Health report, and other matters:

Hmm. A quick health update and a whole lot of other stuff, each one not enough to stand as a post on its own, but I thought I might aggregate them into one post.

Health

Two and a half months into my modified tropical island paleo diet, and I've lost somewhere in the region of two kilograms, without seriously changing my workout schedule. While I usually couldn't care less about my weight so long as I can pump all the iron I want to, it's a nice thing to know. That feeling of satisfaction, aye? Seafood, poultry, and pork are the watchwords of the day, with plenty of curry for flavour.

The twinge in my shoulders, whatever it was, seems to have largely healed. A good thing, too - reconditioning is always a hard thing to do.

I've added garlic to the list of stuff to include in my stir-fries. There's the aroma, the taste, and there's been quite a bit of research done on the health benefits, so why not?

Been trying to get thirty minutes of sun exposure every day. Not too hard of a thing to do, but I've got to weave it into my schedule when there is sun to be had. The weather here is still freaky - rain almost every day when things should be drying out. I woke up this morning shivering (yes, we tropical islanders think that 25 degrees Celsius is cool).


Degeneracy

Couple of examples of Singaporean degeneracy. Before you complain about foreigners, why don't you get your own house in order?

Fascinating as to why we need to import foreign athletes to compete for us in the olympics when we have our own lurking in the heartlands. Seriously, throwing furniture onto train tracks? I just...ugh.

A long, long time ago, people used to reserve seats at eateries by leaving one of their party at the table. Then people started leaving packets of tissues. Seems like they've been moving onto shoes now.

Just more proof of the decline, folks.

Packing my rice

"Pack your rice," as Texas Arcane says. "ITZ coming." The stockpile continues to grow slowly but appreciably. I'm not building this to last a long, long time, but neither is it supposed to run out after a week. Went ahead and cleared out a cupboard in the kitchen; it looks like I could stash about thirty kilos of rice in there, with some space left over for sugar and salt. If his prediction for a 2014 temperature plunge is good, then I'll be prepared, otherwise, I'll have a whole lot of delicious food and my mother won't have to break her back hauling bags of rice from the supermarket.

I am in two minds about canned fruit, though, knowing that most peels are removed via concentrated sodium hydroxide to dissolve pectin in fruit peels. Dried fruit is comparively more expensive, less durable and doesn't come with syrup...perhaps I should find out what's in the syrup, then make my decision. Corn syrup = out the window.

Speaking of which, I should really get a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some basic first aid supplies handy. Can't be sure I can find the proper equipment to perform a crude distillation (let alone a proper one), and I'd rather not be reduced to using honey, boiled wine or even fresh urine as an emergency antiseptic.