Monday, March 23, 2009

big shoulders

So, spring break is finally over.

Tomorrow, the sacred boilermaker campus will be swarmed by proud insomniac Neil Armstrong and Brian Lamb wannabes yet again. With the sun shining gloriously after a long hiatus, and the basketball team advancing to the sweet 16 , there’s a lot to look forward to, other than the classes with Korean instructors.

Anyways, it was a well spent-low-productivity-level break. We learned playing mahjong Hong Kong style, played poker, had barbecue, watched basketball games and movies, went to Chicago, played soccer and football, and most importantly, we slept well.


Ok, let’s talk about the impromptu Windy City trip. First of all, Chicago is a very cool big city; the air feels cleaner and the traffic is really not that bad compared to NYC or KL. And if you’re into architecture, you should really go see Chicago (the SEARS tower et al). And what I think I like the most about the city are the cool sculptures all around the city, and the gorgeous parks down the long Lake Michigan shore-line. And just so you know how windy and cold the city is, random local people were talking about how warm and beautiful the day was, when the temperature was at 1 degree centigrade, and the wind was gushing constantly into our faces.


and i've actually upgraded to a point-and-shoot...


And talking about sculptures, at last, I had the chance to see the god bless america sculpture up close. I was excited about the sculpture because I was trapped in a conversation about the American Gothic Painting (which the sculpture was based on) with some guys some time ago, so, yeah, it was cool to see a piece of art and actually knowing something about it.



Btw, I’ve been to Chicago for at least a dozen times before, but being a lousy tourist and all, I haven’t really visited the City of Big Shoulders until recently. And i'm glad i did.


So, if you’re planning to go to the Second City for a visit, you could do the usual tourist stuff like go up the Sears Tower, go visit the Museums and the Aquarium, go to one of the beaches, visit Navy Pier, see the cool stuff in Millennium Park, go to the Planetarium, enjoy the parks, and walk and shop along Michigan Avenue. And if you have some extra cash, go see a theatre or go see the Bulls, or the Bears, or the Cubs or the White Sox play in their respective stadiums. And if you go on St. Patty’s day, you’ll have a chance to see the parade and the river dyed green.


So, yeahh… everyone will miss doing nothing.
The team will play the other Husky this Thursday, and let’s prove Obama wrong.



Wazza, I feel you man… and BTFU!!!!!

Monday, March 9, 2009

people with no other options

hmmmmmm……...

It’s Monday again. So, let’s start out with something good. I came across this entry on MM’s blog. I’m not very fond of motivational writings nor am I a fan of new age affirmation, but maybe some of you would find it inspirational. And I’m putting it up because the guys on the team thought it was pretty impressive for a single straight guy to be able to recognize a certain designer’s name in a song. But to my defense, I’ve never seen any of his shoes nor have I stepped in into any of his boutiques including the online ones, and heck, the guy was born in Penang!!!!!... So, like any other Malaysians, of course I’ve heard about him from somewhere. Btw, the nice entry dedicated specially to the Monday-haters out there was written by Jimmy Choo’s son.

Enough with Monday, let’s move on to something much more thrilling…. like the economy. News has it that the unemployment rate in the US could go above a staggering 9% by year’s end. And I’m assuming that as people are losing jobs and all, green issues have lost its appeal. And heck, even Rupert Murdoch has been said to be losing his magic touch, which explains why the media has more important things to focus on.

Anyways, let’s leave that to the pros to elaborate. Let’s talk materials economy. Well, maybe you should just click on the link and just watch and listen to Annie Leonard’s cool presentation on The Story of Stuff. This project has been around for quite some time I guess. To those who haven’t seen it yet, enjoy, and to those who have, sorry I got nothing to crap about; I have my own linear system on a finite planet to worry about.

And just what on earth is going on with the country?



Just my 2 cents, I think this guy has a point. Well, my dad used to tell me a couple dozen of times on how they should’ve stopped Khir Johari (if I’m not mistaken) from pulling out jawi from the system. And whatever the resolution might be, let’s just hope that it will be in the favor of the country, the rakyat and the generations to come.

And one more thing, let’s not make ‘taking it to the streets’ a trend; because you pull up the same trick too many times, the opponent wouldn’t have to rely too much on his reflexes to make the tackle anymore, not to mention it loses its WOW factor. Mannn, we are one twisted nation. Mr./Mrs. Politicians, you can start cleaning the mess up by pulling your heads out of your arses.

And after some long depressing hours of Youtube-ing, trying to reestablish a connection to home which I haven’t been back to for quite a while, jumbled in the middle of the long list of videos of FRUs and tear gas shots, new legendary tree stories, samseng-like raids in the parliament compound, and some local soccer talk, I found this.

So, have a great week everyone……

March Madness is coming…..