadly, not enough people here appreciate it. I hadn't had arugula for the longest time because when I looked in supermarts for it, NTUC didn't stock any and Cold Storage had it for like $5 for a small packet. But whaddaya know, I stopped by Carrefour afterwards and they had it for $3+ for a huge amount.

If you haven't tried arugula, you should! A good, easy, cheap way of fixing an arugula dish would be to toss a can of plain tuna, arugula, and olive oil. I think that will be my main meal once I start dieting for my vacation.

Kinda sordid and sad.  Why don't they ever have positive stories like "Gay helps old lady cross the road."  :-x

UPDATE:

Would you believe I came home to find the newspaper page of this exact article sitting on my desk? I don't know if my mom thinks I'm taking sex aid pills or having threesomes or whatever the fuck. I tore it in half and slipped it under her door. I have half a mind to print out an article about middle-aged people having an increased risk of contracting STDs and put it on her desk. It's probably a good thing I don't have a printer at home.

- - -

Even if I don't appreciate Jackass, it's nice that an idol of stupid straight men is pro-gay marriage.

- - -

If you're on Twitter, follow Eliza Dushku! She's the coolest - she even twittered about the Indian court proclaiming gay sex as legal.   /fanboy

- - -

Earl of Devon forced to sell family silver after banning civil partnership ceremonies    *snort*  karma~

- - -

My fave Michael Jackson song: Give In To Me, feat. Slash from Guns 'n Roses. A very inspired pairing, like U2 and Mary J. Blige.

- - -

I'm pretty sure the lunch lady gets her son to help her out to ensure my continued patronage. :-x

- - -

I think I'll finally take it upon myself to upgrade my office PC's pathetic 512MB ram, even if I don't think I'll be here for too much longer. I don't know why I didn't think of doing so sooner. My innate skinflintness probably blocked it from conscious thought. Thanks to kelufeng for his help with it.

I'm getting very frustrated by the cute lunch guy. He keeps giving me this cheeky look and I'm pretty sure he's into me except I can't be 100% sure and that makes me chicken. It's a small stall and he's standing next to his mom all the time and any attempt to strike a conversation with him would come across as strange.

And today I was really stupid. He was standing a ways from the stall as I was about to leave and without thinking, I gave him a big grin and waved bye. Five seconds later, it struck me that he might've been trying to create an opportunity for conversation but it was too late and now I'm kicking myself.

I wonder if he'll try again, and I wonder if I'm brave enough to slip him my name and number on a slip of paper as I'm paying for lunch. What if he's just friendly and not gay? Or what if his mom spots it?

Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

'Gayby boom': Children of gay couples speak out

I think that sudden twitch was my dormant biological clock stirring a little.

- - -

Blah, the thing that irks me most about this article about poorly-mannered Singaporeans is how the commenters rush to defend bad behavior. It's sad that national pride extends to that extent.

- - -

And double blah. Transformers2 made $200mil in one weekend when it took Star Trek like two months to get $246mil. It had better not show up as a Best Picture nominee. -_-"

Worse still, I've to watch it tonight. I wonder if I should duck out for a smoke break at some point during the 2.5hr torture. :p

- - -

How international is the movie, Shanghai?

It's about WWII China, directed by a Swede, written by an Iranian, and features stars from China, Japan, the US, the UK, and Germany

- - -

Sometimes the cheezburger pictures just make me laugh out loud and help brighten up a dismal day.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/?p=160533
http://icanhascheezburger.com/?p=160699
http://icanhascheezburger.com/?p=163880

I found Sporcle off Eliza Dushku's Twitter. Fun quiz site~

I just got a perfect score for Oscar for Best Actresses Winners Quiz and under 5 minutes too. Heeeeee. Apparently only 1.6% out of 24934 takers got them all right. I didn't do as well for the other Oscar quizzes - I think I just have a better head for the actresses. Whee, I just got all the Supporting Actresses right too~

I missed four for Best Actor, nine for Sup Actor... though who the heck can remember a name like Joseph Schildkraut.

Fourteen on Best Director, though I really should know more. Totally blanked on easys like Forrest Gump, American Beauty, and From Here to Eternity, and kept misspelling "Zinneman." Grr... who spells it without the "r."

Totally tanked with the Best Picture winners - probably because there were no hints.

Christian Bale is no Cate Blanchett

Just some random Hollywood info I thought was interesting.

- - -

Random rails:

Are guys who wear sunglasses attractive? Am I the only one who thinks guys trying to channel Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's is a turnoff? I understand their practical purpose but wearing them indoors or doing a Hepburn pose for pictures is just - for lack of a better word - ewwwww.

I hate that Singapore got rid of the no-tinted-car-windows ban, especially during bumper-to-bumper traffic. I like to be able to see through the car ahead and observe what the cars in front are doing, just in case the driver ahead is a douche who brakes too often or too slowly.

And as a rule-of-thumb, if you're in the overtaking lane and the car ahead of you is further than the car behind you, you're moving too slowly and should get out of my way. Lol.

- - -

Academy Expands Best Picture to 10  O.O

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it will give some deserving pictures a Best Picture nomination acclaim, but on the other hand, you just know some lapsupp pictures are gonna inexplicably get nominated by virtue of huge marketing campaigns (I just hope the producers of Transformers 2 don't get that idea in their heads).

Speaking of which, I love that this Ebert review of Tr2 will be in his next 'Your Movie Sucks' book.

- - -

I think I will finally get on the Twitter bandwagon... but just because there are many interesting twits' tweets I want to follow. I don't think my life is that interesting that I want to update people on it more than a coupla times a week (i.e. here), although I do see the attractiveness of immediately putting brain spam down, especially since scatterbrained as I am, I frequently lose thoughts.

Hm, it seems like one has to send a text message to the US if they want to phone tweet?

Anyone have interesting personalities to recommend I follow?

Now that you can set your own Facebook username, I wonder if I should bother. It's kinda pointless putting in a creative one since there is apparently only one other Lawson Teo in the Facebook universe and it's quite obvious he's not me, so I can just give people my name to search for.

Also, I don't know if I want to be found that easily, since I'm unabashedly gay in my profile and I'm not out to my huge extended family, half of whom seem to be on Facebook (I made sure to lock my profile to non-Friends). It's a pity that I can't even beFriend the relatives that I'm out to, since they're all connected to one another.

I would like to be out to everyone, but apart from being slightly chicken, there are other factors to consider, foremost of which is that my immediate family relies upon my grandfather for sustenance. I've no idea what the OL's reaction would be but I'm not about to risk our lives on it. :-\

Nine

Wow, this movie looks really promising. A musical directed by Chicago's Rob Marshall, 6 fabulous Oscar winners, AND Fergie. Speaking of Fergie, how many people realize she was the lesbian who got eaten by zombies in Planet Terror? lol

Looking at the November release date, if it's any good at all, it's gonna be up for a slew of Oscars nominations~

- - -

I had forgotten Sunday was Father's Day, but I dreamt about dad on Saturday night anyway. It wasn't a happy dream... something about taking his body to the crematorium in some tubular container. Don't ask me how it fit in there. I can never remember dreams... just some fragments of them if they were particularly vivid. Last night I dreamt I was cleaning some cardboard pieces with a damp cloth. Lol. Bizarre.

- - -

Haven't been updating as much because I've been revisiting Bandit Kings of Ancient China again. :-x   Gosh, I've been playing this game every so often since Seconday 1 -19 years ago!! I don't know why I love it that much, though it's fun and I really like the background story of Water Margin. I finally got around to checking for an English translation of it (it would take me 10 years to slog through a Chinese version) and found that there is indeed a good translation by the title of Outlaws of the Marsh. Gonna get it. :-d

- - -

Ricky Martin comes out as bisexual    *yawn*

Seems like having surrogate kids is a precursor to coming out.

- - -

My gym track of the moment is Utada's Come Back to Me (though I like the Tony Moran mix that there isn't a vid for). It's not typically a gym track I like, being a slow song set to fast beats and with somewhat insipid lyrics, but well, it works~  Maybe I just like how Utada pl

- - -

77 Congressional Members Call On Obama To Stop DADT

There is all of one R- amongst the congressional members but that's something I guess. :-d

- - -

Black Eyed Perez

Perez Hilton got punched. :-x   I shall withhold my opinion but let's just say I'm of the same mind as some of the article's commenters~

- - -

I was gonna watch a movie tonight but it's a terrible day for catching a movie. Most screens in most theaters are friggin' showing Transformers 2 since it opens today, and they're mostly full too. Not that I really wanted to watch Tr2. I like big budget blockbusters as much as anyone, but honestly, I doubt there's anything in Tr2 that I haven't seen in Tr1, and I don't need more of the same. Great sequels should expand on creativity... like with the Indiana Jones ones, but Tr2 sounds like more robots vs. robots with some elements of National Treasure thrown in. Zzzz.

Omg so tired. My a/c started leaking and I put a bucket under it but it soon had the Chinese Water Torture effect and I woke up at 3+ a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep - also partially because I had to turn the a/c off and get up to empty the almost overflowing water in the bucket. It's been so long since I've been able to functionally normally on little sleep; I can't recall how I used to do it so often when I was young.

- - -

I used to mock drakekoh for slowing his car down whenever there was a bird on the road. "They're fast enough to fly away in time," I'd say.

Well yesterday there was a bird in the middle of a busy 3-lane road. Barely noticing it, I just maintained my speed, and I only realized it wasn't going to make it to safety when it attempted to fly upwards instead of to either side of my car. THUNK. The bird hit my bumper and ricocheted off somewhere. I felt bad but it was either suicidal or really stupid so I'll consider it a culling of the weak.

- - -

My half-sis is in town - the one I visited last year on my birthday. Um, yea, nice catching up with her family. I'd say more but there hasn't really been any big developments since I blogged about my visiting her in Oct. Oh, with the exception that I'm a half-uncle for the third time. She really can bang 'em out. :-x

Stronger, faster iPhone 3GS will hit stores June 19

This made me laugh:

If you lose your phone, Mobile Me will display a Google Map that shows where your iPhone is, as long as it's turned on. You can then send a message to the phone, and it will sound an alarm, alerting nearby people to save it for you.

Would you beat up a thief to retrieve some stranger's iPhone when the owner's probably not even in the vicinity? :P You can't even be sure if the alarm wasn't accidentally triggered and you're beating on the phone's real owner. :P

- - -

Wow, I've been going to the gym every other day for like 7 sessions so far. That's a lot more discipline than I've had in a long time. :-d Wonder how much longer I can keep it up - it's been a fun challenge. Expensive though, since I've been treating myself to a Sunkiss Twist after every session. :-x

I haven't begun controlling my diet yet so my waistline still leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm firming up all over now and it feels great. I've also started pumping heavier weights since a couple of weeks ago.

All in anticipation of a vacation I still haven't planned. Blah.

- - -

Supreme Court rejects challenge to military gay ban

Booo

- - -

Gordon Brown's reshuffle results in three openly gay cabinet figures

Wooo

Though I've no idea how temporary this situation might be, with all the parliamentary tumult.

- - -

Silencing Singapore

Oooo

An interview with Singaporean Loo Zihan in The Advocate.

- - -

Shanghai to show pride with gay festival

Wow, I didn't even know gay sex had been decriminalised in China, and as early as 1997 too.

- - -

The cute gay twin who occasionally works at the food stall I frequent keeps giving me meaningful looks. I wish I knew how to chat him up, since the stall is run by both his parents. I could slip him my phone number but if it turns out he's just taken with my hairstyle, it would have an unpleasant outcome. :-x

- - -

Eww, big hairy spiders~

- - -

I had just put Bette Midler's I'm Beautiful back into my gym playlist and hearing it earlier put a stupid grin on my face for its duration. There apparently isn't a music video for it so here's one of The Divine Miss M doing Miss Otis Regrets live in Vegas instead. :-d

I've loved Bette Midler ever since I was a wee laddie of unknown orientation watching Outrageous Fortune on TV. Soon after, I bought my first album of hers, Some People's Lives, and there was no stopping me from heading down the path to gaydom. To this day, I think it remains one of my most-played albums. You should hear me bust out my own rendition of Miss Otis Regrets. :-d

Bette's probably the only performer I'd pay big bucks to watch in concert, and I have! Catching her Kiss My Brass tour in Boston is one of the highlights of my life. :-x

Oh!!

I just realized that Bette's Las Vegas performance schedule for the rest of the year is out. It wasn't last time I checked. Ooooh, now I'm more inclined to head to the US this year, before she ends her run. But omg, the tickets are expensive - from US$137 to $856, and I'm sure there'll be ++ too. Gah, it's at least $250 just to be in the middle of the colosseum. I remember for similar seats in Boston, I only forked out about $120. Then again this is Vegas and I'm sure it'll be grander. I'm not sure if I can afford grander right now though. :(   

Same-sex couples fight for immigration rights

Sad story included. :\ This bill needs to pass.

- - -

Finally realized my grandfather's age - he's 78. Wow. I'd be happy to be as horny at 58. :-x 38 even. :-x At 78, I'd be quite happy to be holed up in a little apartment with a cat and my collection of DVDs.

- - -

Harvard to Endow Chair in Gay Studies

Wooo

- - -

New Hampshire Passes Gay Marriage Bill

Wooo, who woulda thunk New England is more liberal than California~

- - -

Gay penguins rearing chick in German Zoo

Lol, cute story.

- - -

Excruciating just got a whole lot more excruciating as zany Joe Jonas challenges the world to stomach his dancing skills in "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." O.O

Well, dancing may be a stretch; let's just say that when it comes to soulful choreography, twitchy, stiletto-heeled Joe is a passable guitar player. At least this proves he isn't gay.

There goes my crush on him. And what's with the huge thighs...

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Blah, I think I'm succumbing to my cold...

Okay, my hair is decidedly how I like it (yay) - it's just a matter of growing out the length again now. I think four more months before my birthday should be enough time to get it nice and long.

I'm getting stares from random people again, hehheh.

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I think I'm coming down with something. I've had a sore throat for the past three days and my nose has been runny. Probably a bug going around. I've been really healthy, sleeping around 10 and waking around 6, and taking a lot of vitamin C, so my body is prolly trying to fight it off. I was feeling well enough to go to the gym this morn, despite not being at peak energy level.

I'm not paranoid about disease but considering how most Singaporeans are, you'd think people would know to cover their mouths when they cough (or sneeze or burp). Even if it doesn't prevent anything, it's just friggin' common courtesy. No one does that here except me (okay, I'm generalizing). And they're not doing gentle itch-in-throat coughs either - it's always the phlegmy I-haz-a-disease-for-joo type of cough.

And while I'm still ranting, how does the gym's shower stalls always smell like an unflushed loo? I know the smell's from old sweat but are there people not using soap when they shower? Or do they rub their sweaty bodies all over the stall walls in lieu of loofahing? I just don't get it. Though, from the one time I found a puddle of pee in a shower stall, I wouldn't put it past people to do the stupidest things.

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My drink-of-the-moment is the Sunkiss Twist from Spinelli's, which is essentially an expensive blend of OJ, ice, and vanilla powder. But yummy, like an Orange Julius. I'd make my own 'cept I stopped by a supermarket earlier and couldn't find vanilla powder. Where can I buy it?

My gym-track-of-the-moment is Chaka Khan & Mary J. Blige's Disrespectful (the Riffs & Rays mix though).

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These electronic cigarettes intrigue me, especially the smoke-anywhere-you-want part.

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Spanish Supreme Court rules judges cannot refuse to marry gay couples

Wooo

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Nevada overrides governor's veto to provide domestic partnerships

Wooo

Now gay men can get drunk and register for domestic partnerships in Vegas.