Acts of service
Organized religions spend most of their time defending dogma, what about putting teachings into practice?
The promise
I need to get from New Delhi to Guatemala and back to India again in a weekend for a wedding.
This was an eleven year promise made way back between three friends who were all serving time in boarding school, a promise I would very much like to keep!
This wedding will be in the middle of my clinical elective, meaning, I cannot afford to miss a single day during my time in India, i.e: I have to depart friday evening, and return in time for a early monday morning start at the hospital.
Is it even possible?
Anyone knows Richard Branson personally? :p
Argh!
I want to ride my bicycle
The bicycles I love.
The Dahon, 2008
A three speed Dahon curve which I sadly agreed to sell when lump’s dad found a buyer, made logical sense as I was going to be away for the next 4 years. Nifty little powerhouse. I remember the quaint rear rack I had installed which I used to strap down bag/book/magazine during trips to the park for coffee. One nervous attempt on the road. Oh, and the bell, little silver bell, most polite sounding bell, really.
Franky, 2007
Franky, I refuse to sell. I will love him till his tires breath their last pascal of air, till his chains are old and rusty, till his bars and seat corrode with age. Skull emblems on both sides, trying to look all mean and serious, but really, just a humble single speed with back paddle brake.
I miss my bicycles.
Stress! Hormones! Emo!
It’s not the ending that hurts the most, it’s the being forgotten.
Bird Stealing Bread by Iron & Wine
Tell me baby tell me
Are you still on the stoop
Watching the windows close
I’ve not seen seen you lately
On the street, by the beach
Or places we used to go
I’ve a picture of you
On our favorite day by the seaside
There’s a bird stealing bread
That I brought out from under my nose
Tell me baby tell me
Does his company make
Light of a rainy day
How I’ve missed you lately
And the way we would speak
And all that we wouldn’t say
Do his hands in your hair
Feel a lot like a thing you believe in
Or a bit like a bird stealing bread
Out from under your nose
Tell me baby tell me
Do you carry the words
Around like a key or change
I’ve been thinking lately
of a night on the stoop
and all that we wouldn’t say
If I see you again
On the street, by the beach
In the evening
Will you fly like a bird stealing bread
Out from under my nose
Dog Vs Cat
Too good not to share, from the pastry chef 
Excerpts from a Dog’s Diary
8:00 am – Dog food! My favourite thing!
9:30 am – A car ride! My favourite thing!
9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favourite thing!
10:30 am – Got rubbed and patted! My favourite thing!
12:00 pm – Lunch! My favourite thing!
1:00 pm – Played in the yard! My favourite thing!
3:00 pm – Wagged my tail! My favourite thing!
5:00 pm – Milk Bones! My favourite thing!
7:00 pm – Got to play ball! My favourite thing!
8:00 pm – Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favourite thing!
11:00 pm – Sleeping on the bed! My favourite thing!
Excerpts from a Cat’s Diary
Day 983 of my captivity …
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.
Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.
The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a ‘good little hunter’ I am. Bastards.
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of ‘allergies’. I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow — but at the top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released – and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.
The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now …
There is medicine in literature
From Goodman & Gilman’s Pharmacology, Chapter 22
William Shakespeare described the acute pharmacological effects of imbibing ethanol in the Porter scene (act 2, scene 3) of Macbeth. The Porter, awakened from an alcohol-induced sleep by Macduff, explains three effects of alcohol and then wrestles with a fourth effect that combines the contradictory aspects of soaring overconfidence with physical impairment:
Porter: . . . and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.
Macduff: What three things does drink especially provoke?
Porter: Marry, sir, nose-painting [cutaneous vasodilation], sleep [CNS depression], and urine [a consequence of the inhibition of antidiuretic hormone, vasopressin, secretion, exacerbated by volume loading]. Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes: it provokes the desire but it takes away the performance. Therefore much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him and it mars him; it sets him on and it takes him off; it persuades him and disheartens him, makes him stand to and not stand to [the imagination desires what the corpus cavernosum cannot deliver]; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
*Bracketed additions to Porter’s words explain in scientific terms what shakespeare so eloquently described
Music that matters
I get really affected emotionally by music. I will never forget attending a Sigur Ros concert in 2006 and being so moved that I sat there with tears streaming down my face. Some people might say I am being overly melodramatic, perhaps I am. William Fitzsimmons sums up how I as a consumer hope to feel when a musician like him tries to impact people with thoughtful songwriting and music composition.
“When I listen to music my favourite thing that I get from music is to be moved by it, I want to be affected by it…”
“The music that I care about the most is the stuff that makes me think of changing the way I’m doing something or thinking or makes me feel something. I hope to bring that to people at least in a small way…”
“I want to make music that has the effect of going a little bit deeper than just entertainment.”
The bachelor pad
“… oh yes, this is important, shouldn’t the flooring be appropriate for when I get a cat?”
Toil!
Finally accumulated enough points to claim a two way economy to Bali, however, tickets were snapped up in double quick time. No matter, to Bali it still is… on a budget carrier
Bali!
Cannot wait!
Now to toil harder than ever and earn my rewards post finals and elective.
Facebook lockout has commenced.
Toil we must!
