Hair.

People have different ideas about hair. Some view it as an accessory, thereby explaining why we have had so many different hairstyles throughout the ages. Some don't really care much about it, and may even view it as a hindrance - how else do you explain all the bald professional sprinters?

Not everyone can have naturally great hair. Some people have curly hair, some have straight. The way your hair is shaped is actually determined by your hair follicles, which are those things hair grows out of - but I'm not going to go too much into that.

Some people have dark hair, some have blonde, some have red, and some have brown. Hair color is determined by pigments in the hair - but again, I'm not going to go too much into that.

Anyway, whatever type of hair people have, most of them just can't simply be grateful for what they have and dream of having different-looking hair. Straight-haired people curl their hair, while curly-haired people straighten theirs. And need I say something about all the dyeing people have been subjecting their hair to? The changing of one's hairstyle is a very ubiquitous practice nowadays, and maybe it always has been.

Well, for me, the only hairstyles I've ever had are straight and long, or straight and short. I've only used styling gel once, as far as I can remember, and even then it was because I didn't really have a choice.

My hair is currently straight and long. And I mean long as in, the time has come to shorten it. But no, I'll put that off for now.

Why? Because the plan is to cut it after receiving my SPM results in March. And get this: the better the results, the longer the hair. That's right. Best results = Shortest hair, i.e. bald.

It's not like I've never been bald before. I tried it once, in late 2007/early 2008. Sporting a newly-shaven crown on the first day of school, some of my friends hardly recognised me, such was the magnitude of my transformation.

And guess what? It was actually a refreshing change. Less combing, less shampoo, and less time spent adjusting my hair. In a practical sense, I quite enjoyed being bald. And stylishly speaking - well, I didn't really care much for style back then. So it was like a perfect match. And I pretty much stuck with it for the next three years or so.

My hair's long now, though - I haven't cut it for months. But hopefully I'll be shaving it off come the 22nd of March. ;)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

A lot's been happening since my last post. But I suppose these three simple adjectives make ample summarization of said events.


The Good.
My family (currently) comprises of my mother, my stepfather, my stepmother, and me along with my nine siblings. And as it was recently Chinese New Year, we took it as an opportunity to finally get together for the first time. In Melaka. 

My entire direct family. All 13 of us.

It goes without saying that family is the most important thing in one's life, besides God of course. And therefore it is also clear that having strong familial ties is extremely important.

During these festive times people usually take the opportunity to visit relatives. This custom is becoming increasingly important as nowadays people work so much that they hardly have time to do so on a more regular basis.

Speaking of which, we visited my great-aunt and -uncle in Ayer Hitam, Johor recently. And you know how old people can be when people come to visit. They seem to ooze with joy, and you unwittingly feel happy by just looking at them.

The Bad.
While we were in Ayer Hitam, my  beloved cellphone fell into the toilet. Fortunately, I hadn't added anything to the toilet water yet at the time (if you catch my drift...) so I managed to retrieve it, after being temporarily stunned for a moment. The SIM card survived, happily. However, I wish I could say the same about my phone. :(

The Ugly.
Two words: Bujang Terlajak.

I could have  filed this under 'bad', but describing this so-called 'comedy' as bad, would be a massive understatement. It would be like saying Mahatma Gandhi was a nice guy. Or that Lionel Messi is a good football player. Or that there are a fair amount of Chinese people out there.

On paper, it was supposed to at least be a decent film. Its cast included such talents as Saiful Apek, Johan and Nabil of Raja Lawak fame, Mustafa Kamal and Nur Fazura. Putting all these great actors in one film is a sure-fire formula for success, right? WRONG.

To begin with, the plot was really poor, so the movie was basically doomed from the get-go. The 'jokes' were shockingly bad. The acting was, at times, disturbing. Many of the scenes lacked logic. And to top it all off, the ending was completely devoid of inspiration.

Before the movie started, they played a 'Thank You' message for the moviegoers who were willing to fork out their cash and time to watch a local film, thus supporting the local film industry. And that, I admit, was actually a nice touch.

However, if the local film industry continues to produce such appalling movies, I don't see how people will be doing that any longer.

Sure, I admit that there are many local films out there that are actually pretty good. But I have to say, a movie like that would never have reached the silver screen in, say, the United States. I'll have you know that I spent RM 14 and about two hours of my life just to get myself traumatised in a cold, dark cinema. And I probably wasn't the only one.

Fellow victims. Photo courtesy of Yassin Roslan.

Short Story #1.

Bob and Bill are two best friends who have known each other for years. One day, they decide to go hunting in the woods, with good old-fashioned double-barreled rifles as their weapons of choice.

After an hour or so of fruitless walking, Bill suddenly drops to the ground. Upon seeing this, Bob panics and dials for help.

Bob: Hello, operator? I think my friend's just died!

Operator: OK, calm down, sir. I can help. First, let's make sure he's really dead.

Bob: [BANG] OK, now what?

 

Bucking the Trend.

I've never really been a fan of trends.

Normal
A: Why are you doing that?
B: Because everyone else is. Duh.

Me
A: Why are you doing that?
B: Because everyone else isn't. Duh.

Back in the day, there was a lot of stuff that I refrained from doing simply because everyone else was doing it. I didn't know why, but if anyone asked I'd say that doing the same thing as everyone else made me look generic.
For example:

• Hanging out at public places 'just for the hell of it.'
• Playing musical instruments.
• Wearing jeans, hoodies, sneakers, etc.
• Styling my hair.
• Listening to some obscure band with half-decent music.

And the list goes on. This mindset of mine was probably influenced by the fact that the people doing these things were teenagers, and more specifically the types who smoke, talk and swear loudly in public places, laugh like frickin' hyenas, skip school - heck, all those undesirable qualities we see in a large portion of society today.

Sure, I'm an introvert, and I always have been. But I didn't like to mix with the so-called 'in-crowds', as in my mind, 'fitting in' would mean having to become someone who was aptly despised by everyone besides my friends, who would also be just like me. I heard somewhere that to see a person's character, you had to look at the people he surrounds himself with. And thus, I didn't follow trends, and I was never very social.

One day, I was a hit by a realization. A lot of people who do these things are actually quite nice. As it turns out, I've been unfairly stereotyping all this while.

So, I got to thinking, how do trends even come about in the first place? Because a lot of people did the same thing at the same time.

And why did a lot of people do the same thing at the same time? Well, there had to be someone who started it. And then someone else saw them doing it, and thought, "Hey, I like that," and did that too. And so on until a new trend starts.

So what I'm trying to say here is, I was pretty narrow-minded back then. I had a really cynical and negative outlook on society. And now I had come to the conclusion:

People do what they do because they want to.

I mean, really, who gets forced into wearing a pair of jeans? I wouldn't say peer pressure, because if someone decides to wear jeans, it's because they were willing to. If they didn't want to wear 'em they wouldn't. Simple as that.

And yes, I'm aware that 'fitting in' is important to many people. But in my opinion, not fitting in isn't the end of the world. You're not gonna die from not being 'popular'. Just as long as you've got friends, and people you can count on, you'll be fine.

Well, I guess that if you want to do something, it means that you think it's right, and at the same time without exactly saying that everything else is wrong. And I've always (well, at least that's what it feels like) been a firm believer in standing up for what's right. Just because the majority thinks something is good, doesn't mean that it is. Doesn't mean that it isn't neither, but you get my point. 

"Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone."  

- Andy Biersack, musician

Yeah, I just felt like putting that quote in, even if it doesn't really go with the rest of the post. I just like it so much.

Growing Old(er).

Time and tide wait for no man.

-Proverb

It's common knowledge that every living thing must die someday. That's just the way it is. What goes around comes around, what goes up must come down, bla bla bla.

I'll be 18 this year, meaning that I'll have to be getting a new IC, among other things. However, as it is, life has its strange way of making people want to be someone they're not. For instance, white people want to get tanned while naturally tanned people want to be white. Ordinary people wish they were famous while famous people wish they didn't get so much attention. Kids want to grow up so quickly whereas adults wish they could be children again.

Likewise, at times I wish I could be a student again. I mean, I was one for over a decade, and everyone knows how hard it is to let go of the past sometimes. 

I couldn't say how many times I've looked back on the old days - there have simply been too many memories. I remember one time years ago when a primary school teacher of mine said that her school days were the best of her life. How bang-on right she was. 

Soon, I'll be stepping into the real world, but not just yet. Many of my friends have already gone ahead, though. Working, college, and such. It all makes me feel so old.

Maybe it's just me, I can be very sentimental sometimes. Maybe I'm being immature, with my not wanting to come out of my 'comfort zone' of being bored at home and not going out to work or something.

But as they say, behind every cloud is a silver lining. Who says  you can't take it slowly? Surely there's nothing wrong with taking a much-warranted break from over 11 years of formal education? I mean, when else are you going to get the chance to sit at home and bore yourself mindless, when you're retired? Who's to say you're even gonna get to that age, right?

So, I apologize if anyone was hurt or anything by that previous paragraph. I wasn't intending on hitting out at anyone, just making my point.

Life is made of decisions, people. Make the right ones.

Ideas.

Picture by Samuel Lee. Probably has nothing to do with the post.

Just now I had an idea. A really great idea. I was going to make a video.

However, what the video idea was about doesn't really matter anyway, since I was struck by the reality that I didn't have the resources to make one anyway. Well, not now, anyway. Maybe in a few years...

Of course, I'm not the only one who's ever experienced this. You get this incredible idea out of nowhere, and it expands at an alarming rate instantly. Then suddenly, your bubble bursts because you realise that it's never going to happen. And then the idea eventually disappears, and is lost until someone else gets it, although the chances of that happening are really low.

Has anyone ever heard of Roald Dahl? He wrote such great books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. I practically grew up reading his work. A fascinating fact about him was that he used to go to sleep with a notebook (or something like that) and a writing utensil next to him so that if he had a good dream, he could write it down when he woke up. And then, it could be used to write a story.

Great ideas don't come around too often. And when they do, usually they don't really work out. For instance, last year I was given the task of coming up with a script for a class video. And I came up with a pretty nice one, I have to say. It seemed even better as none of the other classes were doing anything even remotely similar.

So, I put some degree of effort into it. I asked for help from my ever-willing classmates. I took about a whole day off to come up with the (fairly lengthy) script, which I passed around my class so that everyone could read it and give their consent. I took several hours to select a hundred or so photos that I thought could go in the video from a vast archive. My so-called 'partner-in-crime' sacrificed valuable study time to work on the video, as did most of my other classmates.

Sadly, despite all that effort, the idea had to be scrapped due to certain constraints. So, it took a three-man brainstorming session on one of the last few days of SPM for us to come up with a somewhat cheesy idea for a zombie video. Which was filmed the afternoon after SPM ended. The worst part was that two other classes were also doing horror-themed videos, which pretty much sucked for me. And the fact that they had already done their videos earlier also made look like our video was a slightly humorous rip-off from theirs.

Sure, I was disappointed that we weren't able to go with our original, unique idea. But whatever, I got over it. Take heed from the words of the classic Rolling Stones song:

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes

Well you just might find

You get what you need

Peace out, people.

Golden Oldies.

I was looking through my old school yearbooks when I came across my Form 1 class picture. And that got me thinking, "Every kid in this entire yearbook no longer goes to school,". Imagine that - I'm old(er) now.

So, I tried to scan said picture but it wasn't exactly of the best quality. In the end I had to settle with scanning my Form 3 class picture instead.

Back row, fourth from right.

Besides that, recently I watched the movie 'Scarface' on Cinemax, and I've also been jamming along to the likes of Frank Sinatra and Billy Joel. So what the heck am I doing watching movies and listening to music that's even older than I am?

The answer: Appreciating the classics. They simply don't make entertainment like they used to.

For instance, back in the old days good movies were considered 'good' because of their memorable storylines and dialogue. Nowadays special effects have added a whole new dimension to what makes a good movie. I'm not saying that today's movies aren't good, but sometimes great special effects lead an otherwise rubbish movie to be deemed 'good' by the public. For me, it's always about the story (although good effects wouldn't hurt).

The music of the not-too-distant past still lives on as well. They can still garner millions of views on Youtube. This is due to their meaningful lyrics and/or soothing or catchy beats. Nowadays it's mostly all about the catchy beats. I doubt that much of today's music would still be remembered in say, ten years' time.

All in all, great movies and great music live on forever until people stop caring about them. Which is exactly why we need to appreciate these golden oldies. Sure, there's nothing wrong with keeping up with the times, but without the legends of old, the entertainment scene would be much more different today.
 

Sleep.

Everyone knows what sleeping is, so I suppose I won't have to be too in-depth on that. Maybe simply giving an example would be sufficient:

Exhibit A.

Sleeping wasn't really a huge part of my life pre-2010. The only time I would sleep back then was at night, waking up at about 5 in the morning on school days and at various times on non-school days, and daytime naps were uncommon. Twice I went a whole night without sleeping, and the latest I've ever woken up was at 2 in the afternoon.

However, since I moved to Semesra I discovered the joy of sleeping. Sleeping in class, sleeping in my dorm, sleeping in the school hall, and even sleeping in the surau. For me (and mostly everyone else) the equation was simple:

Free time = Sleeping time

Sadly, as time moved on a new factor was added to the equation: Study time.

Free time = Study time + Sleeping time, Study time > Sleeping time

But of course, as they say, old habits die hard. My attempts to adjust to the new equation were at times successful, but in the end I'd still end up dozing off. Plus, having all the other sleep addicts around me didn't help either, as well as the late nights.

I'm pretty sure this 'disease' affects almost every other student who has ever spent a certain amount of time living in a hostel, according to what I've heard anyway. And I'm not sure why. Back before I moved to Semesra, I had only ever slept in class once, and even that was during the early days of Form 1, and there wasn't any teacher around at the time.

I still have this disease up to today. Earlier today I went for the compulsory 'Kursus KPP', the so-called introductory course to driving. For the first session I just about managed to hold on, but as for the session after lunch I felt the old bug kicking in again. I'm just glad I was able to sit up throughout the whole thing, instead of having my head coming to rest on the table.

Then, after reaching home I went to sleep again - it was ridiculous. So now here I am, typing this after having recently woken up for Maghrib prayers and dinner. And even then I had to be woken up by my brother, otherwise I might still be asleep right now.  

Sleep is good for you, but you can have too much of a good thing.

Perfection.

Recently I've been experiencing something called writer's block. That's when your mind suddenly goes blank while you're just about to write something. This may lead to frustration, cursing and blind rage. Writer's block can and does happen to everyone, even the professionals.

In chess, they have something known as chess blindness. That's the "Oh, sh*t!" moment when you realise you've just made the wrong move, and missed a better one. As with writer's block, chess blindness can and does happen to everyone, even the grandmasters.

On a more general scale, we often forget things. Especially simple things.

Example 1

A: Hey, get me the... um, what's that thing called again?

B: Remote?

A: No, the... uh...

B: Pen? Book? Banana?

A: That's it! The fork.

Example 2
[On phone]
A: Hi, I'd like to make a reservation, please.
B: Certainly, sir. Your name, please?
A: Uh... my name is... (Oh, damn!)
B: Sir?
A: [Hangs up phone]

I once had an experience in which my English teacher forgot my name and instead called me Asyraf, prompting laughter from what sounded like my whole class. Of course, being a good sport I didn't really take it to heart.

Anyway, my point is, we all make mistakes. Nobody's perfect. Being a master at something means that you are less prone to making mistakes, rather than being completely immune from them. The way I see it, whoever said "Practice makes perfect," LIED.

This picture's function is just to liven up the post. Ignore it if  you will.

"To err* is human."

- Confucius

* err =  to make a mistake

Awesome.

"Whenever I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story."

- Neil Patrick Harris in 'How I Met Your Mother'

Well, the moral of the above quote is, we shouldn't delve into the depths of despair for too long, since doing that gets us nowhere. We should, instead, focus on the positives and learn lessons from whatever it is that caused the sadness.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. It's actually about the word 'awesome' itself.

'Awesome' can be defined as something that fills you with awe, a.k.a. admiration. However, the word has become so common nowadays that it loses its significance. Here, we see that society is so easily impressed that even a free sample in the supermarket can be described as 'awesome'.

Not that I'm against the usage of the word or anything. This is just an observation of mine. Yes, I admit, I don't say 'awesome' a lot, instead preferring other words like 'fantastic', 'amazing', etc. However, in conversational English, not using words like 'cool', 'awesome' and 'chill' makes you sound like an old person who would rather talk like they did 'in the good old days'. 

On the other hand, using less common words in everyday speech also makes you sound educated. And by sounding educated, you win the respect of people around you. And that, people, is awesome.

And you know what else is awesome? These guys.

    

Well, I guess the girl in the red shirt is awesome too, for working. And working ain't easy.

By the way, does anyone else think it's interesting that the word 'awful' carries the opposite meaning of 'awesome'?

School Year Begins.

I woke up as early as 5.15 this morning to watch four of my siblings embark on their first day of school for the year, all on school buses. My Form 5 sister, the newly-appointed prefect; my Form 2 brother, also a newly-appointed prefect; my Year 5 sister and my Year 1 brother, who was especially excited at his venture into the world of primary-level education.

I only managed to stay awake until about 7 at latest, before going back to sleep and waking up after 11.

My own primary school years were - well, unusual, to say the least. I went to four different institutions between ages 6 and 12. And sure, it was great. I gained valuable experiences which many people I know will never get. Ever.

It started at this place called Nury, in Bukit Antarabangsa. It was part school, and part private clinic. It had a pool (which I never got to actually see), a gymnasium (with mats and stuff) and even a PS 1. Purple vests were part of our uniforms. I don't remember much of what I learnt there, except for the word xi gua (which is Mandarin for watermelon), and how to play chess and Chinese chess. I remember jogging down the large-ish hill during PE, and getting chased by dogs at least on one occasion. There was also the year-end school play, which was held at the De Palma Hotel in Ampang, in which I was somehow chosen to be one of the two MCs.

The next year, I moved to a private school that went by the name Integrated Islamic College (IIC) and spent two great years there. It was during those years that I first remember tasting academic superiority over my peers, coming in third ( I think) in class during my first year there. And the next year I constantly came in first during exams. I still remember one time when I got heavily scolded for having such tiny handwriting, and another time when I was punished for failing to bring my Maths textbook to school. But that never stopped me from doing well.

It was also there that I first witnessed a sprint race during Sports Day - I remember being overjoyed when my friend, who was also our house representative, won said race. There, I also took  up Karate, but I was never really that interested in it, at times skipping classes to read books in the library instead.

After that, something happened to the school which I still don't quite understand and all the students had to move to a place called Sekolah Islam Adni, another private school. It was great too, but I didn't really appreciate it back then. The place was, as they say, a former hospital, which was then an apartment, before finally becoming a school. As a result, the floors were mostly carpeted, and had air-conditioning, even in the classrooms. Being such a weakling back then I despised the air-conditioning, as I would get cold really easily. The classrooms had balconies, which we weren't allowed to use. There was also an elevator in the central area of the building, but no one was allowed on those either. There was also rumoured to be a swimming pool on one of the upper floors, but I never saw it.

At Adni I took up Karate (again) and Archery as co-curricular activities, and not really liking either of them, since I pretty much sucked at both.

I remember getting into trouble plenty of times, for reasons ranging from the usual failure to complete homework to allegedly talking during Friday prayers. But I still managed to somehow end up top of my class for the exams in spite of my laziness.

In mid-2004, my life changed when I was transferred to a government school - SK Taman Bukit Indah. After seriously underestimating the Malaysian National Education Syllabus I found myself demoted to the second class the next year.

But it was great. Having already learnt much of the Year 5 syllabus back at Adni I found myself as top student in class for every single exam that year. That year I also discovered that I had some athletic ability, something which I'd never realised before. I actually won a silver medal for the 4x100 sprint during Sports Day that year.

In Year 6 I was back in the first class, and I found myself academically inferior to my peers once again. However, I still managed to get straight A's for all three of my trial exams and UPSR. That year also made the school chess team for the first time, and won a bronze medal for the high jump event during Sports Day. I also started to actually play football that year, and my class came in third in the inter-class tournament after UPSR.

How time flies, eh?
Picture courtesy of blogs.discoverymagazine.com

So yeah, I had some great times back then. Obviously I can't go back, but there's nothing wrong with reminiscing every now and then. It's really all the little things that make you who you are today, and when you reminisce you are reminded of all those life lessons you picked up when you were younger and which you probably forgot about as you got older.

"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

- George Santayana

New Year Football.

Well, it all started when Premier League bottom club Blackburn Rovers surprisingly beat English champions Manchester United 3-2 on the Red Devils' own turf.

Naturally, as an Arsenal supporter I was overjoyed as one of our rival teams had lost. It got even better when Chelsea too lost at home to Aston Villa and Spurs only managed a draw while Arsenal won.

I was all, "The only way this could get better would be if Man City lost too."

So last night, league leaders Man City played against Sunderland. After a goalless 90 minutes, the match went into three minutes of stoppage time.

My brother had remarked something along the lines of, "Wouldn't it be great if Sunderland scored in the last minute?" 

Image courtesy of Football365.com

And they did, through South Korean Ji Dong-Won.

Of course, we (me, my brother and my stepfather) were driven wild at this, in the way only sport can. My brother and I were quite literally jumping around and whooping for joy. Sure, it was nearly one in the morning, but what the heck, right? 

So, in the end, out of the top 5 teams in the Premier League prior to this recent round of fixtures, only my beloved Arsenal came out with 3 points. Happy New Year, indeed.

Five.

 A long time ago, I was studying (so to speak) at a place called SK Taman Bukit Indah in a class called 5 Cemerlang.

Check out back row, first boy on the left.

 Six years later, I was in a class with the number 5 again, but this time it was at a place called SM Sains Rembau, and the 5 was followed by the name 'Einstein'.

Back row, third from the right.

Well, first of all, I'd just like to say that, as far as I can remember, I have never been anywhere but in the back row during a class photo. Talk about deja vu.

Anyway, these two classes remain etched in the back of my mind, as both were highly significant in my life as a student, and as a human being. The stories I could tell about them are numerous, so I don't think I'll do it right now.

Maybe it's sufficient to simply bid a huge 'THANK YOU SO SO MUCH' to everyone in the two above photos. This post is for you, regardless of whether we still remember each other or not. 

The First.

Okay, first blog. First post.

What do people usually write?

Self-intro
"Hi, my name is Blablabla and I bla bla bla..."


Jump straight into it
"Today I saw something that really pissed me off..."


Random nothingness
"First post! Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhh..."


Or sometimes they don't write at all, they just post some kind of picture.

Yeah, that's me.

So, as you can see from the above examples, it's hard to be original when it comes to these things.

Well, this is my first ever post, and hopefully it won't be the last. Today is New Year's Day, and with the New Year comes a resolution to stick to commitments. We'll see how that turns out.