Birthday Of Charlotte Brontë/Kindergarten Day/School Librarian Day/Mawlid Al-Nabi/Spring Festival (Kentucky)/Festival Of Ridván
2005-04-21 @ 10:16 p.m.

Attended a lecture by President Thabo Mbeki, but I kept nodding off during his speech. I went just so that I could cut a class anyway, and take a look at the Shangri-La. I like the way he sidestepped the question about the AIDS controversy in South Africa. That man is quick on his feet. Trooped down to Kinokuniya with a bunch of people, and bought a collected edition of Oscar Wilde's works and an Ibsen anthology, both at dirt-cheap prices for their contents. Then it was dinner at Big O, expensive and not altogether satisfying in terms of value for money. (Nooch last week was better.) Didn't buy Frye's Anatomy Of Criticism (because I ate at Big O), but got Far From The Madding Crowd instead. That leaves Jude The Obscure as the only major Hardy novel I don't have. I found Hardy's Complete Poems at Borders! Going for $45.95, and I would be eternally grateful if someone bought that for my birthday. It's the book I most want at the moment, ranking even above Frank Herbert's Dune series. Tempted to explore H.P. Lovecraft, if I can find any of his stuff at the library. Speaking of which, I'm still waiting for Edenborn, the sequel to Idlewild (where I first heard of Lovecraft), to appear. It's by Nick Sagan, Carl Sagan's son. Leave a message if you've seen it in Singapore. Now I'm off to bed, because I've never handed in Mr Kwok's work on time, and I sure won't be starting now! My dad's bought an acoustic guitar that cost $700 before discount, but I doubt he'll be using it any time soon.