Introverted Intuitive Thinker Judger

I was going to go hiking today. Take the MRT ("Metro" as I prefer to call it) to Pasir Ris ("Paris Riz" as I keep calling it...) then down the beach parks to the south and east. I was aware from the TV weather late last night that there will be afternoon thunderstorms (as there was the last time I did an East Coast hike) but now I am almost completely ready (still need to get gore-tex shoes).

This has been put on hold; I started downloading FireFox, and then a heap of addins, and then to test some of the tab control addins I opened all of my blog links, and then I started to read some...

SarongPartyGirl, who had moved to I Z Reloaded, is now at Babe Logic (babelogic.net). She is kind of seminal for me as she was one of my first introductions to Singaporean blogging. It's is fascinating how her style, perhaps even her personality, has changed with each new blog site. Each seems to definitively be a manifestation of a new phase in her life, perhaps even her consciousness. She has updated her link on SPG.blogspot, in that the second last blog is 2005 and the latest is 2008 redirecting you to babelogic, whereas there used to be a redirection to IZ Reloaded. She comments that Singapore has changed so much in the last few years. I think perhaps it is more that she has matured so much in this time. Also going overseas helps, not just in adding focus, new perspectives, something to make a comparison with, but also because things change whilst you are gone and so you notice it more when you return. You miss the slow adjustments and return to find the big difference at the end of the line. Anyhow, a lot more maturity, even clarity maybe, a lot more depth, a lot less anger. A lot more breadth of subject.

An hour or so on Skype with a friend still in Oz (he and new wifey are thinking of coming to SG in about 18 months - want the new babe to get Oz citizenship and so staying in Adelaide for the first year and a bit of its life, she is in Oz on a work permit from Malaysia, they don't want the child to be stuck with Malaysian citizenship - wise move, but couldn't they just make an application based on paternity? I am not sure, Australia is funny on that one, think it might only give citizenship based on maternity). So, he was trying to bit torrent my music off my pc to me. Not quite working, in the sense that it wasn't working at all. Still, if I get a job then I will return for Xmas and can put all of my music files on a pocket drive, so I am not too fussed.

And now it is early afternoon and by the time I arrived at any point to commence a hike the forecast thunder storm would be about starting. So I will have lunch, have a nap, spend the arvo playing Unreal II, go hiking tomorrow.

Oh yeah, funny thing yesterday. I am getting to quite like this idea of eating out every dinner (often lunch as well) since it is so cheap in SG and it means no dishes to wash! On the way down to the Little China at Bencoolen last night a young Indian guy stopped me and we talked, he claimed to be a holy man and opened his wallet to show me a picture of a saint (which kind of proves that one beyond any reasonable doubt, doesn't it?), then he guessed my age and my favourite colour (but he got my favourite flower wrong) and thought that this was enough to warrant $100 from me!!!
Claimed that he would pray for me and since he is a holy man that this would ensure that I become very rich. He seemed quite affronted when I refused, but as I put it he hadn't actually done anything for me, if he can pray for me and I do get rich (as a direct result of his prayers), then I will give him $100.
Seems fair to me.

I have a similar concept with deities; introduce me to a god that actually gives me something when I pray to him/her/it and I will do so. But in my observation most take people's prayers and give nothing back. To be honest, I have interacted with something(s) non-physical and gotten exactly what I asked for, but that is probably a discussion for another day. On a slightly similar tack; as I have mentioned in previous posts, I felt a lot of 'push' (but no 'pull') bringing me here to SG, and I had a sneaky suspicion that some Chinese deity was responsible. A lot of things lead me to this conclusion, the foreclosure on the house I was renting by HSBC was just one of the more amusing. Around this time I kept seeing one Chinese deity a lot, or perhaps just noticing his representations more, and I have seen them several times since I arrived here as well. So I went to the National Library to do some research. Firstly, I was rather disappointed by the small selection of books on Chinese philosophy, culture, and religion, and most of those there (in English) were by Europeans with a clearly stated agenda to either disprove them or to 'convert' readers. I would have thought that such a large library in an English speaking Chinese state would have a better selection of English language works on Chinese subjects. Specifically, books to explain Chinese religion, culture, and philosophy to a natural English speaker - to help us to assimilate into Singaporean society better. Secondly, although I found out little about him, I did find him.

I think that the deity responsible may be Guan Gong, God of War and Commerce.