Wu Liao

无聊-ness is a peculiar state of mind. It is not the kind of wuliao-ness spoken of by my friend the Hobbit in his memorable noodle-bingeing multicultural healthcare article here, but it is one that is most common to humans at certain times in their lives.

But it is certainly a state in which life seems to have had the essential sharpness and acuity of vision leached out of it for a while. And all you want to do is sit around and play endless computer games instead of do meaningful stuff like reflect on the state of education in a small island city-state, wonder why you are paid so little to do so much, or make money by investing in Siberian metal ore mines. I could be checking on the current situation in my workplace, while others are on holiday and not checking such things.

Instead, I'm blogging. And enjoying myself reading about the quest for the next England manager. And thinking about the Treaty of Tordesillas, José Mourinho and Rafa Benitez. And eating good bread with good ingredients. And other meaningless stuff like that. Especially the careful preparation of ingredients – the right colour of the peppercorns, the correct shade of the truffles.

Sometimes, I pity those of my colleagues who have more meaningful lives...