Spent the day comfortably by myself; caught Letters from Iwo Jima at Cineleisure, then shopped for some clothes at Zara. Spent about $200 on some rather fancy stuff - a bone-and-skull motif hooded jacket, a t-shirt with an interesting print of a collar and tie and a standard but nice-fitting shirt.

Retail therapy works.

Anyway I was barely aware of my solitude, until I got home and had Hamster gushing about her guy on MSN. It would be nice to have some company. The wiser thing to do, though, is to wait.

Letters from Iwo Jima is a moving film. It focuses on telling the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective, and it's quite an effective effort. But I found myself thinking about the savagery of the Japanese. The Death Railway in Thailand, the horrifying biological experiments in China, and of course their brutal occupation here in Singapore.

What motivates ordinary people to such atrocious depravity?

I imagine, if I'm in a war, far away from home, famished and faced with death everywhere, possibly filled with hatred - would I ever commit such acts?

I doubt it, but it's probably best never to be able to find out.