Futsal!!

Argh!! I'm gonna die...I got a futsal match this Friday night and I'm unfit like HELL!! Sigh...ok. You all can stop laughing now. I know, I know. I'm the EXTREMELY lazy sucker cum coach-potato cum insane gaming addict cum anti-social bastard who always stay at home YET I've apparently got a futsal match to participate in. Y'know, it's really not funny. I'm really gonna die!! ARGH!!

*searches for "how to kick a football properly", "how to build stamina in 24 hours" and "futsal do's and don'ts" in google*

Sigh...

Haze, 3G and Beck

Air quality is much better today, thank god. The past 1 week, the haze situation was very bad. In fact, air pollution index was at dangerous and hazardous levels all week until Saturday. This haze thing really pisses me off. If it happens once or twice, it's understandable but this is becoming a yearly event. It is ridiculous! My perception is that the government is not doing anything concrete to handle this problem. Every single message from authority seems either pointless or ridiculous. A ban in open burning and a request for people to cut down on smoking are actions that are born out of desperation, ignorance and incompetency. Saying that schools will be closed and a state of emergency to be declared if the air pollution index reaches 500 is absolutely idiotic when at 300, it is already classified as hazardous to health.

Seems to me that national productivity seems to be a higher priority than national health. Personally, I think that's the wrong approach and it's also morally corrupt. Lately I'm very tempted to vote for the opposition. Sadly, the 3 major opposition groups have serious issues that makes them bad choices. Parti Keadilan is being led by the wife of the former deputy prime minister. The actions of this former deputy prime minister during the last economic crisis leads me to believe that he's been bought over by a foreign power and does not have the nations interest in his heart. It'll be a cold day in hell before I give my vote to that party. Next, we have PAS. Their main focus is bringing an Islamic way of life. Unfortunately, their interpretation of this beautiful religion is rather...'creative' would be the polite term, I believe. Imagine a painting that is an absolute masterpiece. Normally, you'd judge a painting by the picture. Sadly, people from PAS will focus on the frames of the painting. Hence, their viewpoint in the Islamic way of life is rather...bizarre.

Lastly, we have the DAP. Their manifesto seems to be the most sane but I worry about the intelligence behind it. While they have a vision, there are a number of factors against them. Firstly, I'd prefer to have a Muslim to lead this country. It's a personal choice. You're all welcome to disagree as much as you want. Heh! Secondly, while I'm quite supportive to most of their objectives, I'm concerned about the implementation of it if this party ever gets into power. To be blunt, if they ever implement their objectives involving changes in widely held societal values, I'm afraid there would be social upheaval and unrest unless such changes are implemented in a proper manner. I highly doubt they are capable of doing so. Hence, my backup plan. If my disgust with the current party in the government continues to grow, I'd either form my own opposition party (hahahaha!) or migrate to somewhere else and change my citizenship. I hear Canada and New Zealand are wonderful places to live. There's always demand for skilled professionals.

Alright, enough haze bitching and political crap. =)

I just got my 3G phone activated on Saturday. I'm now connected to a third generation mobile network!! That's so cool!! Heh, ok. Maybe it's just me. I know, I'm such a geek...I gave my old phone to my brother. He seems very happy about it! Finally, all members of my family have camera phones. I'm also happy I'm not the only one now using Sony Ericsson. Down with Nokia! Anything that uses Real Player is automatically crap to me. Heh heh! I was tempted to sign-up for the unlimited data usage plan but figured RM120 is too much to pay each month when I won't even be using mobile internet that often. I'd probably activate the unlimited data usage plan if I have to travel a lot though since I'd want the flexibility of having internet access anywhere there's Maxis GPRS coverage. Oh yeah, with 3G I can now get live streaming of cartoon network. Heh, I will never miss an episode of Johnny Bravo again! There's also live streaming of news channels like BBC and CNN but who cares about that, right? It's the cartoons that matter. Heh heh! Another useful live streaming that's available is the live traffic conditions streaming. Then again, I use the LDP for work and it will always be jammed. Who needs live streaming to confirm that, eh? =)

I've finally finished watching Beck about a week ago. I also watched it again just now. What can I say? It's a brilliant anime! It's a story about a boy and how he matures as a musician. The animations is magnificent. The people involved in this anime have an excellent eye for detail. A concert scene in the anime will look, sound and FELL like a concert! The drawings are top-class while the songs are superb! When you watch the anime, check out the Dying Breed concert scene and the Greatful Sound concert scene and you'll understand what I mean. Oh yeah, I'm in love with Maho. Watch the anime and you'll also understand what I mean. =D

A day of rememberance

On 6th August 1945, the a nuclear bomb was dropped over the city of Hiroshima, the first time ever that nuclear energy was ever used in such manner. Incinerating 60,000 people in an instant and causing the death of a further 90,000 people due to radiation, this event is widely acknowledged as the main factor in ending the war. Let is give a moment of silence as a form of respect to those who died then. When wars are fought, sadly it's the innocents that suffer the most. The 150,000 people who died in Hiroshima are generally not soldiers.

There are many views concerning the Hiroshima and Nagasaki incident. Debating them now will be pointless and won't change anything. I myself am divided over the issue. The fact that 150,000 people died, 90,000 of them slowly and painfully horrifies me to no end. The fact that most of them are non-combatants makes things even worse. Yet, it ended the war fast and probably saved more lives than if an invasion of Japan took place.

I hate wars. I think they serve no purpose at all. I think my former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Muhammad was right. We as a human race should ban wars. As a civilization, we must move beyond our murderous instincts and deal with issues challenging us in a mature manner. Each successive wars only brings more hatred. Right now we have the war on terrorism. What would motivate a bunch of people to blow themselves up just so that they could kill a bunch of other people? I keep wondering about this, yet all I hear is more restrictions being put in place to the community that these suicide bombers belong too. Such measures will only breed discontent and marginalise the very people you need to reach out to.

I'm a Muslim and I'm proud to be one. I strongly believe in my religion, yet I do not force my beliefs onto others. Let each choose their own way in life. Yet with all these events happening worldwide, even in Malaysia I feel a little choked in and defensive. I love UK and London, yet now as a Muslim, I don't think I'll be very welcome there. The entire mass media seems filled with articles who are all anti-Muslim, which is very sad. Islam is a very beautiful religion. Sadly, the followers are not necessarily so. If you talk about living in peace and harmony, it's everywhere in the Koran and Sunnah. If you talk about gender equality and respect for women, it is also there. Yes, Pakistan might have honour-killings (a disgraceful way to use the word honour, I believe) and Saudi Arabia doesn't allow women to drive. Please understand though. No where in the teachings of Islam does it tell followers to do as such. These are cultural values rather than Islamic values.

Perhaps I've deviated from my original subject but to me, war and Islam seems inescapably linked at the moment. I keep hoping that tomorrow will bring a better future for the entire human race but I get more and more discouraged every day. At the moment, I can only pray...

Argh!!

Oh my god! What a way to start the week. First, the 'wonderful' government of Malaysia increases the prices for petrol by 10 sen on Monday. Apparently the subsidy is costing them valuable money that can be put aside for development. Frankly speaking, I think the excuse given is bollocks. Increased petrol prices will mean cost of living will be higher. Even development funds will be affected by this. Of course, the papers published a stupid table comparing the prices of petrol in the region. Some bloody 'genius' then commented that despite the price increase, Malaysian petrol prices were still among the lowest in the region. The wonderful part was that no weighting was done to take into account the average income of the region. Sheesh!

Next, on Tuesday we have 'wonderful' Indonesia doing their annual forest burning. Morning was a beautiful day of clear skies (and traffic jams but that's just my luck). Then around 5.30 pm when I left my office, for a moment I thought I was on a different planet. The haze was SO bad that visibility was probably until 100 m at most. At 50 m, it was already very blurry. Indonesia can burn all the forest they want but for god's sake, DON'T let it affect any other country. Right now, Malaysians are enjoying a lungful of absoulutely crappy air but as far as I know, Malaysia does not get any form of compensation from Indonesia due to this. Sigh...I hope the air clears up by tomorrow!

On a happier note, I've recently finished watching Scrapped Princess, an anime about a girl who's destined to destroy the world. While the storyline was nothing amazing, it was enjoyable enough. The characters in the anime all have rather distinct personalities and the interaction between them was really wonderful! I really liked Raquel's character. She's generally a very blur person yet when her sister becomes threatened, she's a real lioness. The interaction of Shannon and the Scrapped Princess was also really heart-warming, with Shannon being a really protective elder brother who's determined to shield his younger sister from all harm.

Right now I'm in the middle of watching an anime called Beck. It's quite interesting so far. One thing for sure, this anime REALLY makes me wanna get back to being serious with my guitar. I'm saving up money now to buy a good amplifier and a multi-effects board. =)