Tony Blair on Jon Stewart

One of the funniest talk show hosts meets one of the few respectable politicians of our time. Watch it here - you won't be sorry.

Can I see some ID please?

Ok, so I have this issue that keeps bugging me now and again, more so out here in Singa-land. See, I'm in my mid-twenties, having turned 18 a little after the y2k season. But people keep thinking I'm around 20 years old, and, while that would've been great if I had been a girl, I'm not sure that's such a great compliment for a guy. Is it? See, while I was in Sri Lanka I was working for this professional services firm and I had to go brief a client on a few internal issues we suspected they were having. Ok, I admit I had unruly hair at the time, but this director I was briefing looked as interested as my grandma's interest in Incubus. Then she chucked some papers at me and said "talk to me when your manager gets here". The fucking nerve! Obviously she thought I was a kid and was not about ready to take advice from such a vicious breed. Now, out here in Singapore on my first night out clubbing I was asked for identification by the bouncers cause apparently I didn't look 18! WTF? The only identification I had on me that had my date of birth was my Sri Lankan ID so I had to pull that out and show the "1984" bit (as everything is in Sinhala) to convince em i'm not as young as they think. Thanks, but not thanks. It's become so bad that it's become a bit of an inside joke amongst my friends here, and whenever I meet someone new my friends ask that person "so how old do you think Confab is?" The answers have ranged from 17 all through 23, but never friggin 24! So tell me ... ...do I not look 24 to you?

Running Late

You know it's not your day when you over-sleep not once, but twice, and then go on to ruin surprise birthday parties that aren't yours in the first place! The new place requires me to be at office at 8am sharp. So there I was happily dreaming of not being late, which is unusual for me, when my mum comes crashing into my room and goes "shouldn't you be getting ready? it's 7:35!". Fuck. 25 minutes to shower, iron, get dressed, and get to bloody work! By a miracle of some sort, I get to work by 8am on the dot. Distressed but on time. As I was heading home, the missus and I decided that I shall pick her up at 7:45pm, in order to be at C's GF's house by 8:15, in time for C's surprise, scheduled for 8:30pm. Right, that's not too hard is it? When I get home round 6ish, I think it's only prudent to have a nap, so that i'll be fresh for the eve. So there I was, prudently napping. Or so I was until missus calls me at 8:20pm and goes "where are you?". In that delirious split second between deep sleep and wide awake (induced by shock) I thought to my self "Is it already time to go to work?". Then it hit me. Fuck. C. Surprise. 10 minutes. Ran to the shower. Ran out only to see C himself had called me while I was in there at 8:29pm! Now why's this bugger, who was supposed to be surprised a minute later, calling me at 8:29pm? Why's this bugger, who I have avoided wishing all day, calling me now? So what to do? I call him back! (In hindsight, that was the biggest mistake I made. In my defence, I thought the surprise was over, and he was calling to find out why I was late). So here's what happens. C : Machang where are you? Me : err, at home! C : Ado come for a drink you bugger! Me : ah, err, ok. Happy birthday machang! C : thanks. Come to N's (C's GF)! Me : mmmmm, ok. Where are you now? C : at N's. Me : (thinking to myself, fuck I missed it!) no probs, i'm on my way. 15 mins. C : you are? why are you heading to N's? Me : didn't you say you were there? C : No i'm at dinner. Me : Oh fuck. err. yeah. I'll come once you get there. (at this point I'm confused as fuck. Is he there? Is he not? Had I missed the surprise? Had I ruined it?) C : Ok Bye! Me : bye! 2 minutes later, C calls me back C : *Laughing away* Me : (i assumed I had missed it) Shit I missed it nuh? C : Missed what? Me : err nothing. See you at N's. C : yeah machang! At this point, N had frantically passed the message to those who were at N's already that C might have a clue as to what's going on thanks to me not being on time and thus me not knowing what to say to him. So I get a barrage of calls from all sorts of people there asking what I had told C. So there I was, confused as fuck, thinking that C had already made it to the surprise, and the rest were calling to take the piss outta me for being late. The general gist of the calls were like "ado wtf did you tell C man?" And there I was maintaining "don't bullshit me you bugger, he's already there and you buggers are just taking me for a ride. I'll be there in 15." Now the story gets better. I hurriedly pick up GF, then rush to N's. Park the car behind C's vehicle, cause obviously he had made it there before me. Then check with N's maid as to what time C & N got there. He says "ahhh dang vinadi 10k vithara avilla". So I think to my self, ah that's cool. So I rush up the stairs to the rooftop, on the way passing N's door, that suddenly slams abruptly. I run all the way up and open the door. "SURPRISE" everyone shouts. I dunno who was more surprised, them to see that I wasn't C, or me to realise that C hadn't yet come up. So they say C hadn't made it yet, so I hurry back down and move my car away, only to hear "surprise" again, while I was walking back up the stairs. C had been in N's room and they had walked up 2 mins after me. Man, talk about fucking bad luck! Obviously I wasn't allowed to live it down for the night. The moral of the story? Set an alarm.

Buddhist Monk Applies for Police Job!!!

Came accross this story in the Daily Mirror today. Without any prejudice and without mocking any religion i'm trying to understand why! Just for the record, a monk applied for the post of assistant superintendent of police. His application was rejected for the reason that he was not willing to give up his robes to wear the uniform. Fair enough that he didn't want to give it up. But why would he apply for such a job in the first place? How did he think he was going to perform his duties anyway? Was he goign to pin his badges on his robe and wear the hat? In my opinion, a religious dignitary is a religious dignitary. That's more or less his job out of choice. But why cross the line? I never agreed with the monks going to parliament. I wouldn't want to see Duleep De Chickera directing traffic either. The fact remains that being a monk or a priest or an imaam is such a person's day job. I believe that they should respect the sanctity of their profession rather than try to be seen everywhere. I'm glad that the administration is getting at least a few things right. It would've been mildly distracting to have a checkpoint manned by a group of monks.