As I sit here typing this post, what little time I have left continues to pass me by.
I curse every little strand of it that unravels before my eyes. Yet, I venerate the imaginary hourglass that stands before me, ticking down to that inevitable moment.
Looking back, nostalgia can do wonders in how one views the world.
20 years of my life in this humble abode, within the blink of an eye, gone.
Time’s running out…….who’s to say it’s something you can’t look forward to?
Meet Shamkumar. He’s just another 8 year old boy like any other. Blessed with an innate childhood curiosity, brimming with life, and possessing a smile that radiates such warmth, with a super sweet personality to boot too.
However, delve beyond his lovable, crooked smile; sift aside the veils of ideality in a picture-perfect photograph, and the harshness of reality makes its presence known.
Shamkumar, or Sham as he prides himself, like 17 other children his age, is an orphan from the Precious Children’s Home orphanage in Petaling Jaya. That’s right, he’s never had one to call a dad or mom throughout his 8 years of life.
Today, the ATUSA Student Council took the liberty of organizing a visit to said orphanage as part of its charitable ventures during the laid-back days of Summer Semester and beyond what words can express, I am infinitely grateful for having been part of it.
Although the day got off to a rough start, no thanks to some mix-up in the transportation, we arrived at the orphanage at approximately 11 am and boy, were we greeted with the throngs of curious faces and excited cries of joy.
Upon entering the compound, the little bundles of joy soon swarmed around us, eager to see what our arrival entailed. New gifts? Toys? A field trip somewhere? Or just mouth-watering delicacies to sink their teeth into? Suffice to say, we brought to them all of the above.
At first, I was a bit hesitant at introducing myself, as all awkward first-time meetings always are. However, the little kids soon warmed up to my crazy and wacky antics and to put in Starcraft terminology, ling-rushed me. Questions bombarded me from every single corner and these kids were so adorably cute in trying to outdo one another in impressing us.
To kick off our visit, we played a little meet and greet session to break the ice and cast aside all formalities. Laughs were had, names were exchanged, and predictably, I found myself belting out to the tunes of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and was stuck with the labeling Muhammad Bieber.
Blardy hell, are these kids creative or what?
After being assigned our respective ‘kids’ (mine so happened to be the super awesome Sham) and having made a fool of myself, we got onto the next agenda on our list: the making of mouth-watering, nommable sandwiches for lunch!
As a side-note, we discovered never to let little kids wield knives, our very own ATUSA President makes great sandwiches and also, to never stack your sandwiches 5-storeys high.
Behold, our end product (or rather, Sham’s)
At the end of it all, I can safely say that these kids are going to become great chefs one day. Having stuffed our faces full with a smorgasbord of bread and KFC chicken wings, I sat down contented while the kids tried to best each other in their repertoire of lame jokes.
Also noteworthy is the fact that these kids are attracted and addicted to everything that’s a cellphone. It’s like the friggin’ microwaves that the devices emit call out to them like some sort of overlords or something.
But it’s official, like catnip to cats, cellphones were like their fix, although I’m not blaming anyone. After all, who leaves their homes without a cellphone nowadays? Face it, we’re all addicted to our cellphones one way or another, so I’m not gonna be judgmental.
Next up was definitely the day’s highlight, a trip to the National Planetarium to behold the wonders of the cosmos! Or in plain English, to explore Uranus………and other planetary bodies of course.
And that, I believe, has to be most exhausting part of the day yet. I’ve forgotten just how hyper and energized these little toddlers were. Bouncing from one display to the next at speeds of light, their attention never more than held for a good minute, it was like running a constant marathon to keep up with Sham. I thank the half hour reprieves in between when we had to sit still to watch the movies.
I’m only 20, at the peak of physical fitness and yet, I had my work cut out for me when chasing after Sham in pure Tom and Jerry fashion. Therefore, I salute Sean in the picture below, a volunteer at the orphanage, for having to keep up with not just 1, but 18 of these hyper-caffeinated kids.
Alas and alack, the day soon came to an end and we returned the orphanage, totally exhausted. However, the fatigue ebbed away somewhat to be replaced with sheer awe and wonder at the suh-weet moves that these kids busted out for us.
Holee crap. Their breakdancing skills definitely brought the house down and put mine to shame. Word.
With the giving out of our goodie bags to the kids and caretakers of the orphanage, we bid our farewells. It was truly a great and rewarding day for me to be able to spend it with these magnificent kids from the Precious Childrens’ Home.
Despite growing up never knowing their parents, these kids taught me a thing or two on how it is to live life to the fullest; a lesson I will definitely take to heart. Sometimes, all you need to buoy yourself through a life rife with hardships is a smile and to never say never (and yes, I totally ripped that line off.) A unique sense of familial brotherhood that these children share with one another no doubt helps.
Although, they’ve always came across as an heartwarming enigma to me, even till today. Without paternal figures to look up to, they’ve developed a sense of maturity and fierce independence uncommon of their peers.
This was especially evident in how they subtly brush your arms off of themselves when you lean in to put a reassuring arm over their shoulders. Yet, at the very same time, they cherish and long for that gesture of protection that a parental figure will no doubt give to them.
In the end, underneath that tough façade they put up in response to growing up parentless, they’re just vulnerable young kids who drew the shorter straw in life. They just want a shoulder to lean on and for someone to tell them that it’s going to be okay. Which, given the hand that life has dealt them with, isn’t very often.
So, in we come to this picture to give them that reassuring “It’s going to be okay” line and to give them a much needed lift in their spirits to power them onward through life.
All in all, I wouldn’t have traded this day for any other. Special thanks goes out to this wonderful Ivy Bong Pei Pei here for playing my make-believe mom to babysit our little Sham. Lord knows I’d already be dead if it wasn’t for you.
Now to start wondering if I want to have kids. And if so, how many…….
Let it be said now that my previous birthdays (the past 19 of them) haven't been much of a big affair, to me at least.
How so?
Well, for you see, all the past birthdays I’ve had the pleasure of having UNDOUBTEDBLY pales in comparison with the birthday celebration (or what bizarrely passes for one) of the year 2011.
So, what say we take a trip down memory line so as to give a context to my exact words.
Seeing as how my birthdays, or the occasions on which they were celebrated, were usually thrown to me by my family every year, it was more of a family affair. As the years went by, and as I progressed from early adolescence into my teenage years, my birthdays were pretty much celebrated the same way, as if in strict adherence to an unwritten tradition of sorts.
Nevertheless, my parents were always the first to instigate plans for my birthday parties. As they secretly schemed, my close friends would also be included in the thick of things. So naturally, they would always be invited to parties courtesy of my parents. As the cycle goes on and on, it became a norm for my friends to always wait for the birthday invitations and go along with the festivities as planned out by my parents.
To sum it all up, I never quite gotten to experience a birthday celebration as thrown to me by my friends in the name of friendship and camaraderie. Sometimes, I feel taken for granted as a friend of theirs, and I understand that it is by no fault of theirs. My parents, the most loving and caring people of whom I cherish most, kind of did spoil my friends where my birthday parties were concerned.
As college came knocking on the front door, as it does with all young adults, I heeded its call and found myself in Shah Alam with a whole new bunch of great people and even greater friends.
New faces, new acquaintances, new environment and practically a brand new life.
I can finally start over. See what it’s like to experience a birthday as thrown to me by the initiative of my friends. A festivity especially for me, not as per the request of my parents, but out of the goodness and kindness of the bonds of camaraderie we share.
Today, I somewhat got that wish. Not just in a small trickle of goodness but a whole friggin’ wave of it crashed all over me. I was inundated with the compassion and kindness shown by these new friends. And the very circumstances surrounding this beautiful day accented it only further.
And boy, was it the best feeling ever. In fact, I literally feel as though I could die now and die a happy man. But heck, then I’d be unable to enjoy the awesome presents.
Oh, did I mention? The final DLC for Mass Effect 2 releases on the date my BIRTHDAY no less. Whee~~
Aptly named Arrival, and arriving hot on the heels of my birthday, that speaks volumes of awesome right there. Must be Bioware’s birthday gift to me. =D =D
Also, 8 am classes for Physics (the Kryptonite to my Superman) on Tuesday was postponed. Another gift to add to my litany of presents!
Speaking of presents, my best bud Bryan Kho has a gift up his sleeves and he's really keeping mum about it.
Wonder what he’s got planning for me this time. The only clue he left was this cryptic message:
“Starts with a ‘p’ and ends with a ‘s’. Start guessing.”
Pies? Playstation…..3s? And oh, I will literally keel him if it involves a phallic-shaped organ of the human anatomy.
Special ‘thanks’ also go out to this sohai here, Howard Chung. I’ve had plenty of unique and sometimes unorthodox birthday presents and wishes in the past, but what he’s given me definitely takes the cake.
FYI: Howard, NO. I don’t need a new birthday suit. Thank you very much.
Also, the chocolate mud cake that I think the entire ATUSA members got for Marie and I meant a lot. I believe it’s the first time my friends took the initiative to get a cake for me to mark this significant milestone.
While I absolutely loved the cake, I’m loving more of the thoughts that came with the gifting of the cake.
As if the day couldn’t have gotten any better, it pleasantly did.
Come dinner time and I was off to the nearby Secret Recipe to catch up with the rest of the MINDS members and committee. Feasting on meals fit for kings, exchanging witty and often times ridiculous banter, and just plain having a good time, it made me realize just how much I missed being in MINDS.
The presence of such awesome guys and girls truly made MINDS an incredible and integral part of my college life, despite the short-lived tenure of President in the club.
Still, I took home with me many wonderful revelations and epiphanies, courtesy of none other than the uber-hip and infallibly hilarious Aysha Khan.
Humpty Dumpty and the Wall Street Crash? A quest for Blue Cheese? The night doesn’t get any more epic than that.
The day was truly more than the sum of its parts. Frankly, I can’t quite recall a day like today whereupon I could just sit back and have everything work out the way I wanted it to. To put in short, I was beyond happiness at this point. A feeling that today was my day and nothing was ever going to go wrong at all.
All in all, a big hearty thank you goes out to all who have, in one way or another, made this already wonderful day, so much more special and endearing. Thanks to all who have proven to me that birthdays are truly indeed a day to call your own, and a day to be celebrated LIKE A BOSS.
It’s officially been 2 decades now that I’ve been brought into this world. And it’s been a long wait for the birthday gift that I’ve always wanted.
Today, on the Tuesday of the 29th of March, 2011, I’ve finally, finally gotten that gift of mine I’ve been forever wishing for. Mind you, it’s one I’m going to be cherishing for the rest of my life.
So, I thank you God for breathing life into me and this world and all that in between, and here’s looking forward to many more awesome birthday bashes to come!
Spring 2011. Irony doesn’t even begin to describe it.
For you see, just a year ago, at this very same period of time and age, I would already be buried neck-deep in unfinished assignments, tutorials, lab reports and unwritten essays. Basically, it was a semester filled with last-minute work, sleepless nights, fatigue and stress. I constantly bemoaned the fact that I didn’t have enough free time to just sit back and savor the journey that was college.
Now, I look at the current state of my life. The proverbial phrase of ‘be careful of what you wish for’ has proverbially bitten me in my proverbial ass.
Sure, the usual flood of assignments and tutorials from classes are still present. However, instead of the deluge of workload that inundated me back in the Spring of 2010, the flow has now trickled into the soft, flowing waters of a gentle river.
Taking only four classes this semester: Physics 2, Technical Writing, Literature and Legal Issues, out of which only 2 of them mandated the sitting for of examinations, I’m pretty much a free man. Yes, that’s right, key emphasis on the word ‘free’.
This has been my most carefree and laid-back semester yet! I guess I should be happy, right? But like most other normal human beings, I’ve decided to indulge a little in greed and officially declare myself discontented with the current state of my life so far.
Took me a while to realize this but, I . Am. Not. Satisfied. With. Life. So. Far.
To put my take of ‘free’ into perspective, allow me the use of some examples to better illustrate my point.
1. I’m finally getting to fulfilling several of my New Year’s Resolutions which is about GOSH DARN time. Wait a minute, I’m actually, finally getting around to fulfilling these pie-in-the-sky aspirations? HOLEE CRAP.
2. Gym workout sessions are now a daily routine to me on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. True to America’s Second Amendment, I’d want to exercise my rights to bare my muscular, well-toned and chiseled arms. Wishful thinking? I think not, seeing the amount of free time that I have.
3. While it’s been a creative brainchild floating around in my head for quite some time now, I’ve finally decided to actually take the effort to put onto paper this idea of mine. The initial results are looking promising. It’s been much too long since I last got involved in the creative writing process and boy, does it feel good to be back!
4. All these free time isn’t doing much good for my productivity either. Too much free time tends to dull the workaholic in me and transport several parts of me to the States already. With my university applications done and over with, the prospect of setting foot in the States becomes more and more vivid with each passing day. There I go, digressing again. In short, I just can’t be bothered much with my studies anymore.
5. Lastly, the bane of my very existence and also of Spring 2011.
“SHAH ALAM, WHY YOU NO AWESOME INTERNET CONNECTION?”
Analogically, like how water is the sustenance of life to a fish, so too is how the Internet is like to a gamer like me. Imagine the keyboard-bashing, laptop-smashing, Bieber-killing frustration that is the Internet speeds in Shah Alam and (I speak for all of us in this matter, I believe) in Malaysia.
Gwaahhhhhhh!!
So enlighten me, o deities of the Internet connections in Malaysia (read: TMNet and the IT staff of UiTM), how is a soldier supposed to pop off those headshots and draw a bead on a target if said target is moving erratically like a hamster on a friggin’ caffeine high? I’ve got my copy of Black Ops lying patiently in wait on my laptop to be played with! When is it going to be given the attention and love it DESERVES???
Moreover, how is a commander to lead his armies to intergalactic victory if I can’t even go online to log on to the virtual and digital battlefield of which said interstellar wars are being waged?
How? How? HOW?? And no, the very offer of cake alone will no longer be enough to appease me.
Thus, it comes as little surprise that life as a student in Shah Alam is actually, contrary to popular belief, hazardous to one’s health. Rather than spending my prodigious amounts of free time productively, behold the causal reasoning theory of mine that I’ve cooked up which I now present to you readers of my pitiful blog.
Nat’s Causal Order of Free Time and Inevitable Suicide.
Too much free time. And too little fun, enjoyable things to do.
will soon lead to:
Boredom. A copious amount of it.
An over-accumulation of boredom will soon spill out into what I call the Isaac Clarke Effect.
The onset of dementia and schizophrenia about dead, murderous ex-girlfriends.
Soon, these mental illnesses will reach a flashpoint and then:
The inevitable bouts of depression, delusions and suicidal feelings soon follow.
Then, game over, dude. Game Over.
Lol. Readers, please do not take anything I say here too seriously. I’m grumpy and looking for an outlet to just vent and rant my heart out. So why not an update to this blog ey? Doubt if anyone’s going to even care much for what I have to say anyways.
So yeah….
