Here's the mundane I promised to avoid

Monday night J. and I went for Japanese food in Sun Plaza (the mall of malls here in Medan). There is an ice skating rink there, and I think I would like my skates now, so that I can show off.

As we were leaving the restaurant we passed an arcade and I pulled J. into it with full understanding of her utter disdain for video games. They had that basketball game in which a player shoot small basketballs at a small basketball hoop and has only a limited amount of time. The machine records all made baskets and it is a race against the clock. We played that. As I am, in this region only, considered a basketball expert, the pressure was on me but not too heavily as J. appears to have very little experience with any sport that involves catching and throwing things. Fate must have been in her favour for as our games simultaneously concluded, the scoreboard revealed that she had made more baskets than I, and of this I have been repeatedly reminded ever since. The full record should show, however, that after three games it was I who had the highest score. My performance improved once I realized that good shooting technique was a hindrance and that it was far easier to simply throw the ball through with one hand. I also beat her soundly at air hockey, but she doesn't seem to recall that so well.

Two teachers are gone this week visiting sick relatives or dealing with visa issues and therefore I have had to cover classes outside of my own, I don't really have time for that, but...what choice do I have.

Once class I covered is called Values. I have noticed that the "values" stressed by the Singaporean curriculum are defined in such a way that the "value" that trumps all is OBEDIENCE. Flexibility is defined as accepting the changes made by your authorities with grace. Indpendence is defined as taking responsibility for the work you are orederd to perform by your superiors. I once, in America, was drinking coffee and talking politics with a table housing an inordinate number of libertarians all of whom agreed that Minnesota was paternalistic state. If they'd any understanding of Singapore, they'd have chosen a different word, I'm sure.

I agree with the commentor that Cheney is insane. I remember news of that Rumsfeldian memo "Are we creating terrorists faster than we can kill them?" from a while ago. At the time I thought it was a question that should have been asked before the invasion and occupation and phrased "Will we create more terrorists..." Rumsfeld wanted people in the DOD to answer this for him, but apparently not the CIA, as the latter had already released reports suggesting that such an outcome was LIKELY.

I believe President Bush is planning on visiting Indonesia early next year. It will be interesting to see where he goes and how much information of his visit will be available. He has come before and stayed somewhere posh in, where else?, Bali. He should come to Sumatra, visit Aceh, pledge more aid to the region where the victims of the tsunami still rot in regugee camps with no hope of having a home again in the forseeable future. He should do this out of true humanitarian (or even Christian concern) and not for political purposes. He should, but he won't.