Where does all that time go?

Following yet another delay in posting, below is a quick recap of the past week (or two).

The US Presidential Debate ( September 30, 2004 )

My thanks to cable TV -- in particular, CNN, woohoo! -- for letting me watch this in its entirety. A riveting 90 minutes of accusations and rebuttals ( and some major squirming on President Bush's part ) made for compelling television. Topic of the day: foreign policy and homeland security -- admittedly very sensitive stuff, given 9/11, Iraq, and all that tip-toeing around North Korea.

Ultimately, however, substance played a secondary role to the event, if post-debate media coverage was any indication. Reporters almost gleefully played and replayed Bush's little ( though significant ) gaffe over a comment he made on his reasons for invading Iraq, ie. "They attacked us.", to which Senator John Kerry calmly replied, "They never attacked us.", followed by Bush's huffing-and-puffing "Of COURSE Iraq never attacked us. I know THAT!". Talk about a comedy of errors. :D

Polls show Americans agreeing that Kerry outperformed Bush on this one, but the latter is still in the lead in terms of overall support. Still, it's anybody's game, and my money remains locked on the Kerry-Edwards team.

Keep your calendars marked: Vice-Presidential debate Oct 5, 2nd and 3rd Presidential debates Oct 8 and 13 ( from what I could gather from CNN yesterday, but I could be a little off, and bear in mind that "live" TV telecasts occur HERE on Oct 6, 9 and 14. )

Singapore Idol

Again, Sylvester Sim did his fans proud, with a soaring rendition of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. Other worthy contenders include Olinda and Taufik ( the latter possessing a voice that is ripe for the R&B genre ). Jerry Ong -- who squeaked through his performance -- and Christopher Lee -- who practically slaughtered You're Still You ( Josh Groban would NOT be happy ) -- managed to stay in the finals ( sacre bleu!!! ), while pretty girls Beverly and Jeassea ( initally tipped to emerge the victor, believe it or not ) got booted off.

Major shocker, that one.

The Apprentice

Did Nick deserve to be fired? Amy, yes, but I'd always thought Nick excelled while Kwame often faltered. Oh well, as long as Bill is safe, heh heh. :)

The final assignment has begun, and even though I know the eventual outcome, I'd love to see how one beat the other in order to secure his dream job.

In a nice plot twist, past players were brought back to aid the 2 finalists in their tasks, in particular, the snobbish yet totally useless Omarossa, who quickly put her skills in ignoring problems in favour of a good time to wonderful use. A college education and working in the White House obviously don't automatically endow you with leadership qualities. Heck, she isn't even a team player! Ah, how I love to hate Omarossa. :P

Mike Gayle's Turning Thirty

Just finished this terrific novel last night, and true to the many glowing reviews, it's extremely enjoyable. Not the laugh-out-loud-a-la-Dave-Barry type of book, but effectively gets under your skin and into your psyche male-confessional, peppered with insightful anecdotes which any "thirty-person" or "turning-thirty-person" can definitely relate to, and lots of lovable characters involved in complicated ( ie. very human ) situations.

The theme of friendship permeates throughout -- a topic very close to my heart, as I count among my good mates a large majority of my junior college class. Reading Gayle's words brought back loads of heartwarming memories, and even now, we can always get together for a meal or drinks, and talk like we'd never been apart. No judgements, no embarrassment, no holds barred. Political opinions, dirty jokes, frank criticisms -- you name it, we say it.

But out of all the gems in this tome, the one question that struck me is this: When did you first become a full-fledged adult?
We all know age is a poor indicator of emotional maturity. Some of us hit it early, others much later in life. My personal experience: when my mom almost went blind and I was faced with the possibility of a life turned completely upside-down ( for many reasons ), in addition to assuming the role of parent, after almost 3 decades of being the child ( yes, I admit it now :)). Weathering that rough patch definitely made me stronger, pulled the whole family together, and brought me back to Christianity. Looking back, if I could've changed anything during these past 2 years, I probably wouldn't. Imagine that. :)

So try Turning Thirty out for yourself. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it.

Now, about planning for MY 30th. :D