Now

This is a now page. Essentially a snapshot of the stuff that I’ve been up to lately.

Where

I’m still stuck larping as a soldier in the Singapore Army. I leave full-time active service in February 2027.

Side Quests

Fitness

Many of my fitness hobbies are, frankly, becoming increasingly stereotypical of a SWE: running, cycling, and now (indoor) bouldering / climbing.

• I recently got into indoor bouldering and managed to “flash” a V3 on my very first session, which was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps the calisthenics paid off.

Books I’m reading

Recently I got into reading outside of my usual areas of interest, particularly philosophy. I began with some of the usual introductory texts like What Does It All Mean by Thomas Nagel, The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, and Plato’s Five Dialogues.

More recently, I started G. E. M. Anscombe’s Intention, which revolves around a deceptively ordinary question: what does it mean to do something intentionally?

• Anscombe treats intention, and more broadly, intentional action, through the question “Why?”
• Suppose I ask why you’re walking towards the sink and you answer “to brush your teeth”. That answer makes your action within a space of practical reasoning. While the action itself is observable from the outside, asking “Why?” reveals the purpose of the action from the perspective of the agent / entity performing it, and how it fits into their practical deliberation.

I’m still working through the book, and it’s probably the sort of book that I’ll have to read through a few times in order to fully appreciate it.