Cheers Beer

A series of super hilarious Thai beer advertisements. Watch it.

To every little good thing in life indeed.

Dynamitez: Synchronized Champs

As some of you might know already, Dynamitez won Cheer 2007. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to see them perform properly (well, except when they performed again after winning but I was busy taking photographs) to realize how god-damn-freaking synchronized they were until I saw this video. Seriously they were like robots, dancing acrobatic robots. Cheers to them!

Cheer 2007

Both Vulcanz teams (boys and girls) got into the Top 5! Yay Seafield! And congrats to Dynamitez!

www.flickr.com

For more photos check out my Flickr account!

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan performing at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, WI.
Original photo from shifting pixel

As I was looking through Facebook, I realized how a few people put Sufjan Stevens under their favorite music. Being naturally curious, I checked him out YouTube. There I saw a couple of live performances by him of Chicago and The Transfiguration. His simple ingenuity blown me away. Plus he has a super natural-sexy-ness aura, haha. I loved when he introduced himself in The Transfiguration video,

"My name is Sufjan Stevens. And for tonight I'm going to be the um, majesty songbird and they (the band) are the magical Chinese butterfly brigade."

By the way, they (as in everyone on stage) were wearing their respective wings to add to the mood. I would definitely love the chance to see one of his shows live. Brilliant artists never ever come to Malaysia. However I had a shock when I saw one of his CDs at Rock Corner! About RM60 though and according to the shop's manager, these types of CDs only arrive barely twice a year and only once at a time! I however decided that I should wait for America and let some other fortunate soul buy the CD.

I'm still waiting for Rufus' Release The Stars.

Finally...

...it's over and done with.

Now I have less than 2 months to savor my time here. Driving license, piano, reading, shopping and going out will be the order of the day!

But don't think I'm not going to add anything on my blog today. Let us see the difference between a suntan and a sunburn.

sun·tan /ˈsʌnˌtæn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[suhn-tan] noun, verb, -tanned, -tan·ning.

–noun

1.	a browning or a brown color of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or a sunlamp; tan.

2.	Also called mayfair tan, merida. a light to medium yellow-brown.

3.	Also called pastel orange. a medium orange color.

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

4.	tan1 (defs. 2, 4).

sun·burn /ˈsʌnˌbɜrn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[suhn-burn] noun, verb, -burned or -burnt, -burn·ing. –noun

1.	inflammation of the skin caused by overexposure to the sun or a sunlamp.

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

2.	to affect or be affected with sunburn: An hour in the sun sunburned me severely. I sunburn easily.

See the difference? Malaysians with brown (or tanned) skin, love yourself!

Your skin isn't "burned" by the sun. In fact brown skin is less likely to burn, thanks to a healthy dose of melanin. Beauty comes in all colors, and I say brown is super sexy. Down with whitening products people. They don't even whiten your face.

And finally, stop saying you have sunburn. Wrong vocabulary, wrong attitude.


---Both words were taken from Dictionary.com

Irony

Sometime last year...
...I accidentally locked myself out of my room at the university. The key was unfortunately inside. Having missed the deadline for requesting an extra key, I had to sleep in a friend's room with the shirt that was on my back since morning but thank goodness I managed to change into my shorts before the accidental lock out. I kept my cool. I planned to go to the office in the morning to ask for the master key.
However the next morning, as I enter the office with yesterday's clothes, the lady behind the table suddenly told me firmly yet irrationally that I was to step back and leave the office. She said I shouldn't be wearing shorts. I was bemused. Reflex had me explaining that I was locked out of my room and I couldn't actually "change" to something more "proper". Unfortunately, the lady was adamant that her instructions were absolute and that I was to leave the office and get "someone who is dressed properly" to pick up the master key for me. I couldn't believe to what was happening and left the office with her in mid-sentence. I was pissed. R-rated tirades escaped under my breath for several minutes before I nicely ask my house mate to help me get the master key.
Simply, the incident shocked me. Here I am at the girls only apartment where any male who looks under the age 35 is barred from coming in. I was shocked and disappointed by the lady and the university for being so stupid and irrational. Like hello, I can't even where shorts within the vicinity of a girls only "haven"? Is the sight of my knees so repulsive the lady wanted to puke her head off? Hoit this is a living space, not a formal dinner or a kenduri for that matter.

Fast forward to this week...
...I was temporarily living at the boy's apartment for the little camp thingy. The day we were suppose to check out, my house mate told me that we were suppose to give back the keys before the office closes at about five something. My dad was coming at seven and I wanted the room so that I can have my much-needed sleep. Because I had just woken up from a nap when I was told about this, I just put on my t-shirt and shorts without much thought. I went down and walked to the office. I explained the matter to the officer. He told me nicely that it was OK and that I can stay longer if I wanted to. I was only required to leave the key on the table of my apartment and lock the door outside. I was contented and I left the office to continue my nap.
Waking up later, I realized the sheer irony.

Medieval minds
(in this case, just the lady in the first story)

Double standards

Arbitrary rules

Don't get me started with the tones extra amenities and better furniture the boys have.

Disturbing

I wonder what the reaction be if it was the other way around.

Clearly I am not living in a free country. I abhor the act of "forcing" someone to believe in what he or she does not believe. It never works. It's unnatural.

Malaysia rejects Christian appeal

The crime of apostasy

Disgruntled

Babysitting at the expense of me spending the weekend at home
We the PPOU students were "coerced into volunteering"(what a paradox!) for a camp meant for high school kids next week on Monday. Apparently I, along with the rest of us have to become facilitators. In order for us to become decent facilitators, we're suppose to undergo a weekend of training (yes from Friday till Sunday!). This translates into me not being able to spend my ritualistic weekly communion at my humble abode which of course happens to coincide with "the training". And because the girls will be living at the boys' apartments, I will have to live without the precious internet I have learned to take for granted for six whole days. By the way we are not getting paid for this. This is what some may call neo-volunteering. Oh wait, quasi-volunteering would be more precise.

PS: According to the timetable of the camp thing, there was a slot for brainwashing. Prepare for the waterworks. I for once have never fallen for any stupid brainwashing camp activities designed to "menginsafkan" innocent kids. I do not cry for pure shallow fiction.

Unforeseen midterm timetable change
As is the norm with this batch of PPOU, even exam dates cannot be determined properly. Heck we weren't even sure if there would be a midterm (because physics' midterm was indeed canceled). Thus the fuss now is only about calculus which was suppose to be held next Monday (yes the camp thing above starts on Monday). Apparently our lecturer has given in to the PPOU program's request of changing that particular date. And he chose to drop the bomb on us by saying that the midterm will indeed be put forward to this Friday. With the way I spent last weekend at home, I practically shot myself in the foot. To top of that, now I can't even spend a freaking night at home for at least eleven whole days because of this and the brainwashing camp. How very nice indeed.

Facebook
Join it now here! Super addictive.

It's all in the mind

I think too much.
I space out a lot.
I laze around often.
I do not have a social life 90% of the time.
I make excuses to myself.
I can be timid.
I do not know what I'm good at.
Apparently my English is better than my Math...I found out about it a little too late.
I wish I was a little bit more talkative.
I have conversations in my head.
I hardly ever truly click with anyone.

They say you are what you think you are.
It's all in the mind. Oh yes it is.

Bordering hedonistic-ism

I can't help it. With everything set in August I feel very whimsical and can't really be bothered about anything serious. The only two serious things that I still feel super semangat to do is the visa and the medical checkup. Lately I've been watching Avatar a lot on my laptop and taking long naps. It's bugging me that I only have the first half of the second season and one of the episodes in the first season can't be played. What great concerns I have. I know its bad and I keep thinking of the very unwise quote from John Lennon:

Time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted.

I love John Lennon and may he rest in peace but that is just a very lousy quote. Though maybe I can afford to do that when I become a multimillionaire. But for now it would be wise to discard such thoughts...or at least to push it aside. Ha-ha.

Another thing, I cannot wait for my current program to be over with (by mid-late June I suppose!) so I can begin with my pre-departure plans. Tentative details shall not be disclosed here for several reasons. I'm just looking forward to having a great time before leaving. Yep.

Bordering hedonistic-ism indeed.