(no subject)
I am so sick of waiting for Cambridge to reject me that I have half a mind to call them up anad ask what's going on with my application. The only problem is that I haven't the faintest idea who to call. I've been waiting for over four months. Four months. I hate being kept in the dark about things. I need to know things. This is driving me crazy.
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Work was slow today. I had the interview with the Ambassador in the morning (he called Putin an idiot, a madman, crazy - it was funny) and spent the rest of the day working on my portion of MARUAH's report to the UN Human Rights Council for Singapore's Universal Periodic Review. I have to say: looking up those instances in which certain individuals ran afoul of the law because they did stupid things made me feel rather despondent about the state of civil dissent in Singapore. Let's be quite honest: Han Hui Hui, Roy Ngerng or whatever, and Gilbert Goh are all clowns. Of course, that's no basis to deny them their constitutional rights; in fact, I am all in favour of letting them say whatever they wanted to say but which they were not allowed to say (I'm simplifying the issues; can't be bothered to be precise right now) because it's the only way to expose them for the clowns that they are. I very much doubt these people would even make the news if their permits weren't denied and if they weren't arrested. Using the law against them is simply giving them the platform that they want.
But anyway. Sometimes I find the idea of democratic participation rather fantastical. It's wonderful in theory and it's the least of all evils, but look at the morons that exist in every country in the world. You have UKIP supporters in the UK, Geert Wilders supporters in the Netherlands, blind PAP and anti-PAP supporters in Singapore...democracy is fully realised only when people can be persuaded with reason and make it impossible for politicians to appeal to their prejudices and biases. The imperfections of democracy are emblematic of all the imperfections of the human race.
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Tennis on Saturday with Adrian started badly, then got better. My backhand continued to frustrate me as I found myself late for most of the shots which made it impossible for me to hit the damn ball down the centre of the court. Miraculously, I actually used my brain and made adjustments. I stood further behind the baseline and made a conscious effort to get into the proper position for the backhand - and it worked. It got better. In the end it got way too hot (we played from 2 to 4pm) so we stopped at 3.50pm. At that point, my back was almost on fire. It was pretty intense.
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I've decided that I need to write more. It's simply unacceptable that I only had four entries in January and three (or something) in February. I didn't have that much going on then, but still. I have to write.
*
Work was slow today. I had the interview with the Ambassador in the morning (he called Putin an idiot, a madman, crazy - it was funny) and spent the rest of the day working on my portion of MARUAH's report to the UN Human Rights Council for Singapore's Universal Periodic Review. I have to say: looking up those instances in which certain individuals ran afoul of the law because they did stupid things made me feel rather despondent about the state of civil dissent in Singapore. Let's be quite honest: Han Hui Hui, Roy Ngerng or whatever, and Gilbert Goh are all clowns. Of course, that's no basis to deny them their constitutional rights; in fact, I am all in favour of letting them say whatever they wanted to say but which they were not allowed to say (I'm simplifying the issues; can't be bothered to be precise right now) because it's the only way to expose them for the clowns that they are. I very much doubt these people would even make the news if their permits weren't denied and if they weren't arrested. Using the law against them is simply giving them the platform that they want.
But anyway. Sometimes I find the idea of democratic participation rather fantastical. It's wonderful in theory and it's the least of all evils, but look at the morons that exist in every country in the world. You have UKIP supporters in the UK, Geert Wilders supporters in the Netherlands, blind PAP and anti-PAP supporters in Singapore...democracy is fully realised only when people can be persuaded with reason and make it impossible for politicians to appeal to their prejudices and biases. The imperfections of democracy are emblematic of all the imperfections of the human race.
*
Tennis on Saturday with Adrian started badly, then got better. My backhand continued to frustrate me as I found myself late for most of the shots which made it impossible for me to hit the damn ball down the centre of the court. Miraculously, I actually used my brain and made adjustments. I stood further behind the baseline and made a conscious effort to get into the proper position for the backhand - and it worked. It got better. In the end it got way too hot (we played from 2 to 4pm) so we stopped at 3.50pm. At that point, my back was almost on fire. It was pretty intense.
*
I've decided that I need to write more. It's simply unacceptable that I only had four entries in January and three (or something) in February. I didn't have that much going on then, but still. I have to write.