Text message this, bitch!

Apparently President Bush is going to be in town tomorrow because of a stop-over on the way to Vietnam. Not only that, he will actually be on campus at NUS. Chances are I won't see him because it'll be highly inaccessible to the public, blah-blah-blah, but kind of neat, en't it?


Speaking of Singapore, most recently a certain 23-year-old Singaporean woman beat the Guiness world record for fastest text-messaging. Congratulations, Singapore. Living in a tiny country is no excuse for not having nimble thumbs.

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Thanks to a Southeast Asian literature class, I've had a chance to read a lot of good short stories from Singapore. Do you know what's so great about reading short stories from Singapore if you're studying abroad in Singapore? Chances are, if they ever mention an actual location within the country, you've already been there. Twice.

Speaking of reading, here are the books that I have read while being here:

- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
One interesting thing about this book was I wasn't particularly pulled into the story while I was reading it, but it wasn't until after I put down the book I couldn't stop thinking about it. Creepy and unsettling in a wonderful kind of way.

- The Giver by Louis Lowry
This is a reread of a young adult classic. Recommended rereading at least every five years.

- Best American Short Stories 2006
They really are damn good.

- The Merlion and the Hibiscus [A collection of short stories written in English from Singapore and Malaysia]
Southeast Asian fiction is sorely underrepresented in the publishing world. It's a shame a lot of these writers aren't known outside of their respective home countries.

- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
I can't believe someone my age wrote this book.

- When Broken Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him
One of the few nonfiction literature to emerge from the Pol Pot regime. A woman's autobiographical account of growing up in a Khmer Rouge death camp as a child. This is a really compelling read even if you've never been to Cambodia. If anyone ever wants to borrow it, let me know.

- Currently reading: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.
This is my reward book for sort of getting all the anal academic crap out of the way until finals. I am only maybe three chapters into it and I am absolutely loving it. Magicians? Comic books? Jewish people? What more could I possibly ask for?!

I also checked out a copy of Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen in Japanese and since I read the book already in English, I figure my focus can be on feeling out the general rhythm of the language rather than trying to pick my brains figuring out all the details of the plot. I'm excited!

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It's raining! My spaghetti-strap top is colored like a fruit-roll-up! I love exclamation points!