For all my bah-humbugging yesterday, some magic happened overnight and my computer’s battery has decided to start working. May it last past twelfth night.
Curing cancer
Read an interesting piece today, a short interview with an oncologist who wrote a book advocating for the diversion of cancer research funding towards prevention and early detection rather than cures or late-stage scrambling for every week of life. It seemed sensible – I gather a lot of oncologists feel this way – but medical […]
Stiff neck
That’s what my mother always told me, and I suppose she was right. I went to a physiotherapist for the first time for what I had long thought was incipient RSI. Turns out it’s not what I think of as RSI, but an exceptionally stiff neck which is sending referred pain down my arms. So […]
Hellfire
Soon after my last post, something unexpected happened: the Gentleman Friend was suddenly struck down by excruciating pain on his back, in the places where he had been sunburnt during the weekend’s surfing. It was clearly agonising. I looked it up online, and (it seems reasonable to diagnose this particular ailment on the internet) it […]
Those I’ll never see again
For some reason dogs seem to like me. This is not exactly reciprocated, as I don’t particularly like keeping pets, and especially indoor dogs, but I don’t mind dogs as long as they aren’t noisy and boistrous. Anyway, the dog at my Spanish school really seems to like me, but in a rather sweet way […]
On the gripping hand
I clicked over to the Star, the Malaysian newspaper, to skim the headlines and perhaps longingly read a (probably paid-for) review of a curry mee place, and found this excellent photo/headline combination.
Voices not heard
I read this article a couple of days ago and it has stuck in my memory. It’s an account of growing up in a lower class family in Garhi Shahu; he must have been only a few years younger than me so there are points at which our worlds touched and others that are so […]
Five o’clock chorus
I woke up at five in the morning to the sound of men singing sad songs in harmony, with a mournful trumpet accompanying them. It was actual people singing, not a recording: though the trumpet was well played, it was definitely not slick and professional. Very peculiar, I thought, go to sleep it’s five in […]
How long remembered?
Partition was ever present in my childhood. Is it still so? An article in Dawn republished some of the great poetry of the time: Faiz: ye daagh daagh ujala ye shab-gazida sahar vo intizar tha jis ka ye vo sahar to nahin Shiv Kumar Batalvi: Mainu te yaad hai ajj vi, te tenu yaad hove […]
Ouch
I have developed a very sore wrist and arm, and am worried about RSI. I suppose I had it coming, but today I took all sorts of measures. These included: Posting on Metafilter to ask for keyboard recommendations. Selecting an ergonomic keyboard, to be purchased from Canada or the UK depending on the bother and […]