all those little things we say

Are there certain things you should never say to the friend of a friend? I realised on Thursday that certain topics, no matter how seemingly trivial, should never be discussed with your friend's friend. Especially things that your friend's friend tells him...not you. So on that Thursday in the gym I found myself making conversation with said friend's friend. He was on the way out of the gym and was waiting for the elevator. I politely asked if he was going out for dinner.

"No, going home."
"Oh, dinner with parents?"
"Yes"
*thinks back to when I heard from my friend that said person (in his 30s I think) was still very much dependent on his parents*
"Oh yeah...I heard that you're quite a...*tries to think of suitable word but ends up saying what comes to mind first*...mama's boy"
"...Yeah I'm still...reliant...what to do, have to look after them"
*proceeds to walk into lift*
"Oh but that's a good thing..."

I so desperately need a course in social etiquette.

Well on Friday I went into ARC to pass SOL Choo his birthday present and cookies. He's got this whole office to himself. The poor computer there has been pretty much choosified - ie been loaded with lots of gay music and gay movies and whatnot. LOL but at least he's coping, I mean what else can he do really? I lied to the guardhouse about why I needed to enter the camp. Despatch (ok), on Friday at 1735 hrs (no fucking way). At first, I thought they were going to barrage me with a whole series of questions but I suppose the seasoned despatcher in me was able to pull off the near impossible. And thank God I did or I may have been spending much more than 20 minutes inside.

Anyway, I was doing the usual surfing and came across this amazing picture which brought back so many memories.
I still vividly remember the hooplah surrounding this performance. After Satisfaction/Oops from 2000 (still her best and most iconic performance to date), there was mad speculation about what she could possibly do to top that. Well, she couldn't, and I didn't expect her to really. Moments like *that* aren't topped the very next year. But she came damn close. I mean, I didn't appreciate the lip-synching (I never do) but how could you argue against a performance with a live tiger and albino python? Who else had ever performed live with a python draped across their shoulders before? It was iconic in it's own right, the image still permeates pop culture 5 years later.

The more I think about it, the more I can't wait for Queen B to make her big comeback. I'm a little afraid about how the reception will be, but I suppose you won't know if you don't try (which is advice I really should listen to myself, me being the pussy willow that I am). Anyways, that Slave performance was just a few days before 9/11. I was at my relative's house trying desperately to watch the VMAs on my uncle's VCR, thanks to the fact that I don't have cable at home (AND STILL DON'T)! That was a Sunday and 9/11 was a Tuesday. Looking back now, that Sunday, Monday and Tuesday up to 8pm were the final days of an era of relative calm and stability. The cold war was long over, there weren't any serious threats to global peace, everything was more or less...settled. And then when the planes struck and the towers fell, we entered a new era which we are still very much struggling to cope with now.

I really don't know what to make of the whole war on terror. I mean, Iraq turned out to be a quagmire, and Afghanistan isn't a model of stable democracy either, but what did you expect Bush to do? Sit back and smoke a cigar? Sit down with Osama and negotiate? Seriously, the more I read about international affairs, the more I think that diplomacy is crap. It never offers long-term solutions, everything comes out half-baked, and consequently it never lasts very long. Just look at the situation in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tigers. Why should Bush, being the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, have to settle for mere talk in dealing with terrorists whose real aim is to destroy Western civilization and everything it stands for, while installing a global Islamic caliphate? Sometimes there just isn't room for talk, action has to be taken. Of course, the action should have been carried out more effectively, but that's another topic altogether. Bottom line, Bush was right to respond the way he did, in attacking Afghanistan and destroying the Taliban. Hell, they should have killed every single one of them, and we wouldn't have the problems we are having now in the south. Ok that's a little extreme but I hope it gives you an idea of how frustrated I am with the situation in the world right now. I simply don't understand this anti-American sentiment. It's bull.

Well that's all I have to say for now.

PS. CONGRATS MS SPEARS! NOW GET YOUR ASS BACK INTO THE SCENE!