The Year That Was 2007

Christmas has just passed (raya haji passed 3 days earlier) and in 3 days time i'm all in for a new year! So in between xmas and new year's day, some of us might take this time to reflect the year that is about to go down as another year that doesn't just makes up our age, but the nostalgia - bitter and sweet - that comes together with it.

With the help from my previous posts, i managed to recapture the moments that define the year 2007 for me. (though not all due to the time constrains and having to multiple tasks a few programs over here)

1 - I started the year with a feeling so low that i even considered different ways of suicide sometimes (drinking poison, jumping off from a building, poison myself AND jumping off from a building. im not creative man). i was a bit uncertain about quiting matrix and got my arse in to UiTM. its an unnecessary "facelift". but somehow the fresh feeling when i got there (albeit it took me about a month to adjust to the surroundings) got me thinking that i might well have made the right choice. whatmore, if i did continue in matrix, the chance for me to study abroad is absolute zero. and the fact that there is a 50-50 chance that if i am to score a killer cgpa i might well stand a chance to go the US got me even thrilled. in some odd ways, i am still in contact with my matrix friends and not all are rosy over there. some have gone to maktab perguruan to become teachers and others went to universities and got themselves weird and predictably low prospect courses. thats not to say that there isn't anyone getting that killer courses, instead there are lots of them as well. but judging for myself on how far i could go, the killer courses is a far far stretch from reality. good thing i moved out. and economics seems to fit well into my system! oh, and as of now, i managed a cgpa of 3.94!

2 - 2007 saw me doing weird stuffs. people do weird things for survival you know and in my case, the year 2007 saw me donating blood, riding the train home and back to campus and played in a band (brass band, not rock band). these are simply too weird, i can't even imagine doing those stuff before i got there. but i glad i did. : )

bukti derma darah!

3 - I had my first real girlfriend.

parts and parcels of growing up i guess. the date, texting till dusk, bday gifts, etc are fun. the ditching part too. xD

4 - Discovered great music.

I used to only listen to alternative rock, prog rock and any other mainstream type of rock music. not anymore, since i got serious with sputnikmusic, i discovered a whole new spectrum of wonderful music. suddenly bands and artists like beirut, belle and sebastian, white shoes and the couples company, and even techno music and ambients and trip hop (moby, zero 7, esthero, mandalay, mogwai, etc.). i guess im a bit mature in my taste. heh! and yeah, im now totally into indonesain indie ; ) . and im no more using p2ps.

white shoes and the couples company

5 - Got a job.

Not the sales promoter thing (the store) that i got myself tortured with 2 years ago, but instead a more respective job but unfortunately with little pay to compare with the promoter job. i was (and still am) a proof reader for the degree student's public speaking drafts thing. eventhough i find myself unqualified fully for this job but the idea of charging rm15 per script and finally people look forward to me really got me going. heh.

6 - Talked to a hobo.

7 - Watched wayang kulit live!

8 - I checked in into a hotel and stayed there for one night, ALONE. complete with room service!

Simply because i was dead bored waiting for the next finals paper and the gap was too long. watched a movie at night for the first time.

9 - Steve Irwin died from a stingray shot.

10 - Bennazer Bhutto died after being shot AND bombed by a suicide bomber. (its breaking news man, fresh from tv!)

11 - AC Milan are the european and world club champions.

But their performance in domestic competitions is horrible.

12 - England failed to qualify for EURO 08.

Football powerhouse konon. that is like a joke that sits pretty well along with some ali G's interviews and the simpsons movie. and that leads to...

13 - Watched the Blackadder, Ali G, and Weeds.

Those things up there are highly recommended. especially blackadder 3 and blackadder goes fourth. oh, and musn't forget blackadder's back and forth!

blackadder goes fourth.

14 - My father is now officially a pensioner (01 July 07).

15 - I think i've become less sarcastic this year. and my english is getting worse!

Well i guess that's all that made my 2007. hopefully next year will be better.

Season's greetings!

Time Sure Flies like a Concorde

Its that time of the year again where you have to pack your things in bags and boxes for that dreadful horrible horrible place - the one with no hot showers and filled with jerk-faced pak guards scrutinizing suspiciously on your every detail (especially the hair!) and horny professors -and realise that time can actually move faster than the speed of light! and definitely, future zaid, this is the best time to contemplate on how you miss the holidays that have been spent rather wastefuly at times, well most of the time. lho!

I have less than 12 hours to enjoy my short lived freedom before i have to get my arse back to hellhole. mail and amin have already returned to campus. i'd be gone next morning. shahir will arrive in the evening.

time really seems to move faster now!

So now instead of contemplating about things that cant be changed (that tomorrow will come after today and not after tomorrow, whichever way you put it) i think for blogging purpose - which i still strongly believe its primary use is to record your life stories so that the future generations can study this as a reference or historical artefact of sorts - or at least stories to tell to your son(s)/daughter(s) - i shall refrain from regularly using any cusses of any sorts and given the circumstances im in, i'll just reflect the holidays that i've been through.

alright, i've been writing rubbish up there. but im in emotional mood. apologies for the time filler.

Holidays... it seems as if the year is full of holidays this time. maybe the fact that im no more a school student wearing school uniforms with a school neck tie and school shoes explains nicely why holidays are abundant(heh?). so this holidays instead of thinking that it is just a time where you stay idle and indulge in your daily indoor activities (tv, football manager, music, food) until you get tired and eventually died -partially- of doing the same thing over and over again, i realised that this holidays have been quite meaningful in a way. or ways. ; )

Plans that i had for the holidays (learning arabic, preparing drafts for acels newsletters, WORKING) are all ditched simply for the lack of motivation to do them, and of course football manager. so i came to a conclusion that by ditching the make-holidays-meaningful- programmes, i have succesfuly put my holidays to waste, again. surprisingly though, instead of thinking that i've wasted em, i think this holidays are quite special. the reason?

1 - i found a girl who is overly qualified to be my wife.

albeit only a tv character. xD her tv name is sasha, and her real name is ayushita nughara. that my friend is not japanese, shes indonesian. she's bloody cute and her character in the movie "me vs high heels" is sooo adorable you wud feel like wanting to make her your basketball pal/girlfriend straight away! and that leads me to...


2 - meeting new people+learnt a new language.
i met new people while googling for ayushita. yeah. im painfully hopeless. found ayushita's yahoogroup and joint straightaway. heh. added an indon fan of hers and eventually i learnt her language (tho not arabic). so i guess i can safely put in my cv -speak and write decently in indonesian-. is that a plus point? maybe...


3 - got myself a "multiply" account.
a web comunity that is better than friendster simply because i get to download obscure music very very quickly like less than 5minutes for two 5mb songs! arshomeness...

4 - downloaded last.fm

... out of desperation for not having p2ps because i was madly in love with camera obscura and beirut and having no alternatives whatsoever to get their songs. this thing is like pandora man! highly, highly recommended!

5 - found out more great bands

... through sputnikmusic.com, last.fm and the wonderfully undissapointing multiply. now i have an almost complete collection of white shoes and the couples company, complete albums of the kooks, razorblade, neutral milk hotel, the libertines and a few songs from camera obscura. i even revisit the trip hop genre and i am grateful for esthero and mandalay. they both rock my undies!

6 - rediscovered the joy of friendster/texting on msn+ym.

its always a pleasant(sp?) feeling to strengthen that old bonds. and that countless meaningless-at-times comments on friendster. xD

7 - football manager 2008.

alexandre pato plays for ac milan. plus more worldclass players. though having cesc fabregas and given his form since last season, andrey schevchenko as worldclass players are highly questionable.

8 - there's a fish pond in the house.

and it is beautiful with the kops in there.

... there are supposed to be more than this but well, thats all i can think of this holidays.

so i guess this holidays are not a complete waste afterall.

As Of Now...

Those pretty much indicate what i've been doing and looking all this holidays.

So the reason why I don't blog so much lately is pretty simple - I just have too much to say.

Include with the fact that I am fucking lazy (I really don't care about censoring myself anymore), everytime I go on blogspot, I shoot blanks.

Haha that sounds so wrong.I repeat, I shoot blank phrases. And the fact i got myself football manager 2008 is another good reason why i rarely blog.

As usual the first few days of the holidays were awesome, like whhhooaaaaa, im free from the clutches of mundane life, no more bathing in cold water in the morning (or never bathe at all in the morning) and no more having to look at the anak mamak's bitchy face. and i get to watch the channels without having to contemplate whether they'd think im such a weirdo watching blackadder on bbc.

Well, that was the first few days. and blackadder is no more on tv.

And that left me with nothing much to do. football manager suddenly (and surprisingly) got me a bit bored, and with nothing in plan, i got too bored. oh, i also have stopped downloading songs from soulseek and limewire ever since my dad found out in the papers about the rm250k min fine imposed to illegal downloaders and put a ban from me using those p2ps. so that definitely left me with nothing to do. so i dug through my hard disk and the cds on the rack and i got tired watching all of them bar weeds season 1 and the unfinished season 2.

Oh, i should've mentioned that before the holidays i was planning on learning arabic. that didn't work out. and i was also planning about writing some drafts for the supposedly next sem release of "acels eye-the bulletin" considering that i happen to be the hardworking editor for that thing. that didn't work out either! and don't even think about going to work, that plan is done and dusted even before the holiday past the 1 week mark.

Back to where I was at. I've got too much to say. I went to a lot of things, and somehow that thing that I do - blogging- is too much of a burden.

So screw it all!

Bye bye.

And oh, the fucking uitm bill still haven't been released yet from the site. Fuckers. and im in love with ayushita nughara.

Blackadder is the Best Thing on TV

I need a girlfriend.