this is premium writing, no?

do not

Posted in isaiahlim_personal by isaiahlim on November 22, 2009

there is this theory, believed by many, that doing is more important than not doing.

action speaks louder than words. don’t just stand there, do something. seize the day.

as for me, the things I did not do – did not take credit, did not defend myself, did not spend that money, did not become an asshole, did not lecture, did not expose secrets, did no harm – these are the things i am happiest about.

emptiness is something

Posted in Quotations by isaiahlim on November 21, 2009

Stephen King:

When the narrator of “The Fling” finally faces up to the fact that he has no love or comfort to give his father, he says of himself, “I was all smooth surface with nothing inside except emptiness.”

why we write

Posted in writing by isaiahlim on November 20, 2009

Colum McCann on winning the National Book Award:

As fiction writers and people who believe in the word, we have to enter the anonymous corners of human experience to make that little corner right.

last night you took me to the mall and then it started to get physical

Posted in isaiahlim_uk by isaiahlim on November 19, 2009

(or the day i was defeated by ice cream)

Harrods, Nov 2009

each and every single day I know I’m going to have to eventually give you away

Posted in isaiahlim_uk by isaiahlim on November 19, 2009

Hyde Park, Nov 2009

it’s not that I wanna say goodbye

Posted in isaiahlim_uk by isaiahlim on November 19, 2009

Hyde Park, Nov 2009

gay space

Posted in Uncategorized by isaiahlim on November 19, 2009

Vulture:

Lady: “You are my happy place. I want to know, what is your happy place?”

Bon Jovi: “I love it when women talk about their happy place.”

no horsing around

Posted in isaiahlim_uk by isaiahlim on November 16, 2009

[16:49] non-profit worker:: how was ur trip?
[16:49] non-profit worker:: what was the highlight?
[16:50] me: riding the carousel in front of the natural history museum?
[16:50] non-profit worker:: oooo… nice hwat
[16:50] non-profit worker:: so romantic
[16:51] me: it hard’s to romance a mechanical horse

Untitled.001

(photo censored since at last count, I have at least 18,000 enemies)

hanky spanky

Posted in Books by isaiahlim on November 15, 2009

while searching for the ever elusive Scream My Name for its biggest fan, i came across another title, Blushing at Both Ends (sub-titled “A Masterly Collection of Correctional Measures”), which of course I now regret not buying.

back in 2 weeks

Posted in Personal by isaiahlim on October 31, 2009

Billy Joel:

Some folks like to get away…

now you know why there are quitters

Posted in Singapore by isaiahlim on October 30, 2009

Law Minister K. Shanmugam:

This is where most people make a mistake…I have tried to explain that we are different. We are a city. We are not a country.

used my experience to convince her of my love

Posted in oh no by isaiahlim on October 30, 2009

Ahmed Muhamed Dore, 112 years old on marrying a 17 year old:

I didn’t force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love; and then we agreed to marry.

this is as good a list as any

Posted in Great advice by isaiahlim on October 28, 2009

Six Basic Principles of Maturity:

1. Accept yourself

2. Accept others

3. Keep your sense of humor

4. Accept simple pleasures

5. Enjoy the present

6. Welcome work

the greatest lesson our ancestors have to teach us

Posted in Great advice by isaiahlim on October 28, 2009

David Brooks:

The greatest lesson our ancestors have to teach us is to remain both vigilant and unafraid. We must endeavor to emulate the ancient Romans; calm, efficient, treating zombies as just one more item on a rather mundane checklist. Panic is the undead’s greatest ally, doing far more damage, in some cases, than the creatures themselves. The goal is to be prepared, not scared, to use our heads, and cut off theirs.

Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun

Posted in Books by isaiahlim on October 28, 2009

30 – Of all the good things here in the solitude, nothing could match a wall clock that went all through the dark winter, striking the hours prettily.

103 – … he was appalled at the expenses that being in love could lead to.

230 – Women cannot tell one man from another, not always, not often.

318 – You have no need of a sword in your hand, you walk through life barehanded and bareheaded in the midst of a great kindliness.

319 – Not everybody is, but you are: vital to the earth. You sustain life. You go on from generation to generation, fulfilling yourselves through sheer breeding; when you die, the new brood takes over. This is what is meant by eternal life.

a department of surprises

Posted in Business by isaiahlim on October 27, 2009

Anita Roddick on The Body Shop:

But that real sense of change, that anarchy– I tell Gordon we need a department of surprises. Whatever we do we have to preserve that sense of being different… We just have to make sure we don’t wind up like an ordinary company.

drinking late at the bar

Posted in Uncategorized by isaiahlim on October 26, 2009

wala wala played trance last night in the upper room and it was, as mr. tan put it:

just wrong.

i asked them to change the music.

they played Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car.

it’s astonishing how a song about abject poverty can cheer me up so quickly.

what i said under the influence

Posted in Personal by isaiahlim on October 26, 2009

the best part about masturbation is that it does not involve public transport.

russian butter and asian values

Posted in Culture, Singapore by isaiahlim on October 24, 2009

back in the USSR, Russians know that when reports about the dangers of butter appear in the press, it was a sure sign that people would soon face a butter shortage.

here in Asia, when you read about politicians talking about “Asian values” in the press, it’s a sure sign that people would soon be confused with Confucianism, neutralised with sweet Namastes and sodomised as we Sawatdee-ka and bend.

don’t bend.

sympathetic pregnancy

Posted in Culture by isaiahlim on October 24, 2009

FT:

In Yunnan, for example, near today’s Burmese border, (Marco) Polo encounters men who take to their bed for 40 days after their wives give birth, a practice known as “sympathetic pregnancy”.