saturday nite thought-bites

It looks like the latest obsession is going to be table-tennis. i'm not sure exactly why it fascinates me so. It's probably at least partly because it's so different from what i usually do -- you can only do so much reading, thinking, and writing before you start suffering from serious brain-pain. And the training -- now that i'm actually getting proper training -- can be pretty therapeutic too: nothing better at the end of a long day than to stop thinking and just concentrate on practising your forehand / backhand / whatever. It's wonderfully mindless, like washing dishes.
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And like washing dishes, you know you're working steadily and systematically towards something beautiful -- clean sparkling dishes, or being able to play with the same style and panache as the pros. (Ok, maybe the same as the pros is a bit over-stretching things. Still, in this case, no harm aiming high ... )
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In other news. Reading the news and reactions to Harper Lee's new-old novel / pre-sequel (?) to To Kill A Mockingbird -- and setting all of this in the context of all the race-related killings and riots in the US over the last year or so, i'm just struck all over again how incredibly racist the US is. (And i don't just mean against African-Americans ...... ) i'm so glad i decided against going there.
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In other other news. Some parts of Taiwan -- the mountainous, foresty bits -- really look quite beautiful. i might just have found my not-too-far-away affordable getaway from Sg Urban Life ...
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