an icepick through the keyhole

I really wish there was some way of Livejournal detecting when a friend's entry indicates that they need a hug or a reassuring reply and let me know because, God knows, I don't have time to read even my inner circle filters anymore and I'm really sorry about this.

It's May, and my stint as Field Coroner for April is over. It wasn't looking at the bodies that was the tough part, it was having to wake up at "go to work" time and go to the morgue on the weekends when I should have been gently comatose at home, as is my usual practice.

But this isn't what I'm talking about. To elucidate:

I may not look it, but I used to go to the gym, and subscribe to Men's Health and all that. Really. This was years and years ago, when I was still working in the Attorney-General's Chambers, and I stopped around the time I started my LJ. The reason I stopped was because I used to go with a bunch of my fellow prosecutors, and it was fun, and it wasn't a chore, and after I got transferred to the Courts, there was nobody to go with and it became boring. So I stopped.

I put on quite a bit of weight, which I lost when I was in grad school, thanks to the student poverty diet. Most of that has been replaced since I've gotten back to Singapore and Mom's Cooking™. So I'm currently tipping the scales at, oh, 160 lb. (72.5 kg), with 21% body fat, which, for a 5' 3" fella, isn't horribly obese, but overweight nonetheless. Given my hypertension, it's a good idea to tone it down. For comparison, back in the US, I was at about 143 lb (65 kg). In my Army days, 17 years ago, I topped out at 126 lb. (57 kg), most of that muscle, which shows you how far I've fallen.

Anyway, the Civil Service Club opened a clubhouse about 15 minutes walk away from my place, and it has a gym which charges S$30 (US$19) a month if you're a member of the CSC, which I am (you pay a year in advance, you get two months free). It's pretty basic - weight machines, treadmills, but for the weight loss/muscle toning thing I used to do, it's all I need. And they have trainers on hand to help me remember how to use the damn torture devices.

So, I'll be back at the treadmills for the first time in, oh, about 6 years tomorrow. Pray for me.

When I left the US, I had long hair, and nobody outside Singapore aside from Gwen, Joe and Gavin have seen me back with short hair. I do miss having that Eighth Doctor-like do, but unfortunately they don't allow judges of the masculine variety to wear their hair like Byron.

I got it trimmed today, so I figured I'd show it — and myself — off to those who haven't seen me since I left. Of course, those who never saw me with long hair will wonder what the hell this vanity is all about...

But, this is what I look like these days.

From nightface

( 1. Since you're closer to us then most filkers worldwide, any chance of us getting you to a Con in Israel sometime? )

( 2. Do you know when you might have a cd out? (I know I've asked before, but I could promise you half dozen orders from here, maybe more. )

( 3. How do you reconcile going from the Law to History, or even just wanting to? (been trying to figure this out myself, except as re Economics.) )

( 4. Why Cthulu? )

( 5. What do you think of the new Battlestar Galactica, expecially the end of season 2? )

These questions brought to you courtesy of... well, it's an anon, but I'm quite confident it's fellow Whovian Paul Hayes.

( 1) Are you really the only Doctor Who fan Singapore has ever produced, or does it just seem that way from the outside? Did you kill all the others in an outburst of I'm the only scarf-wearer in the village! style territorialism? ;-) )

( 2) If Chelsea entered the World Cup, keeping all their international players, how far would they get? )

( 3) Do you ever worry that we might be adding just a bit *too much* needless detail to Wikipedia? )

( 4) I'm doing jury service next week. Any tips? (Aside from 'stay awake and pay attention', obviously...). )

( 5) Which missing episode would you most want back and why? )

Hmm. Not many questioners so far. Am I no longer that interesting? But let's deal with what we do have. First up, sdorn, who asked just one question... well, okay, maybe two.

( What types of humor do you love? )

( What type(s) may not offend you but does create the response, huh? )

Warning, this is introspective and self-indulgent, possibly narcissistic as well.

I apparently surprised some people — well, at least one person — on Wikipedia the other day by writing a verbal diatribe against a particularly troublesome editor.

This editor has been causing a lot of disruption, not necessarily maliciously, but simply because he does not understand what the "neutral point of view" policy is, nor does he understand why on Wikipedia we shy away from original research or why certain sources are just not credible. He has indulged in edit wars, been blocked, then promised he'd reform, and then breaks those promises. In the ongoing saga of How Do You Solve A Problem Like [Redacted]? I weighed in with my opinion that no further negotiation or second chances should be forthcoming. My exact words were, "He started out as an annoyance, he has grown to be a nuisance, and is rapidly approaching a cancer."

Apparently, this surprised this other editor because I always seemed like such a calm kind of guy. I get this a lot - I always look like I'm together, or stable, or rock solid, and while my closest friends have seen me in states decidely UNtogether and UNsolid, perhaps I should disabuse people of the notion that I'm all that stable.

I may seem that way to people who've just met me or don't know me that well because I have an ability, which perhaps is healthy in some ways and in other ways is not, to detach myself from a situation and look at it in a way that I hope is rational and objective. This kind of dissociation happens a lot, and I can sometimes seem pretty scarily emotionless when I'm doing it. One of my high school nicknames was "Jock Spock" — Mr. Spock on steroids, basically.

But hey, ultimately, I'm human. I just suppress a lot of the seething anger because I think that rationality and professionalism is a good thing, and I try to see the best in everything (up to a point) because not only do I have faith that God, etc. in the long run Makes Everything Better^TM, but it's also probably better for my blood pressure if I treat life this way. But, like Woody Allen said, other people get angry, I grow a tumor.

But every now and then — and I think you've seen it during my pundit moments — it comes out. I'm a slow burner, and on top of that, I'm an inverterate ham, so when I let go, it's inevitably dramatic. I can see how it may be frightening, or startling to see a generally calm person snap out like this, but you know what? I'm actually glad it's startling. This way, people pay attention, and Lord knows, in my life, being my size and the way I am, it's been hard to get people's attention.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, for my new friends out there... well, don't think I'm necessarily a nice guy. I can be as nasty and evil and just down right mean as anyone. I'm just too lazy to be that way most of the time. I express the evil differently.

Differently evil. Now there's a nice little PC phrase for you. I think I'll keep it.