New year

1 hour and 44 minutes to 2012.

2011 was awesome. Learnt many things. Did many, too.

I can say that 2011 is the year of liberation. Around the globe, revolutions were moved by people overthrowing their oppressors. Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. 

I myself broke through several lockdowns this year. Chose to jump off the 'stereotype' wagon. Emancipated from the fear of the rules. What matters most now is common sense. I find it preposterous to live by rules made by people no smarter than others to control the others.

After all, I think I don't anymore give a toss for what people think. That's why over time I stay low so that my doing and behaviour remain behind the curtain of a stage of hypocrisy. It's all between me and God, Allah is Great.

So now 2012 is approaching and I don't think I need to change at all. A much better year ahead insyaAllah.

New year's eve

It's rainy in Kuala Terengganu all day long. It started with a windy cloudy morning, then downpour in the noon which got heavier by the evening. It's cold that I only took the morning bath. Couldn't even sweat anyway.

My aunt said that decades ago when she was a kid, monsoon season was winter for Terengganu folks. She would prepare at least a jacket and a raincoat, saying it was so cold people exhaled cloud when breathing, like people in the "western movies", the kid me thought.

During this season, people generally choose to hibernate and limit outdoor stuff. Tapioca becomes the daily staple, possibly due to its resilience in pooled grounds. Furthermore, it's a common backyard plant. Boiled tender with some salt and sugar, then served with grated coconut flakes. Best enjoyed with coffee.

'Sabasun 2', written in Jawi (٢ ‎ سا با سو ن)

By the way much of staying indoor, I had breakfast at the town. Then headed for some grocery at Sabasun, the only retail store I know boycotting Israel-related products. It's local grown and has TVs installed at conspicuous corners screening, besides ads, campaigns for Palestine.

Twatter

I once had a Facebook account. Enjoyed it quite. Until I realised I've divulged too much that I was building an online dossier. Furthermore, it's extremely awkward when 'friends' in Facebook are so much strangers in real life. At first, it's cool, but later I knew I was slowly becoming a socially awkward penguin. Besides, I became addicted.

So as a methadone to this Facebook drug, I set up a Twitter account. Like it better than Fb. Especially because it's pretty simple and neat. Features attention whores would frown upon.

Keep #Twitterjaya clean.

Unfortunately though, these publicity hunters won't back off. Of course the timeline is not anyone's private feeds, but don't overuse it.

But honestly why I'm in the ranting mode is because I'm irritated by certain Twitter users who are so fond of unmentioning. Then there's some people who whine and blabber at things and people being the pain in their asses so they think it's good to let other people know they're damn pissed off. If you do this, screw you. If you have a beef at someone, let it out in person. I personally think that venting your anger or discontent on Twitter is so selfish.

Vestige

Last September I rambled about my Samsung YP-U3, my faithful company during moments of solitude in school.

Well, my friend was right, my MP3 player has started to go senile. Just a few days before its 3rd anniversary next February.

Often when I play some music, the seek bar goes erratic and reverses the navigation, the whole touch pad becomes a useless flat plastic surface, the top buttons including the one for the power too, malfunction I can't turn it off.

The only way to fix it is by plugging its retractable USB stick to a computer or charger. But that's only temporary and it's only a matter of time before the whole process repeats. I've gone thru this when I first got the MP3 player though not always, unlike now.

I think it's time I put it to rest. Still usable as a memory stick, it's not anymore my mini jukebox.
"An MP3 player minus the player"

After all, I've got a much better replacement. Yeah, I think the choice was obvious when I thought I should upgrade. Nevertheless, I did rove the Internet to merely verify my pick and just in a few days, I've made up my mind. Left then was just a visit to an Apple store to top the survey.

My fav app. As you can see, it's boring.

And there I was, an iPod in my hands, conceding bitter defeat to Apple's unassailable trend might.

Fluorescent adolescent

2012 is just a little over 3 days away. By year count, I'm at the end of my teen years on the brink of adulthood.

If there is a regret I have, then it is me not living my adolescence to the fullest. I feel like there's a lot of things I left behind and may never catch up anymore.

The fun. Especially.

p/s : Although many interpret the song above as the ballad of a sex-deprived woman, I think the clip video is more general. A boy who grew up andabandoned his colourful side of life, eventually 'killing' his soul.

Heliconia

Everyone has something he is fond of. This is mine. Presenting to you 9M-MRD, Boeing 777-200ER. In the magnificent "Heliconia : Freedom of Space" livery. Its sisters are two 747-400s, (reg 9M-MPB & 9M-MPD), both sported the red "Hibiscus : An Experience Redefined" livery.

Shamefully, both liveries were scrapped off by Malaysia Airlines for a 'fuel inefficiency' reason. Apparently the amount of paint used fattened the aircraft and thirsting them more for fuel.

Anyway, this aircraft model is one to die for. Hyperbolically. After the Romeo Delta returned to the standard MAS livery, collectors have been seeking after one of these licensed diecast models. Manufacturers in the mean time have stopped producing those due to licensing terms, though the fake ones are still being made in China and sold ubiquitously. Just to give the idea of how limited this is.

Mine was made by GeminiJets. And considering the novelty of my collection, I surely was lucky to grab one!

Tis the season

I don't go to varsity. Good thing is I don't get locked up to college life which is actually barely a life, by accounts of my friends.

If you take a close look, there's a Japan Airlines B763 on the taxiway.

But that also means I don't get the many holidays on semester breaks. In fact, we don't adopt the common college system. However it is unclear whether the place where I study is subjected to AUKU or not.

Which explains why I'm so darn excited when we are granted holidays. No plan for the one-week holiday though, except some promises of teh tarik sessions with my school pals. It's been long since we last caught up on each other anyway.

PMR

I sat for PMR in 2007. Confidence was high with an excellent trial result in my pocket. In fact I was the only one who stroke all A's in the trials in the school.

Thank Allah, the streak went on til PMR. Results were announced on December 27th and I was among 8 to obtain full A's in my school that year.

I then left for a school miles away from home. Not wholly my choice, it was mostly my parents', over thoughts that I should work harder for SPM. And that was only possible if I could stay away from my precious TV. Apparently they knew I was sneaking up late at night to watch TV, even during the exam!

But if not for that, I wouldn't ever know how lucky I was to enrol into a boarding school. Wise parents are wise.

This year's national performance is the best in 4 years. Means we did better in 2007. Now that's a little pride I should enjoy. ;)

Generalising

The hottest news among Malaysian netizens is the marriage of a Malay boy with his fellow sperm bearer in UK.

That is not the least of his problems since his sponsor Petronas has filed a lawsuit against him for flopping and fleeing med school thus breaching his scholarship contract. This fella is a former top pupil of a coed school in KL.

Worse his parents are taking the fall for him. They are now forced to be paying RM890,000(!) to Petronas for the aforementioned reason. This guy, I won't even mention his name here, is such a rascal. He screws up his study and inflicts his family no less with all the shame and debts.

On another note this proves one thing, homo people don't exclusively hail from single sex schools.

For obvious reason, people often mistake the single gender schools as the cradle of homosexuality. Just backing the notion is the sodomy trial of then DPM Anwar Ibrahim, a former pupil of MCKK, a male boarding school.

Anwar was found guilty amid blatant accusations that he was a victim of a political gambit orchestrated by then PM Mahathir Mohamed. Interestingly, Mahathir's supporters who were the ones taunting Anwar's sexual orientation a result of his MCKK days seemed to forget that Mahathir is also an alumnus of a male school, Sultan Abdul Hamid College.

Now if you think again, if single gender schools cultivate homosexuality (either directly or indirectly) because there's no opposite sex than the coed with boys and girls together promote bisexuality. Problem?

Myself a proud old boy of a boarding school. And so far looking for only female better half/ves.

Langkawi

After the average MavFest at Subang last month, yours truly looked forward to this year's LIMA.

But my hope was crushed as Airasia delayed my flight by an hour. Supposedly I would arrive at Langkawi by 1530 hrs and spend the noon at the Lima 2011 finale. At last, the closest I got to Lima was watching the long line of planes on the tarmac at Mahsuri Exhibition Centre adjacent to the airport I landed on.

So the weekend got a little less awesome but my disappointment was absorbed by the mesmerising beauty of Langkawi.

The best part? Motor riding to Kuah Town for the night shopping. It is common knowledge that chocolates are abundant in cheap in Langkawi so it's not inappropriate to say we spent all our allowance on tons of choc packs.

And because it has been long since I last rode a bike I let some steam off that night riding around some parts of the island.

Still I felt jealous to my pals who managed to catch the Lima airshow.

Darn AirAsia.

Wishlist

I almost certainly won't buy Android.

I may get a BlackBerry and find it underused because I'm neither a businessman or socialiser, but not Android.

I may get a Windows Phone and find it deluded with Microsoft past eminence, but no chance for Android.

Honestly I think that iOS somehow inspired Android to an extent, iOS formed the base of android.