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Season’s greetings and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!! May the month of Syawal ahead of you be filled with happiness and success!!
Don’t be too angsty about the fact that Canadian schools tend to be in the midst of the exams + assignment season now. Be patient and hopefully that will make the small instances of freedom all the more enjoyable =)
I really haven’t got much to go back on, so I’ll just wish you all the very best and stop here; jangan lupa nak singgah jemput datang rumah masa Raya nanti =p
Cheers!
Warmest regards,
- Irving.
PRE-RAYA 2008 RECAP:
Yeah, sure – you can have some of this karipap Ina dear.
Fugg I didn’t mean to give her that much. Siap ar ko next Raya Ina…aku makan karipap ko pulak.
-
XD
Salams to all!
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to present to you Page # 4 of snuffleupagush.wordpress.com:
Peri Lithon. Est: 1137H Central, 24/09/2008.-
Enjoy =)
Mana tak pilu. Berikut adalah antara sebab-sebabnya:
Mereka kata saya dan warga saya hanyalah orang penumpang.
Mereka kata saya tidak berterima kasih atas jasa-jasa yang telah mereka berikan.
Mereka kata sekolah-sekolah vernakular yang melindungi bahasa dan budaya warga saya wajar dibubarkan.
Mereka kata saya setan yang tidak boleh dengar laungan azan.
Mereka kata saya orang bodoh.
Mereka kata saya patut pindah pergi Singapura sahaja; tapi kalau nak yang paling elok -
Mereka suruh saya balik ke tanah besar cina.
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Tapi, bukankah saya orang Malaysia juga? Tidakkah saya diiktiraf dengan konsep jus soli? Tidakkah saya reti berbahasa Melayu dengan cukup lancar? Tidakkah saya menghormati adat resam dan kepercayaan semua warga ibunda? Tidakkah saya menerima konsep “bangsa Malaysia” dengan sepenuh hati? Tidakkah saya juga berusaha memajukan negara tanah airku di persada mata dunia?
Adakah saya tidak melalui sistem pendidikan kebangsaan yang menekankan perpaduan kaum, persefahaman masyarakat dan kemajuan persekutuan? Adakah saya tidak layak – dan juga tidak dikehendaki – berkongsi warganegara dengan insan-insan yang selama ini saya anggap menerima saya dengan hati terbuka?
Saya cukup sedih. Tidak pernahku sangka ada juga yang mempunyai perasaan sebegini terhadap saya.
-
I thought I was a Malaysian. Am I not? Will you not let me be one?
Will you not let me help you serve our country? Will you keep telling me to go back to “tanah besar cina” for as long as I live?
Will you?
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Saya orang Malaysia…kan?
I am a Malaysian…right?
Je suis malaisien…oui?
Until you tell me to stop being one. Which I swear to God, some of you are doing right now.
=(
Saya sedih. Saya sangat sedih =(
Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming-
Show your scars.
Cutting your feet on the hard earth running-
Show your scars.
Bleeding your soul in a hard luck story-
Show your scars.
Spilling your blood in the hot sun’s glory-
Show your scars.
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred-
We die hard.
-
University can be so tiring sometimes.
Overheard at 85 Marie Curie Private:
IRVING: Okay Daniel, I’m going to ask you a few things in Francais - tell me if I am pronouncing them correctly alright? And also check to see if the sentence makes sense?
DANIEL: Yup, sure.
IRVING: Daniel, est-ce que tu es canadien? Did I just ask you if you were Canadian?
DANIEL: Yup, you did.
IRVING: AWESOME. Okay okay, here we go again: est-ce que tu es triste? Was that the right way of asking if you were sad?
DANIEL: Yup, that’s it.
IRVING: Yeah, AWESOME!! Now, I’m going to ask about your job…I know I can say “quel est votre travail?” and “vous etes etudiant?“, but I want to try something different this time…here goes: est-ce que tu es metier?
DANIEL: Errr…you just asked me if I was a job.
IRVING: XD
***
Ah, the trials and tribulations of learning another language. Eh, I mean, another langue.
That’s the spirit old boy, that’s the spirit.
To Nicol Ann David – Malaysia’s top woman squash player – currently ranked World No 1 in the WISPA rankings:
Dear Nicol,
I failed you. I really did. And I’m sorry.
I played one of the top seeded players of the University of Ottawa today (I was trying out for the uOttawa Gee-Gees squash team) and got handed a 3-0 set defeat. Not only that, the score of the three games were equally horrendous: 9-0, 9-0, 9-0.
But that was still okay; I mean, it’s not as if I haven’t been thrashed by a solid squash player before – that happens every now and then right? No, what got me was this: after my game against this university player, we shook hands, and as I thanked him for the match he suddenly asked me this question:
“By the way, are you from Malaysia?”
I have no idea how he guessed, but I nodded with a slight hint of pride anyway; Dirgahayu Jalur Gemilang – nothing will ever take that from me.
But then, my opponent said:
“You have a very good squash player eh?…Nicol David.”
When I heard those words, I was very proud of you. Unbelievably so. Here was a man of over twenty-two, halfway around the world from Malaysia, mentioning your name in deep respect and nodding as he acknowledged your wealth of talent. But along with this feeling of pride, I felt a surge of deep embarassment – as your fellow countryman, I have failed your name, and also our country’s reputation, by placing forth the horrendous display that was my squash game.
9-0, 9-0, 9-0…not even a point for Negaraku.
So much for this former MSSKL Quarterfinalist and MSST Squash Champion.
Nicol David…your name was mentioned in vain - I did not live up to the image you had built for us, and in that way I failed you and also the rest of the country.
But there’s more:
We, Malaysia, are also known for badminton – we have world-class shuttlers in every IBF event; what’s more, in the recently concluded Beijing Summer Olympics, our very own Lee Chong Wei fought his way through a field of world-renowned badminton players to claim the men’s singles silver medal and place Malaysia firmly in the medal standings. And how did I return the favour? By getting eliminated in the first round of the University of Ottawa badminton tryouts, that’s how.
Debate. Hah. Good ol’ debate; now you might be thinking: “ah, here’s something that Irving is potentially good at”.
Bury your dreams my friends, my performance as of late has been horrendous – barely distingishable from the first-time debaters at the opening training session of the English Debating Society of the U of O; and my best performance at a CUSID-based tournament was a 31st placing back in March at Dalhousie Nats. And I come from a country which has produced a World Public Speaking Champion in Irma Nurzahrah Junian, and is home to the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), a two-time World ESL Champion.
Again, I have failed you all. And I am very sorry and ashamed by my actions >.<
This recent turn of events has indeed humbled me; it has also made me realize one thing which has escaped my notice thus far: I was sent overseas not only for academic purposes, but also to act as an ambassador – duta kecil - for the Malaysian Government and the Malaysian people. My actions reflect on my fellow citizens and the culture I was raised in; praise be to God that my actions have at least been trustworthy and clean, but I am not satisfied.
If a foreigner can identify one of the rakyat (in this case, me) as part of the same national unit which has produced top drawer individuals – be it in squash, debate or congkak or whatever – then I should at least be able to provide merit to such associations. I should be able to give a fair showing and representation of my people – be able to give a decent fight in my squash selection match for example, or qualifying for top rounds in local debating championships -
I now believe that there is more to my tenure in Canada than academics – and that is to be a good ambassador for my fellow countrymen, one worthy of our reputation and respect. I have already worked hard at improving myself (the change you all will see for yourselves come June 2009), but I need to work harder still – and this starts tomorrow.
I am going to train harder at squash and debate now, plus - of course – study smarter. I want to be a better ambassador for my country, PETRONAS, my family, and my people. I want to be a national son that you can all be proud of, and am willing to do it the hard way. The University of Ottawa stepladder squash games start October 1st, and so does the CUSID debating circuit – I have about half a month to work on myself, and I will.
Just watch me Kak Nicol.
Best regards,
Irving.
-
P.S – Happy 35th Birthday Malaysia.
And so far, I think it’s awesome =)
Compact disc.
Death Magnetic tracklisting.
Into moi iTunes =)
Watch out for my review of the album in the next few weeks!!
-
“Crushing metal ripping skin, Tossing body; mannequin, Spilling blood, bleeding gas. Mangle flesh; snapping spine, Dripping bloody valentine, Shatter face, spitting glass - Split apart, split apart, split apart; spit - SPIT IT OUT!!!”- My Apocalypse, Death Magnetic.
Hey folks! How do you guys feel about another photo-post in the interests of procrastination? I also thought I would do things a little differently this time: for once, there will actually be a theme to this photo collection - I’ll let you guys figure out what it is ayte? =)
Anyway, I present to you, The Silent Cartographer: Fleuriste – Volume 5 in my photo-post compendiums; enjoy!
Shade.
Tabaret’s Crimson Legion.
Canadien.
Summer is no more; je suis triste.
The Day That Never Comes.
Ornamentalites.
The Case for a Creator.
20082008.
Red pinpricks.
Orange counterparts.
Morning’s Glory.
Unison.
Ostracized.
Hovercraft.
The Judas Kiss.
-
Alright, that’s all for now folks! Now, back to Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry!!
Cheers!! =)
-
P.S – Death Magnetic is released here tomorrow!! Yay for that!! =D
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Guys, look what turned up in my e-mail inbox today!!! XD
Congratulations! You have won a $50 IKEA gift certificate in our uOttawa Mobile Contest!
Your prize is available for pick up at Tabaret Hall, room 101 at the reception desk, Monday to Friday, from 8:45 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. You will have to provide one piece of identification. You have until September 25, 2008 to claim your prize. If you are unable to do so by this date, please let us know and we will try and make additional arrangements.”
LOL!!!! This is the first time that I have ever won a lucky draw in any way, shape or form man, seriously! The funny thing is that I joined this competition entirely randomly after seeing an ad for it on one of the numerous University of Ottawa billingual noticeboards; I seriously did not know what I was thinking at the time – all I remember is that my brain reasoning that fifty dollars, in any way, shape or form, would be awesome. So I forwarded my details to the uOttawa online server about a month ago so I could enter the lucky draw, and just about left it at that – this was so long ago and obscure that I even forgot I had entered the competition LOL!!
Oh wow oh wow lol – thank God I guess, murah rezeki aku =)
I guess the best example of how random my entry was – and how unexpected this win is – the following fact: I’m not even sure what IKEA is LOL!!!!
XD
***
Edit: The author has done a Google search and discovered that IKEA is some sort of furniture retailer =p
***
But anyway, like I said: fifty dollars, in any way, shape or form, would be awesome =)
And now my friends, the gold medalist:
#1:
BEST SONGS OF THE ALBUM:
i.) Battery ii.) Master of Puppets iii.) The Thing That Should Not Be iv.) Welcome Home (Sanitarium) v.) Disposable Heroes vi.) Leper Messiah vii.) Orion viii.) Damage Inc. -Coming in at a much-deserved gold medal spot is Metallica’s quintessential third album, Master of Puppets. Such is the popularity and power of this work that even the standard I-have-never-listened-to-a-Metallica-record-before layman would be able to identify the album title with the aforementioned thrash metal band. In my humble opinion, this album is the best compilation of Metallica works yet (I won’t say of all time as Death Magnetic is yet to come eh?) and is that rare thing – the perfect album. And just so you know guys, Master of Puppets contains eight tracks – now check how many are in my “Best Songs of the Album” list.
Yes, it’s THAT good.
Produced by the band in what was arguably their prime age, (to the older Metallica fan this means growly vocals, insane guitar play, superbly long solos, and mediocre mixing quality) Metallica’s third album combines the best of what they have to offer: the album opens with the clean intro of Battery, which has got to be one of the hardest pieces of Metallimaterial ever concocted with its ridiculously fast tempo and thumping instrumental sections. The gargantuan Master of Puppets follows soon after; this one needs no introduction: perhaps the most definitive Metallica track of all time, the song is an 8.36 minute monster, and is a constant staple of the band’s live shows. Things to watch out for on this one is easy to sum up: everything.
For some background info: just so you know, in March 2005, the song was placed at number 1 in Q Magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In extension, the song was ranked #2 in Marti Popoff’s book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time; now how’s that for quality?
Meanwhile, The Thing That Should Not Be sounds – to me – like a retrofitted mix of the style of play that characterized the much-lauded For Whom the Bell Tolls of Ride The Lightning; clean, stylish, and memorable, it is hard to believe that such a complex track actually suffers the burden of being one of the weaker songs of the album. Then there’s Sanitarium – an excellent rock ballad – and Disposable Heroes, the latter of which has got to be one of the most-underrated Metallica songs of all time; it’s rare that such a frantic piece of thrash metal has not got the wild praise it deserves. Leper Messiah, one of only three less-than-six-minutes songs on the album is far from shabby either, with its prophetic overtones and catchy chorus hook; very nice.
To cap things off, there’s the instrumental Orion and the relatively-short track Damage Inc.. Admittedly, these two aren’t the best songs of the album by quite a long shot, but hell they’re still good: for some reason I personally find Orion better than the frequently-touted The Call of The Ktulu – but not by much. Damage Inc. isn’t the best final song, but hey, after getting a perfect album, what more could one ask for eh? Ultimately the work remains as an incredible achievement – monumental even, and definitely spectacular. It has become a beacon of hope and faith for many ardent fans of the band, who pop in their copy of Master of Puppets each and every time they feel that slight twinge of nostalgia for rhythmic greatness, and pure thrash metal.
Thus it is with this salutation that I conclude my eight part series on Metallica’s previous albums. At this point in time, personal anticipation for September 12th’s Death Magnetic is at an all-time high; and I have to say that based on what I have heard, it’s going to be great. In the end all I have to say about it all is simple:
Metallica, thanks for existing.
Goodnight folks, and cheers! =)
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