Yes Guys, I Listen to Japanese Music.

It seems that Football Manager 2011, like it's predecessor, Football Manager 2010 is not made for my laptop. The same problem persists, even after I installed the original Windows 7, which led me to think that I either have to bring it to the shops and ask for what exactly is the matter (and costs me money to get it fixed) or give up hopes altogether and save money; simply play the first season and delete the file and imagine what could've been if I can get a few more seasons going which the laptop isn't giving, which is of course, depressing.

And so I decided to take a break from being a football manager and have a serious online session. It has been a long time now since my last serious internet session. Ever since I got home for the semester break, the longest I went online was 4 hours, and that was an odd one out since I only got online like an average less than an hour/day, everyday since I got home cos of my Football Manager addiction :B

That's when I opened up the WMP, set it at random and suddenly it played a "Brilliant Green" song. It was bliss.

Introducing The Brilliant Green (pix from http://columbiajpmusic.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post_23.html)

For those who are alien to Japanese pop culture and music, or even if you are a fan (cos there's a good chance you have no idea of who they are, they're like a Jpop/Jrock best kept secret, I think), the band consists of 3 members. 2 guys and a girl. I can't remember the name of the guys but the female lead's name is Tomoko Kawase, one of those serious celebrity crushes I had when I was still an innocent school going kid. She's like the ultimate cute rock chick out there. Every aspiring rock chick out there should shun away from Avril Lavigne or Miley Sirus(sp?) cos Tommy (Tomoko Kawase) sets the standard right. Like seriously.

Moar Buriguri goodness!!! (Pix from http://ca.c.yimg.jp/music/20080808_191306/img.music.yahoo.co.jp/images/magazine/spt/20070815_001/spt_gall_art_004.jpg)

Tomoko Kawase is love... (from http://pv-downloads.blogspot.com/2010/11/brilliant-green-blue-daisy.html)

And since I just rediscovered the band after a long while, she has now returned to my personal list of babes I seriously consider wanting to get married with (which is a top 5 list that changes periodically according to time and taste, and Megan McCormick of Glob Trekker fame and Lisa Surihani are currently battling out for top spot :B ) after a long hiatus.

Anyways, it has been a long time now since I last seriously listen to Japanese songs. And I welcome this return to "Japanese-ness". The band was my favourite during my high school days. That and Radiohead. And with that it brings nostalgia. It seems that I have gone a long way now, music-taste wise, in that the laptop and the CDs in my car have been playing post-rock, alternative, down tempo electronics, alt folk, experimental pop, prog, blues, classical and jazz (how musically eclectic I am surprisingly, though there's still no room for hip hop(barring Asher Roth. Hey look, a bracket in a bracket!) and trashy MTV fodders) over the years since then.

I remember that this is one of the earliest bands which music I downloaded online (remember 2003/04, the days when Streamyx was awesome? And the now defunct Kazaa?). I used to have all of their albums in my music library and I used to scour the music stores to see whether they sell The Brilliant Green CDs, which if they did I would've already owned legal physical copies of them, which is of course not the case. Some of their songs are in my lifetime favourites. I remember listening to them, enjoying good honest rock n' roll before I got myself exposed to complex experimental music of Radiohead, Sigur Ros and the others over the years which is not entirely a bad thing. I remember listening to them every time I went online after school back then. I remember listening to some of their songs over and over again for weeks and never got tired of it.

I miss 2003, it was all perfect back then.

P/s : Apparently, I had missed out on Buriguri when they released an album in 2007. And they had just released another one this year! This is one of the new songs from Buriguri (The Brilliant Green). Enjoy ;D

The To Do List 2

*This is the post from the last sem break.

**The crossed out ones are either the ones that I actually managed to get it done with or it's too late already to do it.

***Apparently I failed to finish even half of the list.

****Therefore, I'll be continuing with this list.

*****Wish me luck.

"Realise that you've got a problem"

- Mike Gayle, The To-Do List

Dear all,

After four-and-a-half months of studying, lepaking, ogling at chicks, sleeping, facebooking till 3am, and went crazy trying to meet assignment deadlines and topping it all with a miserable run of final exams, I, Zaid Mohamad feels that I richly deserve a good 2 months break from anything related to studying the balance sheet, analyzing corporate finance and understanding research methodology. I'm planning to laze around the house and be completely useless.

At least, that was the plan.

But as I grow older and being 22, somehow I feel that I need to make myself more productive. In a sense that I should be doing stuffs that matters to myself. That can make my life better, even a tad bit. And that, by doing so I can actually pave my way through to becoming a proper adult, hopefully by 30. In a nutshell, I'm doing this so that I won't be putting my holidays to waste.

So now I have come to a conclusion that it's about time I joined the world of fully functioning adults - on a temporary basis at least - as of today I will be undertaking a 79-item To-Do List which I plan to have completed by July 5th (or so, till my semester break ends). So that I can in the future look back at this semester break as being the more/most productive than the past few semester breaks before it and make my transition to being a proper adult without suffering from much shocks and difficulties.

And the reason I tagged you lot to this blog post is to give me the inspiration and motivation to succeed, knowing full well that should I fail in completing a minimum of 50 tasks, I will look like a complete and utter buffoon in front of you all and will afford you the right to mock me to within an inch of my life.

See you all soon.

Zaid Mohamad.

The Semester Break Holiday To-Do List!



1. Clear the desk so that you can actually put your laptop on it.
2. Arrange my bags, books and stuffs on my desks and shelves in my room into something resembling an order.
3. Restring both guitars...
4. And relearn how to play them (and break the 'tone-deaf' ceiling).
5. Talk to those people you haven't spoken to in YM/Facebook.
6. Clear my music library from broken-files songs/ songs that I accidently downloaded twice.
7. Learn basic Italian.
8. Download Google Earth...
9. And Windows Live Messenger.
10. Get rid of useless files and downloads from the hard drive.
11. Expand vocabulary (one word per day).
12. Arrange my academic/co-curricular certificates into chronological order and put it in a file.
13. Work out how to make function the laptop camera and mic with Windows 7.
14. Do something with Winamp music library artist organisation.
15. Learn to cook proper food.
16. Keep hair as long as possible.
17. Come up with a 5 year plan.
18. Learn to identify plants/vegetables/shrubs.
19. Go jogging.
20. Find more news on scholarships.
21. Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop.
22. Plan a final meet up with the DIIA kids before or after convo.
23. Remove my name from all emails newsletters subsription services that I unwisely signed up for.
24. Keep up with current affairs.
25. Create a new email with a proper name for official use.
26. Establish yourself at the last.fm forums.
27. Brush up your fardhu-ain knowledge.
28. Delete useless emails/junkmails and keep them organised.
29. Make it a habit to check your email everyday.
30. Learn to appreciate Metallica.
31. Go to mosque for regular daily prayer (that is, barring the Friday prayer).
32. Get a proper IQ test...
33. And personality test...
34. And career test.
35. Try to appreciate Pulp Fiction.
36. Give Harry Potter a chance.
37. Watch American Beauty...
38. And Juno...
39. And In Bruges...
40. And Leon...
41. And Pineapple Express...
42. And Rec...
43. And 500 Days of Summer...
44. And This is England...
45. And Role Models.
46. Learn to curb my tendencies in using "..." in writing messages...
47. And learn how to write a proper sentence.
48. Give PJ Harvey a second chance...
49. And Tori Amos' Boys for Pele...
50. And Pizicatto 5.
51. Try to understand George Carlin's jokes.
52. Learn a dance move just in case I might need them in the future.
53. Find out how the capital market responds to different economic indicators.
54. Try to like reading BNM/Bursa Malaysia/Economic sites.
55. Decide if you're really ever going to watch Bangkok Dangerous...
56. And Initial-D...
57. And Inkheart...
58. And Fight Club.
59. Know about the solar system.
60. Know who's who in the government.
61. Find missing CDS like Oasis' What's the Story [Morning Glory?]...
62. And Audioslave...
63. And The Darkness' Permission to Land.
64. Catch up with Bonana...
65. And Tun Syakirin...
66. And Hafiz...
67. And Syarku+Mimi+Anas.
68. Ask Faiq to save me a pair of Arau Open T-Shirt+goody bag.
69. Investigate what exactly does a remisier/dealer/broker do.
70. Play chess more.
71. Relearn chess moves and strategies.
72. Stop eating McDonald's. Or have once/month max.
73. Get a girlfriend so that she can give your life purpose and make you more organised.
    
74. Learn how to impress girls.
75. Have a indie-music moment.
76. Join the library.
77. Sample every nasi kandar restaurants in town.
78. Register myself with the Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya so that I'll be eligible to cast some undi-rosak in the next election.
79. Watch every World Cup game without fail.

I Am A Flood Victim

No clean water, and I can't bathe and shyte in peace, and I can't cook maggie mee.
I am running out of food stocks and almost every shops are closed. I'm starving.
I am running out of phone credit and I can't call my mama.My car is running out of petrol so it's hard to go places without fear of the car stopping midway, and I can't even get out of Arau cos the flood is blocking all the roads to Kangar/other places with a petrol station.
That, and I need to stretch my RM7 until tomorrow evening at the very least cos I'm running out of cash :B
And I have an exam (Malaysian Derivatives) tomorrow morning.

I am now officially (and for the first time) a flood victim. Damn!

This is what I intend to put in my Facebook status. But Facebook said the maximum I can put in a status is 420 characters. This is 600++ characters.

I just bought 2 rolls of tissue paper so that I can wipe my arse tomorrow if need be, cos there is no clean water coming out of the taps. Or any other taps in Arau. And oh, I have 3 weeks worth of laundry to settle, and I can bet my car that the laundry shops are closed. I have a feeling I will not bathe today and even tomorrow.

I'm gonna stink.

P/s : Pictures taken without permission from Kopi O Ais.