Strings on my fingers

I don't wanna say much cos everytime I see this post, I'll probably taste the bitterness I went through yesterday all over again.

In short, my band worked really hard to try to impress the judge(s)... We did great during practice, honestly. But we screwed up damn lot during the audition... Ah screw it. I'm getting sick just by typing this. My solo was equally crappy, since I went out of rhythm a few times. Oh, screw it. At least I have another day to look forward to... Yay...

Should've Try Harder-Hey Monday

A walk to remember

Okay, before anyone jumps to any conclusions, let me explain. No, it wasn't romantic as the book and movie is. Mine was rather mundane of one. The sole reason I'm blogging on this was due to the fact that I attended the Taylor's University College of Sri Hartamas's Jog For Hope. It's this charity event organised by PAWS, 1Taylor’s Community Project and the Tree Huggers. It was 6 km but although it really is a walk in the park (no pun intended) for me to complete, I had the most subtle stroke of bad luck to have my ankle sprained days after I registered for the event. Sure it's been 6 weeks already, but my ankle still isn't 100% recovered. Hence, the "walk to remember".

Fortunately, I was accompanied by Sun, Kien Beng and Joyce. Kai Sheng, Qizhan, Hazim and Derek, being the athletes for the day, just took off. I also met my cousin there, though I didn't realise it until she greeted me first. There were also a lot of familiar faces in the form of my ex-seniors.

And so our "race among peers" began. Initially, it was me and the girls as everyone else just bombed forward. Then as time passed by, the crowd was reduced to Joyce and I. It's not that I was so pathetic that I was reduced to walking to the finish line; it's just that Joyce has this funny sock that keeps slipping into her shoe almost every 5 minutes (I didn't mention that she is totally unfit, just saying). I didn't want to leave her behind, so I accompanied her. Besides, I couldn't possibly catch up with the rest of the pack. So, we had an entire hour to ourselves walking under the kind sun, chatting about random stuff. I guess it was quite relieving, you know, to listen and have someone listen to your stories occasionally.

In the end, we both received a standing ovation for being the top ten... from the back. Despite the emcees cheering for us to make that "final sprint" to apparent victory, I couldn't care less as I slowly strolled to the building. Anyway, the post-run goodie bags were awesome. They gave us a can of Sarsi, 2 granola bars (Peanut Butter!!), shower scrub, facial wash, a certificate of completion and .................... 14 days trial at Celebrity Fitness for FREE! That was the bomb. So me and the girls are gonna try to use that pass to go for dance classes. Why dancing for me?? Cos I'm on a weight-gaining regime until my ankle decides to stop holding me back. Then, the guys were given free sports deodorant and Kai Sheng was slick enough to smuggle 5 cans of them out. In the end, most of us got double goodie bags by handing in both our running numbers, as one tag entitles us to one bag. It was RM15 well spent on so many stuff. Too bad no one brought a camera along...

Then later that evening, my family went out to watch Inception. It was THE most mind-blowing movie EVER!! This certainly is Christopher Nolan at his best. Christopher who?? The director of "The Dark Knight", silly. It was very complicating at first, grasping the entire idea of "Extractors" specialised in infiltrating people's minds to steal their secrets. The plot was another major hair-pulling issue. I think I can spend the entire day typing the plot out and STILL not concluding it. For a 2 and a half-hour movie, it seems way longer than that. And at the end, the audience is left with the choice of 2 alternate endings: whether the main character Cobb, played brilliantly by Leonardo DiCaprio, has returned to reality, or is his mind in limbo, stuck in an endless loop. It was superb. After the show, my family spent the entire dinner at Ninja Joe (which serves the awesomest, perhaps the only pork burgers around) debating on the ending. Yet after much trifling, we still couldn't come to a unanimous decision... Yes, it was THAT good. To all out there, watch it. You won't regret it, unless you didn't take a nap before watching it, then your poor fatigue-driven brain may not be able to grasp the plot. Yes, it's that complex as well...

So... is this an inception as well?? You tell me.

Subculture-Styles of Beyond

Mmm... Durian

My family had like, what? 7 durians for supper?? The thing is my dad's friend owns an orchard so we get a constant supply of it every year. This year's one was a bit... odd. There was one which was infected with worms, but only in one (what do you call it?) chamber. So we ate the others and to my surprise, there were 2 pieces which tasted partially like pineapple, which was so cool. And I single-handedly cut open all of them. Well in the end, I gained like 1.5 kg solely from chowing down 3 of those fruits. Yes, 3 of them, not in pieces.

Oh, and I didn't get called up for National Service!! Woot! But Joybunan, Sabr, Atia and Aiman got called up... Well, I'm kinda on two halves here. On one hand, I dislike the fact that I couldn't go because then I couldn't spend more time with them; and on the other hand, I'm happy that I don't have to go so I won't be held back from furthering my studies, since I'm aiming for the January intake. But then... Aiyo I can't decide. For her, will I??

Now, my life beckons. Stupid Sejarah... and guitar/vocal practice... having sore throat from the screaming...

Tourists-Julian Casablancas

Darn those Vuvuzelas...

Love them, hate them. That seems to be the case ever since those darn instruments were introduced to the spectators during the World Cup this year. The Serbs blasted it after they lost to Ghana, I think the vuvuzelas had to withstand more flak than the Jambulani itself.

Well... You can hear more of the racket through these videos. The second one is quite funny... Suckers





On the other hand, last night's Netherlands-Brazil game was one of my favourite so far. The Dutch boast one of the best midfield squads in this year's World Cup, comprising of 2 creative midfielders (Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder), a stamina runner (Dirk Kuyt), a lightning dribbler (Arjen Robben) and a defensive midfielder as a shield (Nigel de Jong).

Unfortunately before the game started, Van der Vaart picked up a calf injury so they played with 2 defensive midfielders instead, replacing him with Mark van Bommel. Brazil played with absolute flair in the first half, and backed the Dutch up against the wall with no room to breathe. Moreover, their lone striker Robin van Persie was incredibly below par and had a horrible game. Well, I guess they were in a pinch because they offered too much space for the Brazilians to roam around with. Look at how much room was left on the left flank for Dani Alves and Maicon to exploit.

But something happened after the interval. The Dutch began to play more fluid football, with their crisp passes and making more movement off the ball. They began to close down the space they once gave willingly to their opponents. Maybe it was me, maybe the Brazilians just got too complacent with their flaccid one goal lead... But still, the Dutch managed to come from behind to upset the 5-time world champions. That, is why I love the beautiful game. It builds and exhibits character. Maybe that, or maybe I just love midfield-oriented squads of any kind. Anyway, I can't wait for Germany-Argentina tonight. Ales gute, Deutschland!!

Music Again-Adam Lambert

Maths & Science Competition

Well, yesterday Pn. Catherine, our dear counseling adviser, signed the entire 5 Kempas up for this Maths & Science Competition organised by Sri KDU. Initially, only me and a few others wanted to go. But after she mentioned that it'll be stated in our curriculum vitaes, everyone started paying attention... Desperados.

Anyway, we didn't know that the exam would've been so tough. The paper consisted of some Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and some general knowledge questions which are close to pre-u standards. The other problem: it was 40 questions that had to be answered in 35 minutes time. So we Kempas people, paired up with the Jatians, sat the exam. It was TOUGH! I finished it with five minutes left from time, because I didn't pay attention to what time we started. Then, the invigilator announced to the entire hall and a countdown clock, with exactly 5 minutes, was displayed on the slide sheet. I kinda stoned a bit and stared at the clock in awe as it counted down the time. Then, I timed myself to rearrange everything and be all neat and finished when the clock hit zero. It was fun... in a sense.

Our school had the highest attendance in the hall, which was 66 out of 450 students. The odds sounded quite good, WRONG! Only Danny got an award, which was rather embarrassing considering we were the noise-makers and was very semangated.

Oh, I also met up with Kaveetha there. Wow, it's been two years already... We chatted a while before I left, although a certain Yan Chee had to butt in, prohibiting me from continuing...

Well, at least I got to eat some brownies. Mmm...

I baru-baru got back from football. Man was I scared, since my ankle is still not in tip-top condition (god, I feel like Ledley King). But, I still managed to clinch a hat-trick in 5 minutes time. Maybe, just maybe I still got it... Aiyo, don't ego! *slaps himself* It was a fun day... until it rained a few minutes later...

Last of The American Girls-Green Day