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Tuesday, May 31, 2005
+ Small Miracle #7482 +
May 31, year 2005 11.30 am: closing stages of the Worship Team retreat at Desaru. i feel like crap. Despite actually getting 7 hours of sleep the night before. A pretty good time for the last night of any camp too. Something is friggin wrong with this picture. i was still ok at 10... oh wadahell 12.30pm: the lobby is spinning. This ain't right. The brochure didn't say we'd have a revolving lobby. Either way i don't give Malaysian Hotels that much credit anyway. Should i complain to the management that their revolving lobby is too fast? 12.35pm: nah. Its just me, im getting vertigo... in the lobby?? not on the roof??.... hell, sitting down doesn't help much either. Head ACHE... Close eyes no diff.... 12.40pm: Melvin n Jian Hao notice my strange behavior. I get a healing prayer and a cuppa tea. Its great to have friends i can count on. Thank God. 12.45pm: Dad notices im skippin lunch. He'd thought i was guarding our luggage. Its nice to know my dad gives me more credit than i give Malaysian resorts. Thank God. I get another healing prayer. 12.48pm: Throw up, wash up, feelin better. 1.01pm: false alarm. i can only walk slowly and face eyes 45 degrees towards the ground straight ahead. Anything from this "norm" gets me head aching again. 1.10pm: Medicine! 2 panadol n a Metoclopramide. No idea what da latter is. No stomach to swallow... jus chew it dude... they could be giving me Magic Mushrooms for all i know. or care. 1.15pm: Receive a healing prayer from the whole Worship Team. im on a roll. 1.33pm: Bus for Singapore arrives. Moving is harder than expected. Have plastic bag, will travel. Doze off. 3.45pm: Throw up. Plastic Bag saves the day. 5.30pm: All quiet on the western front. Vertigo gone! Halleuia! 6.30pm: Return of the Appetite. Normal service is resumed. Power of the Worship Team? The Magic Mushrooms? Nope... Power of God, dudes... i didn't even have to see a doctor. Don't look down on prayer man. Cheerio! *Raises wine glass*
Saturday, May 28, 2005
+ Irrational Fears #48: The Rise of the Machines +
Ever since the days of Frankenstein's Monster, we have always been afraid of the possiblity of our creations turning against us. Now in the nuclear age, we feel for once... our machines can actually wipe us out. Three factors will lead to this: (1) they become self-aware (2) they suddenly get pissed/power-crazy/bored and decide to (3) they actually listen to Seasame Street and learn that working together is cool. therefore the probablity of that happening is effectively zero. Nevertheless, Hollywood has been quick to cash in on all irrational fears. For instsance: they surmise that if u and ur gal happen to be hot teenagers and make-out in a car, some bad-ass 300-pound psycho in a ski mask will hack u two to death with a chain saw. Thus the impending rebellion of robots, computers and microwave ovens has been demonized in flicks such as the Terminator trilogy, Matrix trilogy, i robot, AI etc. But the whole concept that one can acually create something powerful enough to destroy its creator is bogus dude. Thats like a bird building a bird-eating nest or termites building a... termite-squishing thingamajig. Guess we think so highly about ourselves that we think we can figure out how to make a race of robots in our image and then somehow allow them to decide our fate. After the industrial age we have managed to find really efficient means of killing each other. I concede that making CPU's with the ability to learn can't be far away. But making all-knowing, all-controlling computers? Bullshit. Think God creating something that can kill God. Fundamentally impossible. Most monkeys can't recognise their own friggin reflections in the mirror, wanna build a better monkey anyone? So the next time your hard-drive crashes, blame the manufacturer, its not the computer trying to ruin your exam preparations. Having said that, even the psycho slasher guy dicing teenagers is more realistic than a Terminator, put him on Discovery Channel, people! But hey, we all ain't immune to irrational fears, sometimes you can't help but think that damn thing is out to get you. On Wed. afternoon the friggin Bank Deposit machine ate my passbook! Trying to stop my money moving from the bank?! I wield a Debit Card! suck on that you sentient bastard! Or how about those toilets with the auto-flush system that triggers off before u're done? Fuck you! Can't ur fucking sensor detect im still sitting here?! Then the whole mass of human waste and toilet water starts to swirl. Then the water level rises... and u're there rooted to the spot wondering if thats eventually gonna hit ur arse. Caught with your pants down, literally. Scary shit indeed. a whole new level of scary shit. Cheers people! Screw the machines! *raises wine glass* We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when Words and music by David Bowie/ covered by Nirvana "The Man Who Sold the World"
Saturday, May 21, 2005
+ This Summer....... +
This summer has one of the best line-up of movies in a loong time... Kingdom of Heaven was superb, it ain't no Gladiator, but hey, there can only be 1 Gladiator. I say the siege of Jerusalem beats the siege scenes at Helm's Deep any day. The LOTR shocker had pro-skating Elves, Olympic Orc Runners and short jokes aimed at Dwarves (how cheap-shot is that?).... no such shit with Kingdom of Heaven, people... Some say Mr. Bloom looks kinda boyish to be leading the army of Jerusalem, but consider this... he has to play a naive knight who would let a Saracen army rampage thru the holy land rather than kill the heir to the throne (who has a nasty habit of provoking them), thereby not compromising on honour. "Jerusalem doesn't need a perfect knight" well said, it would have saved a lot of trouble if he'd just kill the heir and marry the king's sister. Hell, even the king gave a thumbs up... but nooo... pussyboy refused to do evil for the greater good. If Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp were in his shoes, you'd half expect him to just quarter the bugger, screw the king's sister, seize the throne, and start auditions for applicants to join the royal harem.   Episode 3 was a blast. Easily the best of the Star Wars saga... pacing was just plain intense... all the loose ends were tied up... a highly satisfying end to the trilogy. Everybody knows whats gonna happen, but that doesn't make a speck of difference. The good stuff doesn't end here... check out the other blockbusters waiting in line. Sin City War of the Worlds Batman Begins Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Madagascar (does this count??) Cheers moviebuffs! *Raises wine glass* You will find me in the matinee The dark of the matinee It's better in the matinee The dark of the matinee is mine Yes it's miiiiiine -Franz Ferdinand "The Dark of the Matinee"
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
+ The wackiest weekend this year +
Many cows have jumped over the moon last weekend. Last week I announced to my impending resignation from my current job to the management. The place has great location and working hours, but shitty job satisfaction... having to think and act like a different person (even over the phone) for 4 hours a day ain't my cuppa tea. Personally, i'd love to give tuition in GP or English or somethin where the ladder to success is gently-sloping pile of bullshit. hahahaha... Today the i took up the manager's offer to work in surveys until my time here is thru. Hell, its far more stress-free... looks like me last week in the company ain't gonna be ass-draggin after all... Last week i also announced my oath to bestow upon the church youth their own comic strip in the church newsletter...by Sunday. Smooth move, genius. I guess the story planning, character development, costume design and script writing was the easy part. Groundwork and panelling kept me up until 4am on Saturday nite. (Cos i went out to dinner with Marcus n Nick... another smooth move which i'll discuss later). In hindsight, i thank God i was up... cos the fishtank blew a pipe at around 2am... and i was the only one awake. Damn thing was going all Deep Blue Sea on my hallway... damage control further delayed the works on the comic. Come Sunday morning the folks got up for church, blissfully unaware of the drama which unfolded the previous nite. Im pretty sure they would have been far more aware of it , had i been asleep before 2, adhering to the "early to bed, early to rise" philosophy. AND THE DAMN COMIC WAS STILL NOT IN INK!!! AAAHHHH!! Either way, i presented it to the Deaconess for editing, checkin for errors, ambiguity, or blasphemy... AND I PULLED THRU WITHOUT HAVIN TO CORRECT MY WORK ONCE!!! WHHHEEE!!! THANK GOD!!! But damn! i still had to get it down in ink! So after lunch i planted myself in the church office and i was so consumed in my work that nobody dared ask me what was i doing there...hahahha... The final draft came into being at 8:22pm that night. i had made good on my promise. i felt fuckin good. Sometimes u just need expletives as adverbs in the English language. So it has been decreed that May's newsletter shall witness the birth of "Lysander: Guardian Angel of The Synthesis youth group" Saturday nite with Marcus and Nick. Has a certain ring to it yes? wadeva. Some message got all Lost In Translation. I thoght i was 25mins late... turns out i was 35mins early. Marcus showed up pretty high... apparently his mocktails were spiked. Nick nearly compromised his manhood by buying a "Pony" brand T-shirt. We had dinner at Jack's Place and furiously debated about why the phrase "u cant have ur cake and eat it too" even exists, why ABBA sucks/rulz, why Nick the self-proclaimed Spawn Of Satan (or SOS), wld buy "Pony", and a whole shitload of other unmentionables. All the while, Jack's Place was supportin a conspiracy to make us buy watermelon juice. Torrential rain almost stranded us there. Getting wet = Nick doing the Wicked Witch of the West impression. Killer migrane meant Marcus needed some help with the cabs... who promptly went AWOL. Sunday nite saw the last matches of the EPL's 04/05 season. My main reason for reading the "New Paper" is over. Relegation battlers fought down to the last match. Congrads to West Brom... bottom of the table on saturday made a miraculous come-back to stay on for next season. Congards to Chelsea for winning the EPL Title and the Carling Cup, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!! Respect to Liverpool who actually beat us at the Champions League Cup. Respect to Everton, a team of nameless ones who sold their 2 best players and still made it to 4th place to see a place in next season's Champions League. My bed is starting to make audible noises.... much alike the song of the sirens... must.. obey... Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzz! *raises wine glass*
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
+ Melvin's Cell +
I have joined this new cell for few months now... and we stillll dun have a proper name for it so it is "Melvin's Cell Group" by default.... hahahaha.. I have worked out the intricate roles and relations of most of the members in this den of madness... my findings are as follows: Deaconess Lena: the Buddha God help us if she weren't around to oversee our meetings. Her calm, tranquil apperance hides awesome power. Her presence alone is enough to keep us.. uh.. within certain boundaries. She is the all-knowing one... spewing pearls of wisdom when we encounter those "unanswerable questions" Melvin: the Leader A great thinker and facilitator.. poses challenging questions about life n living... His main struggle is making us stick to the topic... hahahha Janice: the Silent Killer U can tell she's listening... she jus don't talk much... WE'LL change that... heheheh (also somehow enjoys peeling prawns) Joel: the Radicalist Always spouts the weirdest, yet not exactly rebellious points of views... its just that we're so unused to them that we'll be stunned mouths agape everytime... He also seems almost obliged to diss everyone anytime (except the Deaconess... duh) Phoebe: the court jester Leave it to her to say or do something so downright retarded that it kills any topic of conversaton instantly... without her our meetings may be 10 times as boring Jian Hao: the young and inquisitive Older than myself.. but the lastest born-again Christian among us... always eager to ask n learn .. an inspiration or us all.. Sabrina n Joanna: Been there, done that Their combined forces imput the voice of experience among us... i'd better shut up before they accuse me of suggestin they're old... Ian (i,me,myself): "Wise-cracks'r'us" Be it the cynical, the sarcastic, or the play on words... laughs are guaranteed... mainly at the expense of Phoebe, not cos i hate her... its jus that she's an easy target! hahahaha! But hey... there's always a time for work and a time for a well-aimed wise-crack.. Bah... there's only so much to say.. to truly appreciate it... one must be a part of "the Melvin's Cell Experience"... join in the interaction and contribute to our den to madness cheers all! *raises wine glass* |
