Panthera Sapiens Ellipsis: The Blog

I'm typing this from my grandparents' home in So Hour. My cousin got Streamyx into the house. I'm here because my father's youngest brother passed away and I don't think it'll be in good taste to go into detail about it until I get my thoughts into better order, so I'll just put up the Wuhan blogs first and you can go crazy trying to finish reading 'em. *grin* And here we go: [Saturday, June 2] It is the fourth day, I think, since arriving in China. Or is it the third? I can never remember dates--I think I forgot my own birthday once. In any case it's been a very enjoyable time so far; the reunion has gone well, and as far as I can tell no great disputes have arisen. Or, at least, they have been somewhat amicably resolved, without resorting to the screams and floods of decibels that I've gotten used to during the stay with the Brats... As expected, I cannot access Blogger, and so am forced to record everything on my mp3 player or thumbdrive. I sh...

[Monday, May 21] I have finally got some good news regarding the job--it's over. My parents have decided that a month in China with them would be vastly more therapeutic than living with the Brats. (It's also something to do with me going off to Singapore soon and being further separated, and with their impeding move of house, which will require spring-cleaning of the new house and arrangement of various possessions.) So they told me, by email and via the Empress, to get my visa ready and my passport and to get a ticket to the Big S, as soon as I can. The Coconut said not to worry about her while I'm gone. So far I've got two travel agents' numbers to call and compare prices and visa preparation durations. I do hope everything goes OK, or else I'm going to have to get a ticket to Wuhan, which might be more expensive than to the Big S and might require a transit flight into the bargain (I dislike transits). But at least I'm going to be merrily jobless after t...

[Monday, May 14] ...you know it's not going to be a good day when your first thoughts on waking up are, "Shit, it's Monday". I suppose being late--again--does things to my mood. I don't particularly like being late. Then again, it's been a pretty OK time so far apart from when the Brats are around--I guess they have some sort of allergy to human decency or something. I've been receiving loads of letters the past few weeks, mostly from universities in the UK--even though I'm definitely not going to any of them anymore since I've decided on NTU, I haven't told them yet because I haven't found a suitably tactful way of saying No. Even if it's to a computer... anyway, so I've got loads of letters waiting for me at the Gorillas' every week when I go back. I don't usually look forward to those all that much, since they're like an instant guilt trip, but this week I got something nicer--a letter from myself. I should probably e...

[Monday, April 30] I wonder if I should sign up for this year's Copa di IBA. It's not like I'm going to do much good if I join anyhow, though--Claus has already told me that the way I play, I'm a liability to the team. Apparently because of the way I jump, people behind me are liable to have their eyes damaged... so unless I have a sudden improvement in style or technique or whatever it's called, I guess I'm not going to be on our delegation to the competition. Not that I mind. Sweat and sore limbs are not my cup of tea anyway--if possible, I'll probably just find a nice steeple hat somewhere and wear it there to keep the sun outta my face. I might even want to try and buy a (hooded!) trenchcoat or something in case it rains. It's a pity there aren't many shops selling ankle-length cloaks--I've always thought those looked kinda nice. Still, one has to make do with what one has... Things are definitely getting stressful around the office. With all...

[Monday, April 16] CS Lewis wrote somewhere that God, if we may say so, is very unscrupulous. And I don't know whether I want to nod in agreement or start drafting legal agreements for God to sign... Well, I can't take God to court--He is perfectly just, after all, which makes my chances of winning that argument pretty slim--so I'm stuck with nodding madly and sighing. Actually I think God has been dropping those hints for awhile now, but He only chose this past week or so to start in on the nagging. Well, if you've been reading and you didn't doze off halfway through or click that handy little red X in the top right corner, you probably know I've been ranting a bit about the Brat. (Even the name I chose for him shows that.) And I've been ranting a bit about my uncle and his tendency to fly off the handle at what seems to be the merest of jolts... Yesterday in church, a song about thanking God for trials came up, and I found myself wondering what exactly I w...

[Monday, April 9] I'm wet. I'm in an air-conditioned room. The air conditioner is on Oscillate, so it sometimes blows me and sometimes blows other places. I'm cold. I don't like being cold. It's my own fault anyway for running in the rain... OK, maybe I should explain. Remember a few posts ago when I mentioned one of my tasks being fetching cousins from tuition or school? Well, I just ran one of those errands. Now cast your mind back to the last post, where I mention the weather being unpredictable. Now you probably get the picture: I went out of the building and it was cloudy. (Fortunately my colleagues insisted on me bringing a little pink umbrella along.) By the time I got to my cousin's school (where she was waiting because she'd finished school), it was drizzling lightly. We went twenty paces away from school, and the wind and rain increased exponentially. I do declare the rain was almost horizontal by the time we had gone one hundred meters--and do rem...