The past few weeks I’ve written innumerable press materials for various virtuous days – anti-corruption day, youth day, volunteering day, mountain day, etc. I suppose they are as much an internal focusing mechanism as an actual way to increase public awareness. This weekend we went to Shah Alam, the capital of the neighbouring state of […]
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Customs of the country
I’ve been hit by malaise today, as happens every few weeks. I’m uncertain how else to decribe it: it’s a slight headache, a slight uneasiness about the stomach, and a general heaviness of aspect. Fortunately this didn’t get in the way of work, and I have just wrapped up an edit to be sent by […]
LA in the rain
I’ve been binging on Raymond Chandler for the last little while. I read The Big Sleep whilst in Timor-Leste, followed by Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye, and am now most of the way through The High Window. Nothing has had the pyrotechnics of the first yet, though I love them all. They are […]
Golden sparrow
A couple of fairly busy days at work, so consequentially little to write about. Today I finally managed to complete and send what I had hoped to – an education report that I think is not too shabby, a presentation based on the report, and some academic editing. And some press materials for which the […]
Preacher man
I insisted on going to the popup plant stall at Lot 10, and was delighted find some neem oil with which to battle the fungal and pest infestations that have tormented our plants for some weeks. We also ran into the preacher and the preacher’s wife, who were just returning from the evangelical communion on […]
Cecilia must die
Having just trawled through the Amazon’s December deals for Kindle books I ask again why I was born in this cursed month. Amazon UK, full of the sort of rubbish books people give each other as presents, with the prize perhaps being ‘The Dinosaur that Pooped Christmas’. Amazon US with an even greater proportion of […]
Blue rice
It was a glum old Friday, with a brief break for coffee and cake, but that is all. Today, Saturday, was significantly better as we went out as soon as the GF awoke, to a distant suburban stall reputed to have some of the best nasi kerabu in KL. This is an east coast Malay […]
Today is
Here in Malaysia it’s 12 Rabi al Awwal. In Pakistan it was yesterday, shadowed by what had gone before. In the day’s honour, here is Amjad Farid Sabri singing Bhar do jholi, one of my favourite naats. Since this Youtube link may not work forever, and in any case it is improved (as are all […]
Sadness
The resolution of the Faizabad interchange sit-in has left me, along with many others, feeling bleak and full of sadness. It feels a defeat, and not one that will spur one forward. Such a sense of despair across Pakistan, at least amongst the ‘liberal fascists’/ ‘fake liberals’ as they like to call us. It did […]
Quick note
From a Singapore church cafe. My earlier post, written en route to Singapore, is on my iPad and is yet to be sent so the updates will be out of order. This is the second full day, third partial day in Singapore. Once again I got stopped at immigration and quizzed – my name must […]