Squash-ed?

Squash can be magical as well as atrocious. Ask Aqtar for that. 

1. Cemeti of death - This cemeti or whiplash in English is used when the player is too 'flail-y' resulting in a weak and astray service. Intended for lazy deltoid muscle. Can be 'adorned' at the tip with spiky rusty nails which can also be used to shred the deltoid muscle more easily.

2. Taser of doom - A device that can evoke alertness as well as squashing lethargy in the opponent. Due to its limited range, it can be attached to the aforesaid cemeti.

3. Tameti of Hellishness - The mother of all weapons. The first name is a dead giveaway as to what it is made of. It's the cemeti plus the taser and the usage can inflict not just pain but also everlasting misery long after the initial hit was dished out. Meant for the severely hopeless cases.

But the inflicter has also his own poisons.

1. Elixir of Self Destruction with resurrection capability - Taken when the Master is defeated by his worthier disciples.

2. Elixir of Self Destruction with no hope of resurrection - When David beats Goliath. In other words, when the Master goes down to his student who is now scrapping at the bottom of the league. 

Nifty eh? Who says that squash can't get any better?

All about him

An epiphany struck me as I made my way back from the Anatomy Lab, smelling of formaldehyde; affection can make you evil. It's a God simple truth that I've overlooked time and time again. It's not a blatant accusation on this honest deed, it's merely a dissection of it from a different plane. Affection is intimately linked to preferential treatment which in turn leads to dissatisfaction. It's never difficult to be showered in this good grace as a whole spectrum of characteristics can please the affection giver. One can be thoughtful and coherent in conversation or one can be competitive in many aspects or one can be very brooding and enigmatic to elicit love from people around him. You see, the list can go ad infinitum. On the other hand, one can be very chatty or one can share plenty of good moments yet one might not come across as too appealing to the people hence one gets reduced to an omnipresent state. This ubiquity can also be afforded by long contact hours. Inevitably, people get weary of the same person. 

Here are the few things that happened to me in the last couple of days (more like weeks?):

1) I lost half of my socks pair at the mosque today. Walking with my right foot naked against the innerside of my shoe did not feel comfortable at all. Least it was amusing.

2) The buzzer system has been fixed. Finally.

3) Unfortunately (referring to the previous point) the maintenance crew fails to see into the problem of having a lightless stairwell. Walking down the stairs at night has never been this daunting.

4) Anatomy lessons can be made more effective have we had more staff and materials. And we desperately need lecture notes for pre-practical lectures because it's humanly impossible to memorise everything the lecturer has just said without a proper visual aid.

5) I chanced upon the beauty of Edinburgh a few days ago. Indeed this is a very pretty city. Romanticising the city that I live in might sound daft but it's a truth that I can't dispel. 

6) Shopping can be very depressing. If your bank account is ailing. It's not long before I need help from IMF....

7) I'm not too excited to do the HNOP interviews. 

8) I WANNA SEE SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE!!ANYONE??

"It's out there that I get hurt"

It's the silly season again. By that I'm not referring to the wads of rejection/pool letters from a certain, very much revered institution which might have arrived in carts at the wonderful Puan Kas' office this time around. Nor that I'm commenting on the much talked returner's week. I'm talking about the awards season. To me, Hollywood is in a precarious position. The ongoing development in the world somehow requires me to shun this very potent type of opium, at least until it subsides. Many of the studios are founded or linked to Israel and it would be politically incorrect and humanly insensitive to show undivided support to them. Indeed it's a grave embarrassment to note that I'm more keen to keep tab on who's in the Oscar race than the racing number of deaths in Gaza. Shame on my self...

Another post abound with digressions so let's get back on the track. As I said, it's the time when the bigwigs at Hollywood decide to release films that are conspicuously groomed for the prizes. Heavy dramas and epics which are scrawled all over with the print "Oscar material" in glaring red paint swamp the cinemas and attract the crowd in droves. Some of them are downright pretentious with A-listers spearheading them with storyline that is difficult to swallow and set at an agonizingly slow pace while others camouflaged under the banner of indie flick that most of them are so indie that they are almost a work of art. The tactic is a well worn one. It's a pattern that most studios follow if they want to guarantee their films to win awards. It's not a bad thing but it's kinda obvious that the movies which are released in December/January are tailor made for the awards while summer blockbusters are just meant to be - well - blockbusters.

Anyways, I went to see The Wrestler last night with Jal. I was planning to see Slumdog Millionaire this week but after finding out that The Wrestler would be released on Friday, I was so excited that I deferred the previous intention. The story goes like this, a has-been wrestler who's on his way out tries to reconnect with people around him and make amendments along the way. His life is in total shambles; his meagre salary doing minor stints at minor ring is just sufficient to sustain his drug requirements and he has to do overtime at the store he works at to cope. He lives in a trailer park which can easily typecast him as a low end white thrash. He's given a chance to reclaim the former glory but an obstacle protrudes out of nowhere and threatens to take away this dream. I must not spoil the story so that you can make an effort to see the movie.

I honestly think that the movie is brilliant. I might come across as a biased prick to say that because I'm a huge fan of wrestling (I can hear from somewhere someone's brain whizzing hysterically in an attempt to digest this information). But you don't have to be a wrestling fan to appreciate this movie. I know that Jal is not even remotely interested in wrestling but she still considers it as a very effective picture. To quote her, the emotions are balanced in a way that none is over expressed at the expense of another. It's a tear jerker but it does it in a very subtle manner. It's not the desperate plea of the main character who wants to rebuilds his life that tears at the heart but its the insufferable loneliness that echoes throughout the movie that does. And who could have thought that a blood lusting wrestler who's hellbent to destroy his opponent with barbed wire and glass panes can be courteous, thoughtful, and sensitive?

The mechanics of wrestling are also on display in this movie. We all know that the outcome is fixed before the match takes place, the moves discussed among the wrestlers, and a tiny shard of razor blade is used to cause bleeding. What surprises me is the independent circuits do that too because if memory serves me well, all those are the tricks used by WWE and the likes. Oh yeah, if you're faint hearted, there is an extended scene of a really brutal match in the movie which leaves both wrestlers in a crimson bath. The stage is Combat Zone Wrestling, a real life company that pits wrestlers in bizarre dangerous matches where stapler gun, barbed wire (2 by 4 in the States), weed cutter and other sick instruments normally present in some tacky slash/horror movies are staples in the ring.

I highly recommend this movie despite its chances to be noticed by the academy for the best picture league is as slim as Triple H's chances to wrestle the gold away from Jeff Hardy in the near future. Mickey Rourke should be commended with an Oscar for his amazing portrayal as 'a broken piece of meat'. I don't care with people wanting Sean Penn to take home the statuette. Come to think of it, he's already won one and it's a quiet recent victory too. And he didn't have to spare his body to play an effeminate role in Milk. Kudos to Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood too. Marisa should at least be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She dares to bare all.

My final verdict: 5 out of 5 (is it possible to give it a half more?)

MIA:Musings.

I've been meaning to post this a few days back but I had to rush off to PBL. Semester 2 is A LOT more cramped than the previous one. 

The college community was once blighted by the sudden interest to blog made evident by a string of new blogpages. A wise friend who happened to own a blog prior to coming to the college, commented on the trend, stating that most wouldn't last for more than a few weeks. It was a fad that people clamoured to participate but left it for abandonment as soon as the wind changed. Quite surprisingly, most of the blogs spawned in that period still survive until this very day and the so-called original bloggers have seemed to leave their once trusted muse behind.

And it's quite obvious that I've slowly started to detach myself from my confidant. The idea is that I could no longer sustain the previously unstoppable momentum of blogging. Not to mention, life is getting more hectic these days. Curiously enough, I seem able to spare some time updating myself with other blogs but do much less to attend to the needs of my own platform of ranting. Speaking of rants, I can't help but to feel that my writing is not substantial enough for others to benefit. I don't have interesting daily encounters (right Ede?), I can't preach on a lot of things due to my own ineptitude, and I certainly can't generate and solidify an opinion. Most if not all of my posts are daft. Therefore, I must apologise. 

Perhaps I should start taking a sabbatical. Perhaps I should start reading extensively on relevant materials so that I have good things to report back. Or perhaps I can simply stick to my old prescription on how and what to write. But to do this, I need to search for the presently missing commitment. Yes, to keep a blog alive, one has to be a very dedicated person. 

A very American syndrome has infected me; I can't seem to stay in one place forever without asking "what's next?" It's this dilemma that I'm facing.

P.S: This is not a goodbye. Hopefully.

Home schweet home...

Back in the 'Burgh after 9 days traipsing around Spain and spending a fortune on senseless after-Christmas bargains. Tonight's Hogmanay and I haven't decided whether to join in the fun. I have an essay to write, three novels to finish (acquired two more en route to Spain. I know. Suicide), photos to edit and upload, stuff to unpack, and souvenirs to distribute. Wish me luck.

Ah-ha, it's over and done with now!

Call it a long hiatus but my desertion of the blog was somewhat justified.

I would always cringe whenever I go to a blog that has a traffic feeder. Not only it's telling the owner who has been stalking them and from where, it also functions as a speedometer to gauge the blog's popularity. But the idea of being able to trace the origin of the readers disturbs me the most. I deem it as a severe infringement of privacy and an intrusion to freedom of accessing information. Of course, it's the insecurity in me speaking.

Anyways, the term has ended with a minor bang. Minor because it has been blighted by an insufferably difficult assessment. To careen myself back to reality, I went to Waterstone's right after the exam and parted ways with a handsome sum of money for four novels. I have no idea when I'm ever gonna finish them. But the splurge was enough to shine some happiness into the bleak creases of my personal despair.

I think I didn't say proper goodbyes nor did I wish some of my friends 'Merry Christmas' at the end of the exam. Although I might have argued that everyone was embroiled in frantic attempts to console each other and recovering from the consensual mindless stab in the dark in the exam hall, there's a feeling of incompleteness in me for not even trying to do it. 

The truth is, I seem to have been trying so hard to blend in but I still need to clock in more miles before they even accept me as one of their peers. The After Exam Party should have been a good start to break through the mould. However, I see it as a futile effort at being more sociable by witnessing some friends numbing their senses with booze and losing me entirely. And I will be at the fringe, unsure of what to do and struggling to come up with some dodgy jokes that these people so like. Doesn't it just defeat the purpose?

So, here I am. The end of term is celebrated with Amadeus and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. On top of that, I am in the strive of becoming the next Cleanliness Champion and I have 70+ podcasts in Spanish to be endured. Happy Holidays peeps!

P.S: I need a tag to do. Pronto.

I have work to do but doing a tag offers more fun!

I've been meaning to do this tag long ago but there's always something that hindered from doing so.Although I still have an unfinished business in the form of yet another PBL case,I figure that it's best not to wait any longer.I'm not in any mood of studying anyway and in an hour time,I'll be heading down to Princes Street with some of my friends.Blogging is the best way to kill time,methinks.

 

 

Here goes nothing!

 

 

rules:1-the rules of the game get posted at the beginning

2-each players answers the questions about themselves

3-at the end of the post the player then tags 5 people n posts their names,then goes to

their blogs and leave a comment,letting them to know they got tagged and to ask

them to play and read your blog

 

Staring time: 1729 (Isya' is in half an hour time)

Name: Muhammad Firdaus

Nick: Da, thegame, Aus, Along, Muhammad (course mates), and one given while at school which I'm not too keen to share here.

sisters: Nada.

brother: One lil' bro. Very annoying at times.

shoe size: 10/11. Depending on where the shoes are from really...

height: 175 cm

 

Where do you live?

In an attic room with one Chinese,a Scottish and his girlfriend,presumably Scottish. You can hear (fortunately not see) some of the 'actions' sometimes...If you know what I mean.

 

Have you ever been on a plane??

Took Titanic from KL to Portsmouth.Months on it really wises me up.

Swam in the ocean?

I can't bloody swim!!

Fallen asleep at school?

Who doesn't?But I had ways to overcome it.Would go to a certain room for a cup of coffee and some stale gossips to evade the excessive boredom of Sejarah... Now I've got Strand 2 classes to deal with which proves to be almost insurmountable.

Broken someone's heart?

Pobody's nerfect!Made mistakes here and there and hurt people along the way.I'm normal.Top to bottom.

Fell off your chair?

Lemme see...uhm...aah...nope!

 

Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call:

Cambitch didn't phone me.Scholarship bodies don't run at night.

Saved emails:

There's a reason why I use GMail...

What is your room like:

Cozy. Much tidier than the previous one. However, the floor is a bit slanted and it can get unbearably warm if I switch on the heater...

What's right beside you:

All the typical student's table paraphernalia. Plus Aqtawar's neoplasia note,iPhone,a mineral bottle, and the blardy heater.

What is the last thing u ate:

The blood clot inducing Mosque Kitchen's biryani.

 

Ever had...chicken pox...:

Thank God I'm immune to it now!

Sore throat:

Duh!

Broken nose:

Living up to the status of being the most passive person in the country which can easily translate that I've never been involved in anything physical,nope.It's fine and intact.Not too aquiline either.

Do you believe in love at first sight :

Oh hell yeah!

Like picnic :

The last time when I went for a picnic was nine years ago.I'd love too though.Frolicking at Meadows on Sunday morning could be a good start.

 

Who was/were...the last person you danced with :

Aqtawar who had the sudden impulse to teach us tango.

Last made you smile :

Uhm,my flatmate's girlfriend?

Last you last yelled at :

Yelled for help in resuscitation workshop two hours ago.

Today...did you talk to someone you like :

Yeah!

Kissed anyone :

Hurm,the mannequin (spelt mannekin at the hospital. Scottish spelling I guess...) which I had to give CPR to.

Get sick :

Perfectly healthy.Alhamdulillah.

 

Talk to an ex :

Whaddaya mean??

Miss someone :

My parents,Adik, and my dearest friends.

Who do you really hate :

This random guy who cursed me in thick Scottish accent. Quite a long list I have here. I know I know. Hating people is a big no-no. Peace not war.

Do you like you hand-writing : 

I can only please myself with my handwriting.

Are your toe nails painted :

Not a Goth.

What color shirt are you wearing now : 

Back to Black. Kinnae contradicting the previous statement I made...

 

 

Are you a friendly person :  

Very much depending on who I'm with...

Do you have any pets :

Used to. I've got a draft to be finished though. Oh wait, that's my pet project!

Do you sleep with the tv/laptop on :

Nope. No way. Afiq's gonna kill me. He's the future Green Party president.

What are you doing right now :

I don't have to state the obvious do I?

Can you handle the truth :

I can't be bovvered!

Are you closer to your mother or father :

Both.

Do you eat healthily :

Have to especially when Aqtawar is around. But I do binge on really unhealthy stuff like Irn Bru, Mosque Kitchen stuff, and Ben and Jerry's occasionally. I'm not figure conscious or anyhting...

 

 

Do you still have pictures of you and your ex :

Ex-schoolmates and ex-collegemates? Yes.

If you're having a bad day,who are you most likely to go to :

Myself.

Are you loud or quiet most of the time :

Again, depending on the situation.

Are you confident :

Yes if I don't have to. No if I desperately need it.

 

 

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

 

1) Was in Standard 4 after flunking PTS with flying colours.

2) The grand sweep at the end of the year.

3) Really interesting experiments with beansprouts.

4) Getting circumcised

5) I can't think of anything memorable anymore....

 

 

5 things I would do if I am a billionaire:

1. Travel the world.

2. Splurge on worldly trappings.

3. Spend some on the development of medicine and make it available for deprived states. chewah!

4. Set up a business.

5. Establish a foundation.

 

 

5 of my bad habits

1. Procrastination

2. Gossiping

3. Procrastination

4. Complacency

5. Procrastination

 

 

5 places I've lived/living:

1. Pekan

2. Jelebu

3. ASiS,KL

4. KYUEM,Lembah Beringin

5. West Nicolson Street...

 

 

5 people I tagged:

1. Fiqry

2. Hajar Jojo

3. Anwar (For God's sake,enough with cryptic posts!)

4. Warwern and Farah (am considering them as one entity for no obvious reasons)

5. Anyone who's reading this and has a blog.