The best way to cheat someone out of hard earned riches.... hehehe....

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=129

And if you're not currently reading this most excellent comic regularly, WHY THE HECK NOT?? (well, apart from workfamilyfrenslovers-time-related issues anyway......)

More updates:

Do you guys realise that next year most of us will be turning 24?

[Ducks the cries of "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and the rotten veggies thrown her way]

Ok...... *brushes a piece of cabbage off her arm* but which also means that next year is the year of the Rooster, which is OUR year.

Least, I hope it is. I could use a year of good luck, prosperity and fortune. (Notice how so many Chinese greetings have to do with money. Hmmm... )

And cos' of that, I had a flash of inspiration one night and started drawing cartoon chickens. Yes, cartoon chickens. Don't look at me like that, dammit! It's actually an idea for a short weblogcomicthingy that I'll put up here in Jan 05 till CNY.

Meanwhile, here's a taste of chicken:



Yes, yes I know....... Too Much Time On Her Hands......

HIV testing - Is it any use?

In today's papers, the govt has decided to test all expectant mothers for HIV, unless they opt out of it. The bottomline is that if you're a pregnant mother, the doctor will automatically test you for HIV unless you specifically opt out of it.

My question is: So what?

Does this really curb the spread of HIV in Singapore? Testing expectant mothers who are HIV-infected and their HIV-infected offspring can only tell you how many new HIV cases there are each year, a statistic which is already being collected.

The difference is that now, they get the chance to screw up a potential life before it has even begun.

Think about it: Assuming you're sway enuff to get HIV-infected and you become pregnant. ( I'm working under the assumption that you weren't aware that you were HIV-infected before you became pregnant ) The government tests you, and you find out that you are, and that ultimately so is your yet-unborn child.

Now, what does the government want to do about you?

No, let's rephrase: What CAN they do about you, AND your child?

Can they prevent you from having another child? Can they sterilise you then and there if the doctor finds out you have HIV, in order to prevent you spreading the virus? Can they monitor you day and night to make sure you don't sleep with other healthy men? Most importantly, can they pay for your cocktail of drugs to keep you alive for a few more years?

The problem here is, the answer to most of the above questions is either a NO or a HARD TO ACCOMPLISH. So in other words, even if they find out you have HIV, they can't do anything about the situation, besides warn you about it, and advise you against taking any other lovers.

And worse still: They would have planted you and your child with the stigma of AIDS-sufferers for the rest of your lives.

Your child would know, from the day that he was born, that he is suffering from HIV and live with that, for however little years he has left.

Is that fair to the child? Was he the one who slept around? Was he asking to be infected? No, he was just a innocent little lump with the misfortune to be created in his mother's infected ovaries.

Wat's the point of this entry? My main point is to say that there is NO REAL HELP that can be given with this latest testing measure. At best, it's a massive information-gathering move.

But if you are an expectant mother, who's just found out that you are infected with HIV and so is your child, there is no help or comfort that comes with this information.

If they wanna curb the spread of HIV that badly, let's see some more constructive measures to do so.

A quick post: Found this great short webcomic on Chinese weddings. She's good. Take a peek.

Jen Wang's Double Happiness Wedding:

http://www.stringsoffate.com/art/comics/wedding/

With all the raving I did in the last post, I forgot to mention my trip to JB and the acquisition of a new movie. :p

First up, my family made one of their monthly trips to JB for haircuts, groceries, pizza, and DVDs. Pirated lah, then? :p

Despite several cleanups in Holiday Plaza, it still remains the place for anyone to get the latest movie DVDs. You walk into the place and the first thing that strikes you.... Is a young chinese male, asking you, "(In Chinese) BOss! Boss! You want movie? Latest movie? Very cheap! Come in and take a look!"

Even if you ignore him, you walk on further.... and you realise that half the shops on the basement level are pirated vendors, all selling the same DVD titles. Anime, English movie, Chinese movie, Hongkong drama serial, Taiwanese drama serial, Japanese, Korean... You watch it, they probably have it somewhere here.

Eventually, by listening to some little instinctual voice inside his head, my dad decides on a shop. We stand at the shopfront at first, looking at the movies, while the guy at the shopfront promotes his wares. "(In Chinese again) BOss! You wanna watch good movie? Latest movies?"

"(In hokkien) You only got these ah?" asks Dad.

"(Back in hokkien) Got some more, got some more, you come in here." At which point, after ascertaining that we were potential paying customers ( as opposed to potential undercover cops coming to bust their asses ) he slides a portion of the backwall to one side, and we are led into an inner room, which is lined wall to wall ceiling to floor with DVDs.

Whoa.

We peruse, we make enquiries, ( "Polar express good or not?" "Boss, don wan lah, that one is shot in cinema one. Not good" ) we bargain ( "2 DVDs how much?" "Boss, you buy 3, I give you for RM20" "Gimme cheaper price for 2 lah." "Cannot lah, boss." ) And finally, we make our purchase. ( "Thank you ah, boss, thank you!" )

Incidentally, the movies my dad chose, Chronicles of Riddick and Garfield, sucked, according to him anyway. :p Which makes me thankful that I chose..... Delovely.

Delovely is lovely. Ok, bad pun. But really, it is. The movie tells the story of Cole Porter, a composer in the days of black and white movies, when Hollywood actually produced talented actors who could sing, dance and act at once. Kidding. :p I just said that because I donno what time frame the movie takes place in... haha...

So interestingly enough, Porter happens to be gay. And also married to the attractive Linda Lee Thomas. *wink wink* The movie thus tracks their..... interesting..... marriage throughout its course, and how the couple deal with Cole's homosexual philandering, the loss of his leg, and eventually Linda's death.

Of course, Porter being a composer, the story is interposed with many of the songs he composed, and it becomes sorta a musical. The songs are sung by many leading singers, including Robbie Williams, Alanis Morrisette and Mario Frangoulis. ( I donno how many of you know the last name, but I downloaded his last album, and boy, he's good! )

In short, watching Delovely is like inhaling a mixture of jazzy broadway, red wine and cigarette smoke. Hmmm.... a comfortable mixture. :) If you have the chance, get the movie!

( Either that or make an appointment with me and I'll hold a screening in my house. :P )

Bah! Humbug!

bleargh. I'm not fated to go anywhere overseas this month. While half the world around me seems to be out of singapore one way or another, I'm stuck here, with the shitty weather, nursing a potential runny nose, [pleasedonexplodeintoflu] cursing at the incessant rains, the lower temperatures, lack of sun, and the resultant migraine I've gotten because of the weather and the cursing.

Not to mention the continuous playing of kitschy christmas carols in all the shopping malls, and the increased traffic from all those kids on holiday. One more carol n frosty gets it with a hairdryer.

ergh. Not in best of moods. Went out with Jules for lunch, and aft that, spent some time lounging about borders reading free comics [ok, not exactly free] and then got a throbbing headache for sponging off on them. Ow. [headaches come and go with me easily with changes in weather and airconditioning]

So I went back home, took a nap, and now really spaced out...... My head feels throbby, my nose feels runny and I'm freakin' cold. Did I mention I hated this time of year? Let us count the reasons why:

WHY DECEMBER IS A HUMBUG

1. The monsoon season arrives in Singapore. Temperatures drop from a comfortable tropical one to a barely bearable temperate zone. The rain is incessant and unpredictable. No, scratch that. It's predictable in the sense that it rains just when I have to leave the house, and I'm wearing nice pants and shoes.

2. All those kids on holiday, running around, screaming, scrambling for toys and stuff. Argh! Spend one hour, no 5 mins sitting at the children's seating area in Borders and you know what I mean. [And incidentally, the seating area has been moved to a corner at the very back of the store. I wonder why.]

3. The incessant xmas carols. Somehow or another, all these shopping malls think that by playing endless runs of Rudolph I'd be magically hypnotised into buying something from there. Yeah, it works. I'm magically hypnotised into buying a giant baseball bat in order to whack out their audio system.

4. Couples strolling down Orchard Road. 'Nuff said. *sulks*

Instead I shall spend December curled up at home, blasted CDs on my PC. This because my mini-hifi has given up the CD function. *cries* I need a new CD player............ Where's Santa when you really need him???

Ok, I'm quitting this blog now, because I'm garnering too much self-pity with this entry. See u guys when the weather and the hormones improve.