A big cardboard chunk of my childhood just arrived in the mail So who wants to play? If you really really loved me You'd buy me a plush facehugger for Christmas. my yoga is tougher than your yoga So I've been taking yoga classes, along with the Smoot. I don't know what she does during her lesson, which is just before mine, but she come out all radiant and smiley. When I come out of mine, I'm sweaty, trembling and on the verge of throwing up. I tried and tried... ...but I just couldn't come up with a witty remark about Argentina and crying. (un)AWARE I should feel bad about the fact that AWARE, Singapore's premiere women's advocacy group, has been eaten hollow by a group of Dobon-esque fundamentalist militants. And I do. But I also think they brought it on themselves.There are two main points that I can't get past. First, that the old guard could allow it to happen. That's just plain complacency. If they got blindsided, it's because they pain Once you've injured your back, it takes very little to re-injure it -- you lean over the sink to brush your teeth or you sit on the edge of the bed and prepare to pull on your socks and bam, a twinge turns into a shriek of pain faster than you can think to stop whatever innocuous motion you'd just started and will never now complete.I was leaning on the bathroom sink, towelling myself off, and I Notes from the homefront So Some People are having issues concerning our domestic situation. All that cooking, cleaning, child-minding and washing being done by the pale male rather than the more brown, more woman person could get on anyone's nerves, sure enough.She's pretty good about taking out the trash, though. I'll give her that.For myself, I don't really mind sweeping the floor, washing the dishes and the clothes, famous blue raincoat weather Traditionally I spend Sunday evenings alone. The wife and the son go off to Grandma's house to do whatever it is they do there, and I putter around the house and read, or watch the shows I want to watch rather than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Keeping Up With The Mutated It's Complicated True Hollywood Cold-Case What-Have-You.Or sometimes I try to write. Like now.Nudging my left elbow is what 'tis the season Too many things to say, really, with no real idea how to say them. Inside, there is much bubbling, and if you listen closely, you can hear the faint high hiss of escaping steam, but the lid is firmly on, my friends. For now.At some point, at some point I'll put it all down.Meanwhile, I hope your Chirstmas was tolerable. Machineboy reveled in his toy guitar, his off-off brand gameboy, his Tom & non-announcement I suppose this would be considered liveblogging. I'm sitting at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at the base of Suntec Tower Four, my habitual haunt. It's a Sunday afternoon. I have an internet connection and a laptop, and I'm not afraid to use either. It's just that I don't have much to say.Or rather, there is much to say, but I don't find myself particularly interested in saying any of it. All of it New Gar the Pitiless Post Apparently Gar has been suffering from insomnia, and getting scant sympathy about it. Dear America: Your New Survival Handbook What follows are a few tips I learned while suffering from extreme poverty in the US. This is personal experience, suited for a single person, but a little ingenuity can be applied to shape some of these ideas for families.If you smoke, don't bother trying to quit. You're already in a position to be miserable, and your attitude is now your greatest asset. You should, however, buy the cheapest, Endless marathons and the human heart The Sept. 4 issue of the Straits Times ran an excerpt of an interview with Prime Minister Lee Hsien loong, entitled 'Running the endless marathon'. When asked what Singapore sees in its future, PM Lee replied:"There is no end in sight. We have a saying - 'the endless marathon'. In ten years, we hope to see a different Singapore, We hope it will be a Singapore possessed of greater culture, with a To all the posts I've blogged before.... Content coming this week. I'd say that I promise, but that would be a lie. Smooches. Screw Tom Wolfe I'm comin' home. Seriously, time to update your links, mmm-k? If you're reading this, you're committing the bloging equivalent of wearing spats because you think they're cutting edge fashion. My new, new blog is here. It's called in second person, and it's all eclectic and stuff. Try it, you might like it! Hugs and kisses, The blogger formerly known as MercerMachine over here... ...you'll find my new home. On writing Severance, the birds of leaving call to usYet here we stand, endowed with the fear of flightOverland, the winds of change consume the landWhile we remain in the shadow of summers now past.When all the leaves have fallen and turned to dustWill we remain entrenched within our ways?Indifference--the plague that moves throughout this landOmen signs in the shapes of things to come.-Dead Can Dance, " P.S. - Buy this This is the first reason I have put blogging aside for an undetermined amount of time. A bunch of short stories have built up over the years, and I wanted to clear the decks, so to speak. If you want to, you can buy it here. Um, please?Just don't tell me about any typos. So long, folks. Hi everybody. Been thinking a lot about this, and I've decided it's time to close up shop here at SomethingSticky. I've had a lot of fun and met some great people, virtually and otherwise, but I think this blog has run its course.It's time now for me to concentrate on those other areas of my life, like my family, my studies, and my serious writing.If you'd like to keep in touch, please do! Fiction: And All the World a Grave (final) I never drew any pleasure from killing. Malthus and others I've known seemed to delight in it. Killing, inflicting pain. Pain especially, be it mental or physical or – best of all sordid worlds – Killing after torturing some poor wretch to the point of madness. I never took any pleasure in it. Ironic, wouldn't you say?Malthus thought so. I think Ahenobarbus would, did he believe that what I did I laughed until my spleen came out my nose Since I posted this, you know how many new links this blog has gotten? I'll tell ya: -2. Either people really, really don't want to see me dressed up as Xiaxue, or this blog is simply becoming stale. Shrug. At least I'm not this loser.Anyway, here's some random hot babe: Fiction: And All the World a Grave (part 2) Ahenobarbus says I must be the most evil person who's ever lived. He says it with a smile, but I really think he believes it. He can't understand how I could care for no one and nothing. He says even the old Emperors, as sadistic a lot as they were, had appetites and enthusiasms. Metitus, butcher of Cispades, built toy boats. Aphranus, the man who plucked out his mother's eyes and ate them, loved Chocolate is GUD. Chocolate is GUD. Originally uploaded by MercerMachine. This one is from MrsMachine. That's a choco-stick he's holding. Well, was a choco-stick. Sticky Issues: Not a Threat Sticky Issues: Not a Threat Originally uploaded by MercerMachine. Not that I have much sympathy for TT, mind... Sticky Issues (untitled) Sticky Issues (untitled) Originally uploaded by MercerMachine. Sticky Issues: "A Threat Too Far" Sticky Issues: "A Threat Too Far" Originally uploaded by MercerMachine. It's been a long time since this first Sticky Issue, and I decided to do a remake, but with a bigger budget and better special effects in honor of TT's impending jail sentence.Click on pic, then click on 'all sizes' to see it in all its monochromatic wonder. Now I know... How to get more hits. Check this out. So here's my version: If I get 4,707 links, I will dress up like you-know-who. On Orchard Road. On a Saturday. Makeup, wig and all (not that she wears a wig (that I know of)). Fiction: And All the World a Grave (part 1) i. They called this place the Abode of Wraiths. It is a very old place in a very old city, this pile of stone set high on a hill overlooking the Vanach bay. It is—was—the black heart of a twisted body, steeped in history and foul deeds. It's home, now. They used to bring the Witches here to execute them, and I am smart. You can tell by the hat. That's why I'm gonna put together a book of all the decent Sticky Issues cartoons and sell it and stuff. I'd like to conduct an informal poll on whether anyone would actually BUY such a book first, so if you don't mind, leave a comment telling me whether you'd shell out your hard-earned cash to see never-before-seen episodes of Ninja Joe and other stickiness. Thanks!