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| Ok, so first day back at work with the scrabble app on my iPhone. Did not go well at all.
Went for way more tea breaks than usual, just so I could form another word, and even while taking a dump i played out a game. Have been trashing the computer player (set at 'normal' difficulty), without even using the Best Word function once (takes away the fun, really). I think i'm ready for 'difficult' difficulty.
On the way home, i was happy to stop at red lights, so i could play more scrabble during the 60 seconds or so it took for the lights to change.
During lunch, i almost didn't want to join my usual bridge buddies for our 2-hour bridge sessions, coz i wanted to sit by the corner by myself and play more scrabble.
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Speaking of which, i've been playing very badly at bridge. We've had a former banker who also happens to be an ex-bridge tournament national player in our team for the last 3 or 4 months now, which explains why the standard of bridge is so abnormally high in our little department. I mean, they really remember down to the exact card who has what card of which suit. It's amazing. Not to sound immodest, but i have a mensa-tested IQ in the top 1% and i still feel like a total retard in this group.
And then this bridge player -- let's call him BG (bridge grandmaster) -- tells me i have what 'they' call a Lazy Mind.
And it really struck me -- i DO have a freaking, undeniably, LAZY MIND!
I don't remember birthdays of even my own family members, i forget a person's name 2 seconds after i learn it, i suck at mental sums, and i don't remember whether my bridge partner has any trump suit cards left, the other day I even blanked out when trying to recall my own carplate number. I've always deluded myself by saying it's coz i'm soo smart that i'm stupid (you know? like how stephen chow jokes are so dumb they're funny..). But the truth is there, staring at me in the face.
I'm one bloody lazy bastard.
Friends have often remarked that for an ambitious guy (as they see reflected in my career pursuits (or career attempts, more like)), it's remarkable how i'm "so chill". But now i know, it's not coz i'm chill, it's coz i'm too lazy to be un-chill. I just can't really be arsed about... almost anything at all, really.
Further proof that i have a Lazy Mind - val says it's amazing the things / minute details that i can remember, when there are lots of other way more recent events/details that i simply can't recall. It all comes down to what you can be bothered to remember.
So, personal development objective: to get its arse out of my mind... erm, i mean my mind off its arse. As part of my mental aerobics routine, I'm gonna start memorising all sorts of useless facts to train up my memory. Just like Jason Bourne, I'm gonna memorise all the carplate numbers in my office carpark. Or at least, that of my CEO. Always useful to be able to recognise the CEO's car, just in case i decide to get in a drag race with him at the traffic light without knowing that it's actually him.
I think it's 5449 or something like that.
Also i'm gonna go all rainman on the bridge sessions. Shit, if BG can do it, so can I.
I now realise I joined the government service for this period of time, for one or more divine reasons. One of those reasons, is to improve my bridge skills.
Hahah.. but seriously, bridge is an excellent way to train the memory. Another reason could be to meet some great colleagues, one of whom has probably come into my life for a purpose, a purpose that has already revealed itself over the weekend.
We all get stuck in certain patterns and routine, and that encourages laziness too. So I'm gonna try and mix things up a little. Which doesn't take much, really, considering that my entire life revolves around routine. I eat the same thing for lunch every single day. I eat the same dish every single lunchtime on Saturdays. Just ask Val. Just ask the auntie who sells it. I don't even have to order this dish anymore, I just walk up to the stall, look at the auntie and uncle, they give me a nod and wordlessly get the dish ready. I kid you not. Just ask Val.
So i'm gonna shake things up. I'm gonna brush up on my mandarin. Learning a new language requires a lot of memory work. Mandarin definitely qualifies as a new language for me.
I'll start first thing tomorrow. For now, scrabble on my iPhone awaits!
P.S. I'd bet if every girl looked like Katrina Bowden, i'd remember more of their names.
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| God be praised for the internet, and the iPhone! The iPhone has got to be, for me, the single best consumer product I've ever had in my life. I didn't like it as a phone at first, but since the software upgrade a couple of months ago, i've had no complaints. For surfing the web, checking email, checking my stocks, and now even SMSing, the touchscreen has been perfect. It's also completely scratch-resistant, despite my abuse. And the iPhone apps just keep getting better.
This weekend, i finally downloaded the international version of the Scrabble app from the iPhone app store. For the hours of pleasure and time-wasting usefulness, it was an absolute steal at US$5.99! Also bought the Judge Scrabby scrabble word judge app.
And stupidly, i also restored factory settings on my iPhone without backing up, and lost ALL my data -- contact numbers, old SMSes, notes, some photos, music, accumulated over the past one year, since val bought me the iPhone as a gift for my previous birthday.
But i wasn't in the least bit concerned with the lost data, since i had finally found the scrabble app! Cheers to the guys at EA for turning the iPhone into a handheld gaming console.
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| Another pretty good weekend..
Friday started horribly, but unwinded at the end of the day over drinks with geoff at bojangles at bkt timah plaza, then back to his place nearby for 2 rounds of scrabble.
Sat morning brought the colleagues over to see our new place, then geoff came over to my place for yet more scrabble -- we played 2 rounds on his professional board, complete with chess timer and word judge software. We had planned to play by the pool, but it was an extremely warm and muggy afternoon, so the aircon was on full blast and we had a few cans of beer (to help us form better words).
All that beer and thinking was hungry work, so we strolled over to arcadia restaurant for an early dinner. We had the restaurant all to ourselves, and we sat outside which is totally chilled out. While waiting for our fried rice, we - you guessed it - played more scrabble!
This time, on my travel scrabble set (but not the pocket scrabble set that val bought for me :)). No laptop or cumbersome scrabble word books needed, it was all on my iPhone (see entry above).
Simply can't think of a better way to pass a warm and lazy saturday afternoon.
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Compensated somewhat for the beer and junk food, with a run this evening with val, followed by a healthy chicken and walnut salad at cedele.
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| Excellent weekend.
Celebrated my birthday on Sat with the family over dim sum lunch at Hua Ting, chilled at my place with val and Korean dinner afterwards at Auntie Kim's, where I ate way too much.
Went for a run this morning with val around my estate, compensating somewhat for last night's gluttony. Then to F&F's at pasir ris for hari raya celebrations, and got rewarded for the effort in driving all the way to pasir ris, with 2 large bags of delish nasi bryani and pulut hitam to bring home.
This evening, caught Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 3D.
Funny as hell, and the 3D effect really enhances this movie. The dialogue is sharp and humour wacky. The psychedelic colours are quite evocative of the 60s, the music and even the set has a rather 80s feel to it (with Mr T thrown in for good measure), and the technology (flashdrives, emailing to mobile phones, online videos) is very much in the present. It has something to say about the dangers of genetically modified foods, as well as about fame, greed, conforming to the mould, and the different ways people deal with the new and strange. It's also visually stunning and contains parodies of space-invasion action movies!
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Funky birthday card fr my niece... artistic, ain't she.
32 this year.. sigh.. i'm in that no-man's land between young upstart and ah-pek.
Well, i'm still enjoying the ride so who cares!
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