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Odeo: The French Song

I know, i know i said i would not blog, but hey, i got a few things i just have to share (oh, and expect posts on the upcoming team judo competitions in September (i'm second player for St Thom)). Anyway, i checked out Odeo (to look for ways to put up a weird idea of mine *coughcoughugspodcastcoughcough*) and i found this singer - only 17 and she records in her bedroom (i think, never checked). Such talent!.

Check out her song (click the link lah )

PS: This post is only made possible with Flock, coz blogging is just a click away during surfing ^_^

I am stopping blogging

At least until after the SPM. I know, i know, it sucks. But perhaps allow me to explain?

I have five aims for this year, or five categories to acheive in and improve myself in:

1. God - i aim to draw closer to Him and continue to explore my faith.
2. Academics - As the other activities of my life is regulated on this aspect, performance in this area is more of a need than a want.
3. Judo - If i miss any more classes my already lacking form will continue to fade. I cannot let my Osotogari development trail back and force me to start from scratch again.
4. Piano - If i don't pass the grade 6 examinations i will go on a killing spree.
5. Online activities - Like UGS, Janus and the like. I know, i know, i promised to finish Janus, but the problem is this area of my life seems to be eating too much of my time that all other aspects (with the possible exception of No 1) is suffering. I am suffering. And, besides, UGS seems to have hit that stage where it is self sufficient. Though not perfect i'm sure it'll last without Kenny and i constantly pushing and pushing and pushing. All it needs is that snowballing momentum required for insane growth. I'll leave that to Kubuk and Sam and a few others.

I have really enjoyed the online part of life this year, and hey, i won't be gone for long. Just for kicks, let me do one last tag:

6 friends

• You once nearly broke my arm. I once injured your shoulder through 'impolite' throwing. You're always there for the teammates when we have particular stamina, technique or personal issues. Although you came from a modest background you've risen above it all in your grit, your determination and your will to succeed. You and i share a common frustration that is the inability to use our Tokuiwaza during competition. I wish you the best in whatever you do.

• You're in med school, cutting up cheap indian cadavers. Okay, you tell me, not yet at that stage. You're great with kids, you taught me how to control a crowd with a look and a few choice (very polite) words. You taught me to keep my cool in all situations.

• You are spread too wide, and too thin. You lack discipline, you sometime lie. And yet your unwavering loyalty to whatever relationships and friendships come your way is remarkable. You are starting to learn how to drive, and i believe you missed a lot of training sessions. I am still learning to appreciate you, a true friend.
  

• You and i have a rocky past. We both come from similar backgrounds, but both of us are as different as peas in a pod. You are observant and withdrawn, i am the self proclaimed rock star. And when we talk, our conversations range from deep Christian theology to basic psychoanalisis. For those of you who think we're geeks, you're right. Not. He represents St Thomas in the MSNS. I judo. 'Nuff said.

• I believe you never thought much of me in the early forms in St Thom. The language barrier sometimes seperates us from the lighter stuff, but we frequently share deep insights on life. You are highly melancholic, and an amazing leader. I am priviledged to work with you, and to give my opinion (sometimes - no, make that most of the time - daft). You probably know who you are.

• Last, but definitely not least, you are too far away, over seas and mountains (and God knows what else) to connect with. You taught me that Christian concerts rock. I wish it was just infatuation, and sometimes it is, but sometimes it is also something deeper. To quote a certain song by James Blunt:

'I can never be with you'

There. That's done.

Dove sono i bei momenti?

Consummatum est.

Prefect Selection Begins

Today, Chin Kai and the various people in charge of Group 1's project - (the prefect selection, for you non tomyams out there) gave out little forms for us to send to every class, much to my amusement. We were supposed to make a sales pitch, on Why You Should Become A Prefect And Write Your Name Down And Be Assimilated.

My USP was the Sabah trip and that the next administration would be planning to go to Singapore. Paul helped me out and we went to 4s3. It went something like this:

Boy sees two prefects coming and shouts "Tutup pintu!" jokingly.

I kick open door.

One of them shouts "Gengsterli!" at which paul replies, "Nanglah Kami Gengster."

I laughed and did the intro, emphasising "Jika kamu semua nak join geng kami ..." that Paul started.

Someone shouts, "Gengster apa?"

I pointed at my coat and replied, "Gegster ni lah!"

The class quietens, long enough for someone to ask why they should join us. Paul smiles and says, deadpan, "Kami mau pencenbah."

The class offers its sympathy. Paul takes advantage and cuts the chatter, saying: "Kimun siapa mau join gengster kame, tok rang isi nama tok rang kat kertas tuk."

I but in, talking about Sabah and the plans for Singapore, and Paul says, "Kami pergi Sabah, pergi sini, pergi sana, macam-macam ada."

He realizes the stupidity of that sentence and laughs. We laugh along with him.

"Germany?" One boy asks.

"World cup dah habis masa tuk," i replied.

We strut out of the classroom, wondering just how we managed to pull that off in a school famed for its discipline.

New prefect generation: Gengster.

KadazanduzunMurutRangus-ed

Back from Sabah. I'm unfortunately (or very fortunately, whichever way you see it) not going to blog another series, since i just couldn't sit down and write properly. The flights made me dizzy, the rest periods at night was full of report writing and recounting events for the teachers. Later still was the World Cup, in which we screamed and cheered for the Lahm goal in Germany's opening match.

Anyway, we arrived at sabah at around 10 - but i'm not too sure because i was in a altitude-induced daze. Quickly got introduced to Mr Chris Lo, who was going to be a great gift and a great bane. He talked. A lot. Not good when you're tired most of the time and have to force yourself to listen or up 999 steps.

I enjoyed the trip. Loved it, even. Liked the Ransangan from the Murut longhouse, and then loved the bus more than the following visits to a chinese temple. I only have time to recount a few favourites, like the trip to UMS:

It. Is. Beautiful. A huge uni overlooking the sea, on hilly terrain. There's three basketball courts, an entire jubille ground-equivalent stadium, swimming pools and bus stations. Yes, you read that right. The students take 'free' buses to their classes, since the uni is so damned big. The fleet of UMS transport are all blue and the buses move around in a great big circuit. Gardeners are everywhere, attacking the weeds with gusto. Roads are clean and big. The view of the sea from the Counselary is amazing. I, for one, went through the entire area with my jaw firmly open (if there is such thing).

Another thing i like was the handicraft market - bargaining and watching my friends bargain is nice and extremely satisfying. I had forgotten you could actually bargain at the beginning, and thank God Kenny helped me out. After that i tagged along with other groups, grunting for effect when Kenny was buying keychains for UGS members, and then freaking out a shopkeeper to help Della get a huge amount of souvenirs for the afternoon session boys at a discounted price.

Sweet. Unfortunate that i had bought mine for way too expensive a price, but i learned a lot from the others. Hehe.

I wonder about something, though. While i really enjoyed the experience, i was not part of any group of friends (except possibly with Kenny, but he has his personal moments too). It could be the language barrier, but i didn't have much fun just listening to most of the others talk about inconsequential things. If i tried to bring up topics that mattered to me, i'd get ignored, for the interest in things like Ti Shyang being a recycling machine and whatever. Well, it doesn't matter now - i didn't take it personally. But now i realize how important my close friends are. Who are the people i am most comfortable with?

Good question. Isaiah 2:22.

Off To Pack

Going to Sabah with the rest of the prefects tomorrow, and you bet i'll be blogging (on paper - whoever heard of free internet access in our airports?). Oh, and if you're wondering, the above words mean sorry in Jap. Filtched it from Postsecret.

Dojo Memoirs

I better write this before my memory fails me and school hits me again. Yes, its about Judo - if you're sick of me harping about the sport i love then go off and read something more interesting.

Now, where was i? Oh, okay. Judo. never made a proper introduction to this sport when i joined it more than a year ago (and with only five people to a class. Now? Good God.) It had been newly revived and i was several months behind the other four -Vincent, Tang, Desmond and Garrick. That being so, Sensei hurried me through white belterhood and (to my friends's everlasting horror) i was upgraded to yellow within a month, knowing a total of three throws and forgetting every pin he ever taught me.

These days most beginners know five throws, five pins and are hell of a lot better than i was. No matter, i tell myself, they can't throw me (indeed they can't, although in katamewaza (pinning, grappling on the ground) they have a distinctive strength advantage, forcing me to engage in all sorts of unorthodox armlocks, chokes and tickles which i shall not go into here)

By my second month (in stark contrast to beginners now) i had chosen a tokuiwaza and was working on it. Let me explain, so if you have the misfortune to read one of my Judo related posts you will understand what the heck i am saying (Sam, you should do the same - i am hopeless when it comes to badminton terminology).

A tokuiwaza is a favourite technique. Judokas pick one and built their entire attacking style around it, so much so that you become famous for that one throw. Indeed, it is not uncommon for international commentaries to go: "That is Nasamura, his strongest throw is Uchimata and it will rip his opponent's genitalia apart."

Okay not really.

At any rate, mine was Osotogari - a strong throw, hard to learn and slightly harder to master, but if you didn't know how to use it well (as i didn't) you take awfully big falls from counter attacks. The variation i use looks a little like this:

Tang's was a Taiotoshi - easy to learn, but impossibly hard to master. It gave me a lot of problems at first, practising with him - the throw was so powerful it made my head it the floor many times. It looks something like this:

Desmond, on the other hand, chose ippon seoinage. Seoinage is one of the earliest throws you ever learn in Judo, but i didn't like it ... because i didn't like it. No idea why. Now, of course, Des uses a lot of other techniques, and tells us he changed his tokuiwaza, but i don't believe him. He practised ippon seoinage at every practice session i've been to, and unless he practises with his dog at home i don't see how he can develop other techniques. it looks like this:

Vincent, who started off as the underdog due to his thiness and lack of muscle, chose haraigoshi, and practised it until every push you made agaisnt him became a threat to yourself. He almost always used your strength against you, making fights with him particularly frustrating for me because i use a back throw, which is exactly the direction he wants me to push. Haraigoshi is like this:

And there you go. A (nearly) complete introduction of the sport, just in case you stumble on one of my judo posts. I'll not touch on Atemiwaza, which is forbidden killing techniques, mainly because we haven't learned them yet. But for all other purposes people like Wandkey can no longer complain they do not understand.

Now if only I can begin to comprehend badminton ...

Fifth Gathering

The fifth undergroundsquare gathering was kinda cool, but not as good as the others. My legs are tired, and it seems some of my Judo injuries have resurfaced with all my walking - for example, i got hit by cramp in the driving leg (at this moment sympathy for blog readers sharply rears its ugly head, but i push it back down and remind myself that i will post a Judo introduction post, so no one gets confused or left behind).

Anyway, i had brought my dog to the vet earlier in the morning, and (thought) i had finally fixed the new computer's internet problems. So i was at McD eating lunch when Kenny smsed my mom (i forgot to bring a hp with me).

"Where are you?"

I hurriedly called and assured him i was alive and well, and munching on a foldover. And thus i set off for Times bookstore.

It was nice, browsing for books. Rather cramped, as Sam said, but still nice. For some reason Aldrin kept pushing me to the parenting section, and with a book of baby names found out that mine had a sissy image.

At least in Great Britain. From a play.

Daft.

Then we went and bought our tickets to Xmen 3. And we went for archery, where Nickki had to give me a crash course. I immediately liked the sport. My first shot missed the circle i was aiming for entirely and hit another dead centre. Nickki said wow. Aldrin laughed his head off at me, for he knew it had been his circle i hit. Ehheh. Vincent and Phang popped by, and i drilled Vincent for Judo training schedules for next week. He later confided in me he had checked out both Nickki and Sam and rated them "okay larr" which meant hot.

So on with the movie. It wasn't as nice as i had predicted, but now that its over i guess its a fitting end to a great series. Justice is done to the characters, although i seem to find Anna Paquin less visually arresting. Characters seem to get killed off at every other opportunity, meaning much less scripting. Some lines, (the president, for example, and Colossus, who had none) left much to be desired. I mean, c'mon - mutant war is raging and all you can say is "May God help us all."

But overall i liked it. It had punchlines and funny moments, although the sense of momentum and weight of the first two movies was lost; almost being cheapened to the feeling of a cheesy action flick. If it wasn't for the fact that it was characters that were already well expanded, and central themes similar to the homosexual (cure?) ethical questions of the real world, i'd write it off to the likes of Fantastic Four and Electra. But one thing i must say: the ending sequence is breathtaking. Amazing. Worth the RM10 i spent on the movie ticket. :D

After that the gathering went quickly downhill. I didn't feel like bowling (and me and Paul thought the others were off somewhere, so we decided to browse Times for a novel - we did not like bowling). Kenny found us and brought us back upstairs for the most boring part (to me and other non-bowlers who cannot appreciate the intricacy of the sport) of the evening. I tired to study, caught a picture of mitosis (about 15 seconds later) and gave up. Paul read a collection of short stories Abigail had lent him. Danny was going WOOTs all the way. Kenny, Tay and Nickki proceded to have fun. Sam and Wen Qi were ...

What were they doing? Hmm.

Then we discussed (again) where we were going. They suggested all this posh fusion places that i thought only the french went. And since we're in Kuching. So. You know. We decided on memories. I accidently called it patterns. Then i had a very inteligent conversation with sam on where exactly it was. We went to Tun Jugah and salivated at Apple displays and James Patterson novels. Niccki and Sam told us St Mae burned books (presumably appeasing the spirits to keep their school blocks from collapsing).

Okay, sorry.

Memories turned out to be closed. We walked and trudged, and i guess with my driving foot injury (i'm leg throw guy, remember?) i became grumpier and grumpier, coz we kept on going into cool restaurants and out again, aghast at the prices. So we settled on a chinese restaurant. I was happy. Boys (injured foot boys)+food+chair=happy.

And there you go. Me and paul left to Tun Jugah to wait for our parents, and discussed the problems with the gathering. Both us settled for a higly unlikely tale to tell our parents, that it was all fun and organised.

Which is not too true, not true at all.

Handwriting

What does your handwriting say about YOU?

You plan ahead, and are interested in beauty, design, outward appearance, and symmetry.
You are a shy, idealistic person who does not find it easy to have relationships, especially intimate ones.
You are diplomatic, objective, and live in the present.
You are a talkative person, maybe even a busybody!
You enjoy life in your own way and do not depend on the opinions of others.

Ehheh. Some right. Some very right. Others? Up to you to say.

Tag Chase Kill You

I got tagged (again) by Wandkey. Nyways, the rules are as such:

• The tagged victim have to come up with 8 different points about his/her perfect lover.
• Have to mention the gender of his/her perfect lover.
• Tag eight other victims to join this game and leave a comment on their blog.
• If you are tagged the second time.There is NO need to do this again.
• Lastly, most importantly, HAVE FUN DOING IT.

Okay. First, and foremost, the gender of my lover is female. You didn't actually expect me to say i wanted a Brokeback-ish dream, did you? (Don't answer that question).

So, on with the Tag:
1, Intelligence. Much as girls don't like blonde eyed, blue haired boys who go duh all the time (or was it the other way around now? I mean the eyes and hair, silly) wouldn't want to spend my life with an airhead that looks at her nails so often she gets hit by a rubbish truck (come to think of it, if i was married to such a monstrosity i'd do everything to make sure that happens).

2, Sincere. And knowing what to keep secret, and what not to.

3. Caring. If i break my collarbone (and God forbid with the driver throws i do now that could actually happen) i don't want her to go, "Honey, go WALK THE DOG!"

4. Responsible. Again, this is understandable. If she's not i don't suppose any of our kids would survive. ("Oh them? I left them in incinerator. They so wanted to explore, you know. And, besides, the nice tour guide told us they'd only activate it at noon. So. What's for lunch?")

5. Loyal. This works both ways. If i'm not as devoted to her then i don't deserve her.

6. Not addicted to anything. Even if its sex and it fulfills the average male libido ... Let's talk about number 7, shall we?

7, Understanding. If i go mad and smash the table, she should know what to do. And if she does a roundhouse kick at me, i'll know what to do too. Duck.

And, last of all,

8, Imperfect in her own ways.

So, the people i tag have already been tagged, but somehow sove's been left out. So.

Sove, you've been tagged.

Online Time Wasters

I got a new computer. About time. Its a black monstrosity, with modded case and horrible LEDs. The Samsung SyncMaster is black. The Eacan speakers and subwoofer is black. The keyboard is black. The mouse is black. I have a feeling computer manufacturers are discriminators. Where's the white? At Apple?

I spent about my entire day just installing updates and much needed software. There was iTunes, the personal firewall, the much needed oogling of features (and what the com shop guys had changed, i tweaked back to my preferences)

And then i realized, for all my geek ability, i couldn't get Zone Alarm to work. I screamed. I reinstalled the (inferior) Sygate Personal Firewall (which as i'm typing has just beeped me about some daft NT process that is supposed to run, anyway). I uninstalled Avast, and downloaded Norton. It failed. I screamed again.

I. Hate. New. Computers.

In the end, i restored most of what i had cleverly tweaked (vowing vengeance as i did so) and resorted to rereading The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw. I had read it the first time (skim mode - two hours for a 300 page book, not bad, huh) when i was supposed to be studying for my Bio test. Don't blame me - i did my best. Only it was too much for one day cramming and i gave up.

So that means i have to study as i type. Doesn't make sense? Hey - nothing about the Malaysian Education System does.