GAP and it's war against Banana Republic

This Oscars was one of the best in recent time. Slightly more relaxed that the whole up-tight award show it's been the past few years.

Chris Rock as the host was a good move. And he did a pretty good job of it. The whole Bush/GAP/Banana Republic/tank top reference was sweet! Mr. Fox won his first Oscar which is way crazy for an actor who just started to get his shit together. His portrayal of Ray Charles was sick, and I hope to see more of Mr. Booty Call in the future.

Beyonce Knowles from Destiny's Child did some French song that I thought was ok. But honestly I was expecting her to burst out at any moment with "bootiliciouse". It never happened but if it did nice........

I have a friend at work who's a really cool and funny guy to hang out with, but lately he's been getting on my nerves. The remarks he makes and the way he says things are starting to annoy me and I hope I don't bust a cap on his ass anytime soon. He's been a good motivator whose been trying to improve my work related skills, but I think his getting carried away with the remarks he makes. I'll just stay cool and take it for a while, since I feel his intentions are good. But if he starts bringing in my parents into his "charming" statements, then his asking for trouble.

well this is to hoping that the rest of the week goes smooth insya-Allah.

Tears, movies, and KFC...

I had free passes to go watch the movie "Boogeyman". Since my girl can't make it due to exams I took out my sister and her boyfriend. It sure turned out to be an interesting night...

I decided to go strait to the mall after work and meet my sis there. Got there a few hours early and thought I'd take a walk around, take my time and just do your basic window shopping. I'm a very social type of person, but it is nice once in a while to just go out "solo". I take my solo outings as an opportunity to do some thinking about everything and nothing.

about 2 hours later I got a call from my sis that she had arrived, so upon agreeing on a designated location, we met up and the first thing she does is hugs me and then starts crying... Now of course I start getting worried but since her boyfriend is right there next to us, I guess his not the cause. Anyway I ask her what is wrong and with tear filled eyes she says that she's just very stressed. It's a combination of money problems, studies, and renting her own place that's got her all in a fit.

I have faith in God and my religion, so when she asked me why it seemed that as soon as she had money things like fees, car problem, and loan issues popped up leaving her broke, I told her there's two reasons :

a) God knows that more money would cause more problem to her
b) her money is not "Berkat" meaning blessed due to a lifestyle that is not Islamic.

an Islamic lifestyle is a way of life that revolved around serving God, and completing ones obligations as a Muslim like prayer ( 5 times a day), good deeds, and staying away from what is forbidden. When ones daily routine is based on these actions then everything that happens is with Gods blessing, and Guidance.

my sis asked me if I pray 5 times a day, and I told her I did. It was a lie. I'm not trying to justify telling a lie, but I was giving advice and if I had said I didn't complete my 5 daily prayers the whole point of my advice would have been ignored. I feel very hypocritical. But if that lie will get my sister thinking when she gets home about her priorities, and responsibilities to God then so be it.

I have learned a lesson long forgotten, thought to me by my dad which is one must lead by example. I have 4 brothers and sisters. Being the eldest it's my responsibility to lead by example. Insyaallah ( God willing ) I will find the strength to keep to my convictions.

P.S : the Movie "Boogeyman" sucked big time and was a total disappointment.

A week away; Has anything changed

Didn't realize I've been away from my blog for 5 days. Time just flies by when you don't pay attention. I still cant believe it's already 2005!

I've been spending a lot of time at my girls place, and it got me thinking. I have a bad habit of getting to comfortable with people. Now if my girl lived on her own it might not be a big issue, but she still stays with her parents. What I mean is I'll be at my girls place watching the television, raiding the fridge, you know... "Chilling" but with her parents around. Where do I cross the line from being a "future son in law" dropping by to "overgrown man getting too comfortable".

one problem I supposed is that if someone tells me drop by anytime, I drop by anytime. And if I over stay my welcome, I expect that someone to tell me, and I'll give them their space. Some of you might think "dude! You should know when you've overstayed your welcome", that's true but from my point of view I mean what I say, so if I said drop by anytime, drop by anytime.

there's nothing I hate more then thinking everything is fine, then suddenly find out from another friend that things aren't all honey and roses. If you have a problem with me, tell it to my face, don't tell everyone else but me, that's not cool. But I put my self in those kind of situations so don't really have anyone to blame but my self.

I watched the movie Constantine last week, and all I can say is BRILLIANT!! A superb movie by a great director. His first movie to boot! What a director and what vision. The look and feel of the movie was sweet! And it all looked like it fit. Hope for more great things for the director and a possible Constantine franchise.

Where am I heading?

As much as I act all indifferent when it comes to my future, I do think about it a lot. I'm 25 with nothing to proudly show for it. I'm confused. A university education and a lot of money doesn't make a person successful, and it doesn't bring happiness. But I do know that the education helps open doors, and that the money helps things run smoothly.

I'm torn between my obligations as a Muslim, and my wants as a young adult in a big city. When I go through the news papers and read articles on Muslims in Iraq fighting and dying for their religion, but not just in Iraq anywhere, I feel ashamed that I'm in Malaysia with all the comforts of an urban dweller. What makes it worse is that I'm not taking full advantage of what I have been given. I'm not useless but if I'd stayed focus, practiced my religion, and followed my parents advice, I'd be in a better and more stable condition then where I am now.

I want to live my life with no regrets, but I have so many. Too many things I've taken for granted. Too many opportunities wasted. I'm at this point in my life based on everything I've done, and every decision I've made, yet I don't believe in changing ones past because who we are is defined by what we've been through. I guess it's human nature to always think "What If?". Many nights have I spent laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling procrastinating on "What If?". I hate that sentence. "what If?" is a sentence I do not want to use, but always seem to fall back on.

maybe I shouldn't have gotten engaged yet. Maybe I'm not prepared for it economically and emotionally. I can hardly take care of my self, can I take care of "M" now?

was getting engaged me doing what I thought was the right thing to do? Or was it what I felt I wanted to do. After going out with "M" for 4 years and going through a lot together was it just the next logical step? Only time will tell.

all I have left to do is make sure it works, and that I do all I can to make her happy. God willing things will work out for the better. It's about time I be responsible for my actions

Valentine's day come and gone...

Valentine's day is an over hyped, financially burdening, and emotionally damaging experience. It's funny how were fooled into it at an early age with the idea of giving someone you love/like a hand made post card. Then when you hit your early teens chocolates and flowers are incorporated. In the later teen years when your parents trust you enough to let you out on your own dinner is put in.

so financially now you have the post card, chocolate, flowers, and dinner all bundled up together in one package, and it's not cheap. It's not like there's a Valentine's day happy meal "Yes sir, get it all together and you'll get a 50% discount" but then again, with Valentine's being so commercialized, I'm not surprised if someone's already come up with this kind of package on offer.

it's over hyped because people are to believe that on Valentine's day, that person you have a crush on is gonna miraculously fall for you if you give him/her some flowers. Also that if your relationship is on the rocks, Valentine's day is the day to make it all right. Dude! A relationship takes time, and effort. Why is it that people think Valentine's is a kind of love loop hole that will give you a short cut to someone's heart.

Emotionally damaging because there's that pressure to perform and deliver. To be so romantic that your significant other would go breathless and melt in your hands. Valentine's day doesn't care if your having a bad day, it doesn't care if u need some alone time after a big argument. Valentine forces you to plan your day based on what Valentine wants. On Valentine's you play by his rules, you have to make the effort no matter how insincere.

Valentine's day isn't sincere anymore. Valentine is evil

I remembered

I can't believe I still remember my ICQ number. Haven't been using it for the past few years, but thought since I got the net connected to my home PC might as well see if I can get in touch with a few web acquaintances. So I've had it installed for a few days but just couldn't remember my ICQ#. Then suddenly while I'm in the toilet putting down a deposit PING!! It hit me like a married couple on Jerry Springer!

now luckily my ICQ number only has 7 digits. But also what I find interesting is that for a guy, a lot of thinking goes on while on the toilet bowl. A males most deepest and carnal mind farts occur when on the bowl, and I cant help but think it occurs due to one of many a males relationships with "holes".

I'm not sure who I'm ripping off when I say that a man's life revolves around a hole. "were born from one, we spend our lives looking for one, and when we die we end up in one."

could our close proximity to the bowl trigger some higher level of conciseness, resulting in our best idea's coming out when were doing our "business". I don't think we "enjoy" staying in the toilet far longer then our opposite sex, it isn't about the smell of ones own dinner from the day before that gives us comfort. For me it's a form of escapism. As soon as I pass that door and sit on the bowl all troubles and worries of the outside world are left behind. All that's left is me, and this 4 walls around me. Nothing else exist.

is it a waste of time when u spend more then 10 minutes in the toilet? Sure it is. But to take a way my "bowl time" would be take away a major part of my creative thought process.

overkill? I know, but I was on a role.

A day of nothing...

As much as I like doing nothing at times, spending a whole day doing nothing is a waste of time. Sure the freedom of not having to run around doing something for ones self or for others is nice, but looking back at the day I realize there was so many other ways to do "nothing" yet feel like I did do something...

*laughs*

what the hell did I just wright!? Talk about stupid. The lesson learned here is don't try to sound smart and all taonistic when your actually just plain. I visit some blogs and it just amazes me how some of these people write and express them self and the things around them. It's totally fantastic. Half the words they use I can't spell, but it's not just the words they choose, but how they use it is what's fascinating.

So from now on I'm gonna stick with what I know how to do, and not try to be someone I'm not. Hopefully as long as I keep on writing, sooner or later all achieve some improvement in my chicken scratching writing, and thoughts.

Chinese new year...

Well today was Chinese new year, and what is the difference between today and any other day? No traffic! Chinese families usually go back to there "Kampung" (that's village in Malay) for the long weekend, and traffic was just smooth in the nations capital.

I thought to my self if all the Chinese folks in Kuala Lumpur were to vanish, this is how it would be. All the roads would be jam free, and all the shops would be closed. Traditionally in Malaysia what race you were usually determined what type of work sector you'd go in. Historically Malay's have always been farmers, the English brought in the Chinese to run the mines, and the English also brought in the Indian's as cheap labor at estates.

Because the Chinese worked the mines they were usually at the fore front of a towns expansion. So in modern Malaysia the Malay's have been genetically coded to take everything easy, and try and live a relaxing life, the Chinese try and get into every and any kind of business they can, while the Indians still work at plantations, and factories. Now this isn't a generalization, I'm just looking at it from a sociological point of view. A person's hard work determines his/her position in life and that's a fact.

why am I even talking about this. I guess it's been along day, and at the moment, I'm just bored.

The house next door

Finally!

I finally got my home PC back online! And to think it only took me close to 2 weeks! Its one of my great achieving moments in life! I'll try and post a new picture later tonight as a reward to my self.

Today I was emailed another script to translate. If this becomes a steady income without overloading my senses I'll be a really happy man!

What a Saturday...

Still can't get on-line on my PC. But I think I've narrowed down the problem. Basically the modem is having trouble detecting my PC's IP address. And just my luck the reset button on my Modem is busted. I'm at the point were I'm seriously contemplating jumping out my room window, not that it would help since I'm on the ground floor.

On Friday afternoon I was given a script to translate from English to Malay. It's a new experience for me, and it was quite fun. The script was from some talk show interview on parenthood of two local celebrities. The only problem I faced was the fact that the guest interviewed talked in very casual English, and I had to translate it into very formal Malay. It took me about an hour a page, because I took my time to make sure I did it right, and also cause I was doing it at 3 in the morning. The reason I didn't start sooner was because earlier on I had spent time installing window XP, and because I'm stubborn and was cracking my skull trying to fix my internet connection problem.

Chinese new year is coming up and, And it's a public holiday on the 8th, 9th, and 10th. HELL YA!!!..gonna spend that time cleansing my room. Yes it does take that many days!...*grin*

America's Declaration of Independence...

Is just a beautiful thing to read. I mean people don't write and talk like that anymore.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"

Who talks like that anymore! It's beautiful. Anyway the Declaration of Independence is long so I wont post it all here. What I will post is the part that talks about why the 13 states wanted independence from the British, and how it can be related to why Iraq wants it's independence

The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

King George III sure was an ass. Now change the name to George W. Bush. And instead of America think about Iraq. The time and name and place might change, but a tyrants personality and charm sure stays the same...

Down with something...

It started about an hour ago. It's that feeling you get where something just doesn't feel right. Your neck starts to feel stiff, you get this gut wrenching feeling something bad is going to happen, and looking at your fingers as they type away on your keyboard gives you motion sickness.

I hate this feeling because I don't know if I'm coming down with a flu, or if I have some form of psychic powers, and it's trying to warn me of impending doom!

My perfect record of daily blogging has finally been broken! And to think it only took me a week. I had a problem getting connected on-line yesterday at home. The damn modem just couldn't dial up. I tried adjusting the connection setting but to no avail, so I've uninstalled the dialer software and network driver, and will try, "try" being the key word here to install it back again. Hopefully it will be an uneventful installation without the dreaded pop-up box of "error ###".

The First!...

different shades of grey

Yes this is the first photo to be posted on this blog. It's a picture I took at work one morning cause I had just gotten a new digital camera, and was clicking away at anything I found remotely "arty".

today was a public holiday so I've spent all morning doing what my dad likes to call "fuck all". I've always found that sentence amusing. Of course I've never told my dad that, cause he has a way of taking things I say totally opposite of what I meant it to be. Of course like any average self titled slacker, I blame it on the generation "gap", which actually is totally bull shit if one just spent sometime to sit down and get to know ones parent's. I know!! Lets blame misunderstood father and son relationships on TV; that always works.