espirit de l'escalier

1. excessive use of the passive tense.
2. long sentences with little variation in structure.
3. repetitive adjectives/jargon-y nouns.
4. unclear/indefinite use of 'this'


(oh, I'm back in singapore! say hi!)

"This makes my seventh summer without respite in this country, and I long for the completion of this question of revision in order that I may take some rest, get Japan off the brain and recover lost strength."[1]

this concluded a long note from parkes to the permanent under-secretary for foreign affairs. I felt a twang of sympathy, and a twang of guilt. I need to get Japan off the brain, but I haven't had seven summers without respite.

[1] FO 363/2 Tenterden Papers. August 12 1879. Parkes to Tenterden

I have written 9,274 words in revision notes (yup, timelines, bullet points, etc., no prose) in the last 2 weeks. 

And at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and
from glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat,
as if about to go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that
gloom brooding over a crowd of men.

Forthwith a change came over the waters, and the serenity became less
brilliant but more profound. The old river in its broad reach rested
unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the
race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a
waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth. We looked at the
venerable stream not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and
departs for ever, but in the august light of abiding memories. And
indeed nothing is easier for a man who has, as the phrase goes,
"followed the sea" with reverence and affection, that to evoke the
great spirit of the past upon the lower reaches of the Thames. The tidal
current runs to and fro in its unceasing service, crowded with memories
of men and ships it had borne to the rest of home or to the battles
of the sea. It had known and served all the men of whom the nation is
proud, from Sir Francis Drake to Sir John Franklin, knights all, titled
and untitled--the great knights-errant of the sea. It had borne all the
ships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time, from
the _Golden Hind_ returning with her rotund flanks full of treasure, to be
visited by the Queen's Highness and thus pass out of the gigantic tale,
to the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, bound on other conquests--and that never
returned. It had known the ships and the men. They had sailed from
Deptford, from Greenwich, from Erith--the adventurers and the settlers;
kings' ships and the ships of men on 'Change; captains, admirals, the
dark "interlopers" of the Eastern trade, and the commissioned "generals"
of East India fleets. Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all
had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch,
messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the
sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river
into the mystery of an unknown earth! . . . The dreams of men, the seed
of commonwealths, the germs of empires.
- joseph conrad, heart of darkness

purrs.

whenever I am unhappy, I google image search the word, 'kitten'.

as previously stated, I am going to india (mumbai, goa, etc.) today and back in singapore on the morning of 29 august. arriving in london on the morning of 5 sept.

in india I will be contactable in the case of emergency on my singapore mobile number (which remains the same as previously).

oh god. harry potter. I read my first when I was 12, I wrote fic when I was 14, I fell out of love and into angst when I was 16, and now I am nearly 20 and - it's done.

I feel like a very old and once cherished friend has returned for an afternoon, but just that. oh my.

I'm quite sad. this passage of time and growing up business is shite.

thoughts on the book to come at a later time, perhaps, when more people have had the time to read and reread it.

don't panic.

in rome until 19 dec, then in venice until 21 dec, back in london 22 dec onwards.

up into the silence the green
silence with a white earth in it

you will(kiss me)go ( ... )

- e e cummings

***

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins, ( ... )

- shel silverstein