This afternoon I was one of three judges for an inter-varsity debating competition. I've done this a few times before but I am still pretty clueless when it comes to criteria for judging this type of thing. I always find the style of the debaters over the top, pretentious, unnatural, and unconvincing. Their poor style seriously distracts me from paying attention to the contents of their arguments. This is particularly bad when students debate in Cantopop. It is as if they are in some kind of patriotic drama, circa cultural revolution, if you see what I mean. Anyhow, one of the judges is well-seasoned in this area (he has written books on debating techniques and coaches teams), and the other one has done a lot more than me also. So it is perhaps no surprise that they voted for one team and I voted for the other. (Ooops!)

Anyhouse, that's my service to the community this summer (check).

More interesting matters of the day include me cooking a joint of ham for the first time. Okay, I just freaking soaked and boiled the thing no rocket science involved. But still, it tastes great! The price of a joint of ham seems daunting at first, it actually works out a lot less than what deli counters at PnS CitySuper etc. charge for similar (minor personal triumph of the week, check.)

Roasted a free range chicken on my newly purchased upright roaster tonight. What ah beeieaouty! Poor J, a self-proclaimed vegetarian, though, was in tears when his father insisted that he shall eat what is on the plate. For some reason this boy just don't dig meat. Eggy tofu is his thing. His brother O, on the other hand, is a natural born carnival I mean carnivore.

Apart from sucking every last drop of fat and meat out of that chicken, O has also entered his first edit in a wikipedia page on flexagons. He wants me to start his own blog on flexagons. Bless him.

Tomorrow B is doing a race on Lantau and even though nice as the idea might seem to join him afterwards and spend a day on Cheung Sha Beach and maybe even visit my colleauge who lives out there whilst we're at it, I fear that the buses from Mui Wo are gonna be packed given the 360 skyrail is out of action. Call me a lazy cow but the thought of carrying the gears for all three of us, minding both kids and having to stop off every now and then to change my tampon whilst asking the kids to wait outside, is too much to bear.