Of Slow Internet Speeds and WAY Too Much Free Time

 

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….

Fates and Destinies

 

As a favorite TV character of mine once put; we are all brought here into this life for a reason. So he says; take a leap of faith and live life by that very reason.

Destiny, as John Locke would put it.

A chance meeting, a trivial coincidence, a role which we inevitably settle into in our lifetime, we would logically just brush off as just mere luck and coincidence.

Like say, this opportune encounter with a lost Stormtrooper wandering the streets of KL, making ends meet so as to one day traverse the dimensions and rejoin the Empire.

Or perhaps even this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to plop myself in its posh leather seats and get behind the wheel of an Audi R8?

Whether these events were already set in stone by the powers that be or just plain happenstances alone, there is however, one thing that I absolutely believe with my every single fiber of my being.

There comes a time when revelation just dawns itself upon you; a time when epiphany hits you so hard you shit yourself in your pants; a time when you are so sure that in a world of so many wrongs, doubts and insecurities, you are RIGHT about something.

Today, at approximately 1.50 pm local time, I knew that that time has come.

This. Is. My. Destiny.

There and Back Again

 

I do believe that the lack of updates on this blog of mine can be rather frustrating to some of the readers who faithfully return to this blog, only to be disappointed to have the same wall of text and parables staring back at them.

Well, the only thing that I could say in defense to justify the lack of updates on this blog of mine is one that is synonymous with every college student, or human being, for that matter:

PROCRASTINATION!!

Here’s a smiley face to cheer you readers up:

=D

Don’t be mad, and don’t lead a village mob on a witch hunt to my hostel doorsteps, please?

Well, the least I could do is provide you all with a short but sweet recap of college life so far, no?

As we usher in the Fall Semester of 2010, one cannot help but notice an omnipresent void that clings onto our day-to-day activities in Intec UiTM.;a feeling of emptiness that tugs at the back of one’s mind but never making itself known.

No doubt that rift left behind was by our beloved friends who’ve left us for the States to pursue their dreams.

In hindsight, it’s a funny thing to note that these individuals have carved out such a niche in each of our lives within such a short span of only a year.

To think that they leave behind a deeply-ingrained depression in our lives where their presence have taken root is testament to just how much of an impact they’ve left on us.

So, here’s wishing these wonderful guys and girls luck and that may fortune smile upon whatever sheenanigans they get up to in the States.

Now that the teary, somber, morbid and emo bit has been done and away with, what say we address the more entertaining facets of college life?

For starters, this Fall Semester saw me clothing myself in all manners of fashion and accessories (in an absolutely so-not-serious manner of making a bold fashion statement.)

The prevalent themes for each week did wonders in helping me decide what article of clothing to garb myself in.

1Malaysia Week:

Total Badass/Cool Week:

Sexual Ambiguity Week:

Military Week:

Also, Fall Semester saw me progress leaps and bounds in addressing my issue of addiction to video games!

By leaps and bounds, I meant that the progress was done in the reverse manner and not the forward manner that everyone is always referring to nowadays. Pshh, progressing forward in curbing your gaming addiction? Talk about being overrated…

To list several milestones in addressing said issue:

1. I’m currently on my 4th playthrough of Mass Effect 2. (Inter-stellar, inter-species romance with incredibly hot alien chicks that are WAY out of your league? Oh, and the occasional inter-galactic ass kicking. What’s there not to LIKE?)

2. Smashing a zombie’s brain in with a skillet for the umpteenth time never gets old. Especially if there’s four like-minded, questionably sane individuals running around the map bonking the living shit out of every zombie they see.

3. Also, we’ve finally managed to relive the glory days of Call of Duty 4. Although it doesn’t hold a candle to the heydays of Spring Semester, we make do by totally disregarding standard military protocols, and and just plain blow shit up with whatever ordnance our itchy trigger fingers can get their hands on.

Having friends who exude artistic flair in expressing their destructive creativity does wonders in mindlessly leveling building after building.

4. Finally, Starcraft II. The. Single. Biggest. Moment. In. Gaming. History. Ever

I must admit though, playing a strategy game is tough! And I hate playing games I’m not good in(yeah, my ego is THAT inflated). However, Starcraft II has given me reason enough to sit through moments after moments of getting my base orbitally nuked, ling rushed, zealot raped, thor gangbanged or whatever creative ways of ownage the Starcraft community can think of next.

5. The advent of Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas, and Dead Rising 2 is SO totally, going to multiply my addiction ten-folds. And that’s just the way I like it.

Oh, did I leave out the part of having to cram for my finals and exams? Hmm, guess I did, didn’t I? Goes to show just how much I prioritize my tasks in college.

Oh well, time to hit the books I guess! Till I master the art of pulling solutions to those parametrically defined surfaces and iterated integrals in Calculus out of my ass, I believe I have much to catch up on!

Till my next post, toodles!

Friggin' lag! Took 3 months to Respawn!

As I type this post, I sit my tushies down on the familiar family couch that already has its cushions specifically molded to fit my butt.

Ah, home. Nothing beats the wonders of being able to drown yourself in the air of familiarity and the scent of fattening Kuching delicacies wafting through the air. Add to the fact that you have assistants (read: your parents) to tend to all the housework and chores, life is good.

Last I checked, the previous blog update was 3 months ago. So.......

~*awkward silence*~

...let us just put the past aside, and concentrate on the present ey? Hence, a quick recap of life (or the lack of it) for the past 3 months.

One of the biggest highlights was, of course, the new batch of ATU 18 students. Now, I don't mean to sound sadistic, but the stuff these juniors are capable of are just delightfully rib-tickling, laugh-out-loud material.

Sure, we seniors get our share of entertainment from their plight, but I just can't help giggling like a school girl at a Twilight premiere at some of the antics these juniors get up to.

Redefining the rules of grammar? Check.

Declaring your undying love for a particular senior? Check.

Scandalous gossips and rumors flying about? Check.

Giving Mr. Kamal a run for his sanity? Check and check.

Still, while we said hello to new faces, who could forget the moments we bid goodbye to familiar ones?

And so, we stand helplessly by at the airport terminal, wishing some of our dearest friends a tear-streaked goodbye as they depart the terminals to meet destiny in the States.

......and the part about tear-streaked goodbyes was total bs, if you readers knew by now.

Moving on, a short peek at the more academical facet of college life:

Like a hazy, surreal dream, I still can't quite believe I'm already starting my first year of degree at wonderful INTEC UiTM!

As to be expected, subjects became tougher and the workload started piling up. Add to the fact that I was stuck in the one and ONLY class taking Calculus 3 AND an extra subject, we're a pretty disgruntled lot of students.

Nonetheless, that didn't hamper much of my time spent productively (or unproductively) cooped up in my room gaming the hours away. XD XD

Oh, did I mention?

STARCRAFT 2!!!

Also, a big shout-out to my saviour, roommate, possible romantic option Darren Ng for showing me the ropes in Starcraft. Thank God for some of your strategies! I think I'd still be marching them Marines right into orbital nuclear strikes if it wasn't for you. XD XD

I guess this about concludes the post for now. Till then, expect more sporadically updated posts to be uploaded on this poor blog of mine. XD XD

Hitherto, I march off to heed the calls of reinforcements for some poor newbs online!

See ya~~