I met a girl at Inland Revenue who basically corrects all of my forms, which are deeply messed up and at times farcical. By the end I feel like we’ve been on a date and I’m stuck with the bill, trying not to look shocked. I thought if I smiled enough she’d help me fudge stuff, but she doesn’t, she actually gets more out of me. This sucks, but I console myself that I can complain for the rest of the year without guilt.

Where to start. Mahinda has printed 1000 Rupee notes with his face on them. That’s OK, he ended the war and stuff. The notes themselves, however, look like they were made on PowerPoint and have no security details besides one hologramic strip. If you look at a normal 1000 Rupee note it says ‘Thomas De La Rue’ on the back left. This is a series British currency printer. The Mahinda notes have no such mark, so they could have been printed by Roadside Johnny in Weeraketiya. But I haven’t even got to the back.

A few years ago I started getting prematurely middle aged. For Sri Lankan men this generally means a belly, or bundi. I’ve always eaten or done whatever, but for the first time I thought about it. For one thing I was drinking too much, and eating too much, and not exercising at all. I changed most of that, but I think the main thing is really diet. I think exercise is good for you, but exercise alone doesn’t necessarily help you lose weight.

I was driving somewhat aimlessly when this behemoth assaulted my eyes. My first reaction was sheer terror. I thought it was a fucking dinosaur or something. Then I realized it was a giant cutout of Mahinda Rajapakse and was even more freaked out. He’s standing there pointing at the Chinese Performing Arts Centre like, ‘look what I got’. I am somewhat inured to Mahinda’s marketing by now, but this three story cutout is HURTING MY BRAIN. I blubbered for a while but it looks like it’ll be there for a while. I hope it rains all week.

Canada deported the Tamil Nadu actor for making inflammatory pro-LTTE comments in Toronto. I think this is good and appropriate, and I wish that they’d cracked down on the people flying LTTE flags before. Not because Tamil issues are not real or that Tamil nationalism is not intellectually valid. Simply because a global terrorist network like the LTTE is in nobody’s interest.

I hear from the indomitable Jeyaraj that Pillayan is breaking from Mahinda’s government. The story of these two former LTTE fighters is very interesting, and somewhat informative. The former child soldier Pillayan has turned out to be somewhat principled, while Karuna turned out to be more interested in partying and perks. Mahinda rewarded the latter, but now the former is pushing back.

Travelling Circus is an excellent play, I recommend seeing it while you can. This is Mind Adventures’ first original play and, I think, their best. It is random, musical, free-flowing, but to a point. It also tackles the issues of war and displacement in a very direct and yet entirely unboring way.

I don’t have kids, but I’m a decent baby-sitter. Lately the kids have been OK to take out without actively trying to kill themselves. However, it seems like society is trying to, albeit slowly. Every thing they sell to kids seems to be bad. Coke, pizza, ice cream, toy guns, video games. I actually find it a bit shocking the stuff we push on children from a young age.

For better or worse, the Prima Flour Factory dominates Trincomalee. Apparently this factory supplies all of Sri Lanka’s wheat flour and the government was freaking out cause LTTE artillery in Sampur was threatening the national malu paan supply. And also like 40% of the oil. But that’s over now. Now the Prima Factory just dominates Trinco like a Stalinist monument, grounding your perspective from every angle.

The best part of Trinco is the Navy Dockyards, available only to the military. My uncle served so we were able to go with him. Trinco is the fifth largest natural harbor in the world, but almost completely ‘undeveloped’. It’s deep enough that you can sail container ships in there, but the beaches are also great for swimming. It was a site the LTTE wanted for their capital, and thank God it’s secure.