My night's random reading

Somehow, I found myself engaged in slightly heavy reading tonight.

Article 1: An article in Der Spiegel about how the war in Iraq isn't going as badly as we think it is.

Article 2: An article from the New Yorker about the secret interrogation tactics of the CIA.

Bleak. So very bleak.

There was a period of time not so long ago when I was fascinated by East Germany, the Stasi, WWII and such, wondering how life was like under those harsh conditions. Morbid fascination about man's ability to withstand physical and psychological pain. Pondering the process of dehumanizing a human being: depriving a man of sleep, of his clothes, of his freedom to adopt a comfortable posture.

"Are you human?" The difference between a man and an animal is this: caught in a trap, an animal would chew its limb off and run away. A man would wait for the hunter to come back and take his revenge. It's not about instinct; it's about mind. The fragility of being scares me.


I used to wonder about the wisdom of bringing children into such a world. Sure, my immediate environment is safe enough. I'm happy, clothed and well-fed. I occasionally get too little sleep coz I'm having fun. But the world isn't only beautiful. Then a couple of things happened, and I decided that having children isn't pointless and cruel. In Dune, the sisters had a breeding program so that they can retain and propagate progeny from a man who has something worth preserving.

For reasons unknown, humans can be so cruel. But humanity isn't an ugly thing. If I ever do propagate, it'll be to spread the good of being human and a love for the pretty things in life. I haven't done much good in life so far. Maybe I won't get around to doing that much even though there is still time. Perhaps in an offspring, I may preserve for a little longer the joy of living. All things considered, having a baby might not be such a bad thing.

To a dear friend of mine: Good luck. Teach well.

Of candy bars

I started paying attention to chocolate last month, when the New York Times ran an article on British candy bars.

A friend was going back to the UK a few weeks ago, and I demanded that he bring me back candy bars. Apparently, customs at the Heathrow airport are pretty strict, so he didn't want to get the candy bars before checking in. Instead he got the candy bars after he got through customs. The lady mending the cashier was surprised that he was buying so many candy bars. "Where are you going to that doesn't sell candy?"

"I'm going to the US." He said, and she nodded. "I understand." I didn't realize it was common knowledge that American candy bars are inferior. I only recently found out.

I have this impression that if you're traveling and you want to buy a friend a souvenir, you'd get that person chocolates from wherever you were visiting. If you happen to be someone's guest, you'd get chocolates for that person. It's incredibly boring, but somehow it's acceptable. I now have a newfound understanding of this custom. First bite into a Flake bar, I understood what chocolate was meant to be -- creamy and sweet.

I did have a couple of other bars before that Flake bar -- a Crunchie (honeycomb covered with chocolate), and a Fudge bar (I think that's the name). I've always adored honeycomb bars when I was a kid because I loved gnawing at the honeycomb. The brand I grew up eating was Violet Crumble. The Crunchie bar had a different sort of honeycomb, less uniform and softer. It was good and it didn't stick to my teeth. But it wasn't worth raving about. Everything else I had was better, more intense, sweeter, richer than the American version, but not worth crazy raving...not until that Flake bar.

Now that my eyes are open and I've been exposed to sugary heaven, I'm feeling a little more curious about my candy bar. I'm not talking about the high end stuff, just regular candy bars that people eat on a daily basis. I'm going to rediscover my Mars and Snickers bars (I swear they used to taste better, maybe back home), and everything else. I haven't actually had American candy in a while because I don't usually take candy. But the next time I get a craving, I'll try it once more.

It's not the best new hobby. I'll have to take up something else to balance it out. In the meantime, a friend of mine is going back to Germany...