a summary of Biblical condensation?

One major part of English lessons when in Forms 1 - 3 was the "summary" part:

There'd be this one-page article that we'd have to "summarise" into a max of 100 words. I always felt that entire exercise was just a waste of time: the "technique" was to find the 10 key points of the article, and couch each of those points in a 10-word sentence. Ta-daaaaaah, you get a 100-word "summary".

Bleh.

The product was always stilted: the focus was more on the 10 key points than on flow/coherence. I know, I know, it was after all called "summary" .... but still... dunno what good it did in the bigger picture...

Other exposures to "summaries" were much better: the Readers Digest immediately comes to mind, what with their condensed versions of books and all.

Then a while ago, I stumbled across this from (then) Just Pure Mood: a condensed version of The Bible, in 50 words:

God made

Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled

Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided

Tablets guided
Promise landed
Saul freaked
David peeked

Prophets warned
Jesus born

God walked
Love talked

Anger crucified
Hope died

Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained.

Wonder if the person who thought of this worked with the Readers Digest?

P/S> ex-JPM: I couldn't find the post on your new site to link to: didn't keep track of *when* I found it on yr (old) blog, just where :p I'll be happy to add the link, if you don't mind providing it? :-)

Book update!

I don't have a target or anything, but I am keeping track of the books I read this year, and will post a summary of them all at the end of this year. A quick look at that draft shows that I've read 9 books in January 2006; 2 in February; but NONE SO FAR in March! Yikes!

Yea, somehow I'm not feeling the call of books right now: the new digs and the ikea-themed room are somehow not conducive, I guess :p But will need to at least log ONE book for March! Gonna look at all those partially-read / unread ones sitting in the cupboard / on the shelf....

In the meantime, here's a book I am definitely picking up; don't remember at whose blog I came across this: The Lost Blogs by Paul Davidson.

... what a great concept!! .... Here's the Book Description from Amazon: "There are over 13 million people in the world currently blogging, but what about the blogs written by the iconic men and women who (unfortunately) died before the Internet was even invented? In this witty and original take on the most important technological development since spam, THE LOST BLOGS offers hundreds of blogs from the most famous minds in history, detailing their hysterically personal (and impersonal) revelations, such as: John Lennon's thoughts after meeting a young woman named Yoko Ono (and her strange interest in the Beatles' publishing rights). Tips of the trade from Jesus Christ's carpentry blog, including how to build a combination water and wine rack. Shakespeare's treatment for a new play about two princes who misplace their horse and carriage and spend the entire play trying to locate it. How a stray hot dog nearly derailed Ghandi's hunger strike. Jim Morrison's original lyrics to Light My Fire (what does smell like a burning tire?). And the missing two cents from everyone else who matters, proving there's no such thing as "too much information."

... it's exactly my cup of tea, methinks!

... coming soon: May 2006.

A Laugh for the Day: New Drugs

Another sharing of an e-mailed goody:

NEW DRUGS FOR THE LADIES

D A M N I T O L
Take 2 and the rest of the world can go to hell for up to 8 full hours.

ST. M O M M A'S W O R T
Plant extract that treats mom's depression by rendering preschoolers unconscious for up to two days.

E M P T Y N E S T R O G E N
Suppository that eliminates melancholy and loneliness by reminding you of how awful they were as teenagers and how you couldn't wait till they moved out.

P E P T O B I M B O
Liquid silicone drink for single women. Two full cups swallowed before an evening out increases breast size, decreases intelligence, and prevents conception.

D U M B E R O L
When taken with Peptobimbo, can cause dangerously low IQ, resulting in enjoyment of country music and pickup trucks.

F L I P I T O R
Increases life expectancy of commuters by controlling road rage and the urge to flip off other drivers.

M E N I C I L L I N
Potent anti-boy-otic for older women. Increases resistance to such lethal lines as, "You make me want to be a better person. Can we get naked now?"

B U Y A G R A
Injectable stimulant taken prior to shopping. Increases potency, duration, and credit limit of spending spree.

J A C K A S S P I R I N
Relieves headache caused by a man who can't remember your birthday, anniversary, phone number, or to lift the toilet seat.

A N T I-T A L K S I D E N T
A spray carried in a purse or wallet to be used on anyone too eager to share their life stories with total strangers in elevators.

N A G A M E N T
When administered to a boyfriend or husband, provides the same irritation level as nagging him.

Hope you had a good laugh!

it's down to 21 now

Last December I said I had about 30 articles, in various stages of completion, saved as DRAFTS in this blogger's dashoboard. I counted 'em again today : down to 21, LMAO!

So, guess what today's objective is? Bring it down to at least 20, perferably 10-15 :-) Doesn't mean I'm gonna churn out 10 posts today: some topics may be combined into one post; some considered too stale & just get deleted, etc etc etc ... but definitely wanna bring that # down substantially.

Stay tuned! :-)

Dis and Dat

1. Listening to Green Day “Warning” while typing aimlessly. Other times, I listened to other CDs I missed while in the U.S. : Linkin Park’s 1st & 2nd albums (Hybrid Theory & Meteora). Don’t have a CD player in the room, so can only listen while at the PC. Wondering just which ones I’d make a point of bringing with me to the U.S., whether I’ll go ahead and take ‘em all, or just leave ‘em all… hmmmm… seeing as once I leave (in July? September? Dunno yet) I probably won’t be back here for a few years (barring any family emergency lah), I might as well bring at least those I’ve been missing, eh?

2. The moon’s provided some excellent views these past few days. Right now it looks pretty full, and peeking out from behind some clouds. So purty! And it’s at times like these that I actually feel the urge to invest in a good digital camera, so that I can snap & upload easily. Now, well, I *tried* to capture it with my phone, and well, it was so horrible I deleted it at once, accompanied by a disgusted grimace :p Imagine lah: low resolution, no light, no zoom… oh well :p

3. Blogger was being really weird… I couldn’t post anything – kept getting an error message about my archive not existing! And I was going to boast that I was typing from my beloved Coffee Bean!!! The one at Section 14 PJ. I figured I’d try my luck there, and if they weren’t wifi-ready I could hop over to the Star*ucks @ Jaya itself. Thankfully I didn’t have to do that. And yes, I had my ice vanilla latter regular skim milk with no screw-ups, whoohooo! And, the guy @ the counter recognized me as the “permanent fixture” of CBTL @ Ampang Point, teehehehe! So, even tho this CBTL is not one of my usual hangouts, it felt like I was home. Am I a geek? OR just a total CBTL fan? Both? :D

4. Been raining heavily every evening for weeks now… glad I got that *one* tennis session somehow… cos there’s absolutely NO way to plan anything in the evenings :-(

5. keep getting the line dropped - have had to re-dial-up like ten times already.. grrrr...

patience wearing thin...

ciao!

Friggin Blogger!

Yea, earlier it was friggin dial-up (and indirectly: blogrollling)

Now - it's definitely friggin Blogger!

Of the links in my sidebar, the only ones I've managed to load so far are Jeff Ooi, Kenny Sia and TNChick. All you others... sorry, I *did* plan on visiting, but looks like most of you are on blogspot, and for some reason, I can't get to your pages! Which is kinda weird, cos i can access my own page without problems!

Not gonna bother with any other visits at the moment. No use driving my blood upstairs, eh?

But hey, today is a free day (tho I *do* have things to do like, oh MAJORLY TINKER WITH MY RESUME, teehehehe!), so I may park my butt at a Star*ucks/CBTL** and surf from there. So even if blogger is still down by then, I can at least find out faster, LOL!

** I'm not confident that ALL Coffee Beans are now (free)-wifi-equipped, so I dunno if I wanna risk heading to let's say the one opposite PJ Hilton, hunt for parking etc, only to find out they've not been "upgraded" yet or something... I wish the CBTL website had information on this... sigh....

'laters!

sometimes I wonder...

... how on earth I turned out the way I did.

Okay, it's a small thing, but still... funny how some things trigger some thoughts...

So today, my parents and I were at a little cafe thingy, having lunch. When we were ready to go, we all stood up: they both just walked off, chairs sticking out around the table; I, on the other hand, had automatically pushed my chair back in before walking off.

I was puzzled: where did I pick that trait up, if not from them?

... after all, I feel like "I've always done that" ...

... and if that's the case, wouldn't it have been developed while I was young(er)?

... were they "positive hypocrites" who put on a good example which was then dropped when the kids left the nest? Or did they truly practice it before, then just couldn't be bothered in their older age (slight difference from the sentence before)? Or have they always (not) done it, and I only recently noticed? Which would mean I only developed this habit much later in life.

Why the big deal, you ask? After all, I know many (most?) people don't bother to push their chairs back in when they leave the table, right?

It's just me and my outlook on life, the universe, and everything, I suppose.... I just don't like to see people leaving their chairs away from tables: it's messy; it's inconsiderate; I feel as if these people are saying "the staff are being paid to straighten up once we leave, why bother doing their job for them?"

So tell me this, Mr and Mrs "it's not my job": at home, do you push your chair back to the table when you get up?

If yes: then why don't you just go ahead and continue that habit outside? It won't hurt you one iota, and you're doing a small good deed to the waitstaff of the restaurant or wherever. Even if it goes unnoticed, it *is* a good deed.

If no: okayyyy, so who DOES push it back in? or is your place all messy and not having a neat dining area just a vague memory? or... do you have a maid whom you expect to do everything for you, including straightning up after you?

Is it just me and my unusual perspective on life that has me linking small nice deeds like this with: being humble, showing respect for other people, and in general just being a nice person?

Also: I dunno about you, but i don't like having to "slalom" past all these chairs when getting to/from my own table, so I push my chair back to the table because I don't want to contribute to the "problem".

Maybe it's just not important enough to others?

Maybe they are not even *aware* of dinky little chairs when their minds are on their full tummies, the tv program they want to rush home to see, the important meeting they need to psych themselves up for the next day, the sex they are going to have when they get back cos it's "their night", etc etc etc??

Discuss.
*grin!*

p/s: in a related vein: have you heard the "why should I do someone else's job" line get twisted to justify behaviour known to be bad? Here's what I mean: i just couldn't believe my ears when someone I knew justified littering by saying "If I don't litter, those poor DBKL street sweepers will be out of a job! I've got to help them maah!" Errrr, yeah. Uh-huh. ... some people just blow my mind...