I have a new blog, and it’s over at:
http://museumofmusing.tumblr.com/
See you all around.
As the NBA All Star Game approaches, I think it is only appropriate that we take ourselves back a few days to our glory years in high school, and answer a question we never did. One that has plagued the minds of onlookers for many a recess game, or as the Open’s A basketball team ran away to an undefeated championship. Many a time have I sat there, sipping at the beautiful, heavenly, ice-chilled bubblers of Muirfield high school wondering to myself how the hell a school with bent backboards and rings could have chilled bubblers. Freud would’ve gone crazy. But I digress. The real question that needs answering, in probably my most controversial blog post to date, is who would be on the Ruse All Star Team ‘09.
I think first off we would need to have a stadium to play our match in. If that stadium is one of Muirfield’s courts, then we probably need another one too. One that works.
First position I would have to lock in would be the Coach. Though Ms. Eathorne and Mr. Driscoll tried very hard in their interim position (including awarding me season MVP for my role off the bench), you can’t go past the sprinkler-moving, travel-calling phenom that is Ms. Russell. Her free-throw banking specialist assistant coach would be Ms. Mayers.
Now to the real, gritty stuff. We need to form a team with great balance, skill, determination, other cool stuff and one in the end, that will not only win, but put on a great spectacle for the fans.
CENTRE:
Contestants: Don Zhang, Jeremy Tan, Anthony Le, Victor Butjneski.
This is probably one of the hardest sections, with four very skilled contestants vying for one position. But noone ever said life was easy. Normally it would be easy to go for Don “the-only-person-to-have-dunked-and-yes-bryan,-you-don’t-count-as-having-dunked” Zhang, but in All Star games sometimes having ankles that last more than five minutes can be important.
Jeremy “Slobbermush” Tan would usually put forward a good option too, but in the end he did miss those free throws to knock the Revolution out of the playoffs. Luckily Bryan was there to provide emotional support. And, we at James Ruse AHS, (though in times of pain, in times of strife, being in pursuit of excellence) are very, very unforgiving. Which means a big fat no to Jeremy, I’m afraid.
Now onto Victor “Azafat” Butnejski. He brings a lot to the table, particularly if table in question is a dinner table, but keeping on basketball he has had great form both on and off the court. And apparently the stories are true and girls actually do run to him naked and screaming. But, let’s not get carried away. And really, need we look past AzafaTv? This case is closed.
Verdict: Don to start, Victor for backup, Jeremy to cover when Don gets injured.
FORWARD:
Contestants: Bryan Tran, Anthony Le, Sy Lee, Peter Chen, Simon Chow, Michael Li.
In a sudden twist of fate, the referees announced that the ‘and one’ rule had been removed, so all of a sudden Anthony “Phat” Le was feeling the love tonight as last minute votes came rushing in. Unfortunately he couldn’t muster the million votes he needed in that last minute, and so he’s out.
I would love to cut Bryan “Big Time” Tran from my team, I really would. But I just can’t. I’m sorry, fans. Every All Star team needs that one guy that shouldn’t be there. The ‘Joe Johnson’ of Ruse, Bryan Tran has always had the potential to do something productive, but has squandered that potential and seemingly traded it in for an overpriced chicken sandwich at the canteen. He has since filled out his resume with own goals to lose matches, fouling out in critical KO matches, and somehow not getting bashed by those ripped guys from Doonside.
Though Simon “Simy” Chow was on the initial voting ballot, he has since had to pull out with a bust lip. Nobody saw that one coming.
Sy Lee provides great variety, most off by being a girl. Her other skills involve rebounding and blocking shots without jumping and also having a name made up of two letters. Often critics have had their critical way by pointing a criticising finger at her ‘gentle’ nature, but this was all thrown out the metaphorical window when she abused my mum.
Peter Chen has unluckily missed out on selection unfortunately, because some retard has put him in the forward category when he clearly asked to be put in the guard section. Maybe it is due to the extremely straight gym outings with Aryan, but in the end the voters haven’t warmed up to his bazooka styled three point shot. Bad Luck, P-Chenny.
Michael “BS Champion” Li lives up to his nickname on a daily basis. He also brings a brilliant side to the game few can match: Trashtalking. Now I myself, and others such as Thashan and Bryan pride ourselves on trashtalking, but the thing with Mike is that you can never say anything back to him. It’s probably because he mucks it up and doesn’t make sense, but with gems like this, how can you say no: “Hey James, why don’t you go to the bank and buy yourself a game!”
It feels like I have cut most the contestants, but now I realise I actually have to pick four of them, so if you did get cut, you actually suck.
Verdict: Bryan Tran and Michael Li to start, Peter Chen/Anthony Le and Sy Lee for backup and Simon Chow to carry mouthguards.
GUARDS: Thashan Murugathas, James Tang, Krishan Subhaharan, Anthony Le, Gabriel Fong, Deva Nirthanakumaran
In what has become the most hotly contested group, the first person I’ll have to cut is Kris. I’m sorry mate, and even though it is actually your birthday whilst I am writing this, the Ruse Allstar Game waits for no birthday. I’m not really sure why I’m cutting Kris, but since when did any of my reasons matter?
Thashan “Big Homie” Murugathas is a fundamental part of the team. Kobe-like swagger, he also brings a really cool nickname that will sound mad if people in the huge crowd start chanting it. So he’s in.
James “Cadbury Flake” Tang is a perennial favourite, not least of commentator and basketball analyst, Marcus Wong, with his catch-phrase “THROWS IT UP TO NO-ONE”! Lines like that have made Marcus a household name in some people’s houses. Or housii if you want to be gramatically correct.
Gabriel “Gaby Baby” Fong is our resident nice guy, and forms possibly the smalled demographic in the universe. People who study physio and not just because they didn’t make med. Amazing. It also allows us to save costs on the medical side of things for the game.
Deva “I don’t think I even have a nickname” Nirthanakumaran is actually busy at the time taking up the Skills Challenge of missing most fast break layups, but has said that he ‘will try and make it for the fans’. Which fans he is actually talking about remains to be seen.
Verdict: Thashan and Gabriel to start, James and Kris for backup, Deva for James’ backup when he flakes.
Well that’s the team sorted. Now we just need some poor unsuspecting fools to beat. Any takers?
Finally, if anyone does read this before 2012 and the eventual destruction of the universe, please feel to leave in the comments section your own selection. Note that noone will actually care, but please do feel free to waste your time doing it. Good day.
“If love is a flame, then there are many candles and only one sun. But in the dark, even a candle can feel like the sun.”
— Just something I thought of.
I love this song. RHCP at their lyrical best. It is mad, and I just keep it on loop for ages. For those of you that have had the pleasure of partying it up in the party car, then you may have heard me listening to this on loop. Great song. I was discussing yesterday with Sharon what we think the meaning of the song was about. In the end, we had to agree to disagree, but I just thought I’d say what I reckon it’s about, and I’m sure plenty of you guys have heard it (or at least should do now) and can tell me what you guys think.
I’ve got a bad disease
But from my brain is where I bleed.
Insanity it seems
Has got me by my soul to squeeze.
Well all the love from thee
With all the dying trees I scream.
The angels in my dreams (yeah)
Have turned to demons of greed, that’s mean.
I think that the disease that he’s talking about is love, and throughout the song he alternates between the crippling effect it has on the brain and the freedom it gives us. The fact he mentions that it is a disease of the brain and that he feels insanity creeping in, to me screams that he is speaking of love. I think the first verse straight up speaks of love, especially when it is unreturned and the way that he feels trapped and crazy.
In the second verse he keeps up the idea of his new insanity and how it feels like everything around him is just breaking down into hell.
Where I go I just don’t know
I got to got to gotta take it slow.
When I find my peace of mind
I’m gonna give you some of my good time.
In the chorus here, he keeps up the idea he has throughout the song about how it feels unstable and he seems so rushed and almost surprised and unready by the experience. I think the last two lines also show that he reckons that the only way for him to find his ‘peace of mind’ is by getting the girl he’s in love with, and I think he’s sneakily saying that without love there is no fulfilment in life.
Today love smiled on me.
It took away my pain said please
All that you had to free
You gotta let it be oh yeah.
Oh, so polite indeed
Well I got everything I need.
Oh make my days a breeze
And take away my self destruction.
It’s bitter baby,
And it’s very sweet.
I’m on a rollercoaster,
but I’m on my feet.
Take me to the river,
Let me on your shore.
I’ll be coming back baby,
I’ll be coming back for more.
I could not forget
But I will not endeavor
Simple pleasures aren’t as special
But I won’t regret it never.
This is definitely my favourite part of the song. Here really shows the positive side of love and how, really, no matter how bad the bad things are, when you truly feel love, you realise how walking through the rain is always made better by the rainbow. He strives to highlight the carless feeling it gives us, and really how it has that effect that in the end everything is going to be alright.
Doo doo doo doo dingle zing a dong bone
Ba-di ba-da ba-zumba crunga cong gone bad
Yep.
Where I go I just don’t know
I might end up somewhere in Mexico.
When I find my peace of mind
I’m gonna keep you for the end of time.
Throughout the song, he highlights the ups and downs of love, and with the beautiful line he ends on, captures the true feeling of love and how even though it is an instant feeling of emotion and rush of happiness, it is a feeling about forever and that it doesn’t end and we can’t escape it’s hug. I was going to say clutches there, but I think hug is a better word for it.
I hope some of you guys are willing to share what you reckon on it, and I think that songs are open to interpretation and I think that’s why music is able to connect to everyone. A good song, or poem, is one that though can not only clearly speak the thoughts of the author, but it also leaves open the room for the reader to read it, and feel it, by attaching their own experiences in similar circumstances. I think you know you like a song when once you hear a line, you immediately think of something that has happened to you that you can relate to. Like how if you’re in love with someone, and someone talks about love, you immediately think of that person. Anyways, it’s off to the park for me, and I hope to see you guys around. Later, gator.
It feels like my whole life these days is just one big Macca’s run. I live at McDonald’s. I have been spotted at a McDonald’s outlet so many times over the past few weeks that on occasions, I have been requested to take up a job as manager to the McDonald’s universe. I have had to respectfully decline each time though, for I already hold the permanent position of failing at other stuff.
So many sporting adventures just happen to end up at Macca’s these days. Lidcombe, Auburn, West Ryde, it don’t matter. I hear even that the girls team at Auburn have taken up pregame Macca’s team meetings. When they win the championship I hope they mention the inspiration in their acceptance speech. I look forward to it.
We’ve even ended up there after the oztag games nowadays. It’s insane. The actual stay varies from analysing the service provided by the checkout workers to analysing the artistic make up of Nelly’s music videos, but there are some things that stay constant, such as the soft serves and the Bayblade battles. I normally win those.
Another thing that Jeremy pointed out recently is that McDonald’s has an apostrophe in it. Some dude called Mr. McDonald (Could be Mrs. McDonald, too, I spose) owns the shop. They own the stuff you eat. They own you. Your possessions own you. He pointed this out after I noticed that Hungry Jack’s also has an apostrophe. All this time I thought it was “Hungry Jacks”, and hence describing a place where people named Jack who were hungry could go to have their appetites satiated where in fact the shop is actually the possession of a hungry Jack. A singular hungry Jack. Crazy World.
Nothing much has really happened in my life recently, and hence the lack of blogs. Once again, I’m running thin on material, and jokes at Rohan and Bryan do get old. Actually, they don’t, but whatever. I wonder how long I’ll keep blogging for, but I think every time I wonder this, my estimate reduces constantly.
Anyways, Christmas is around the corner. I love Christmas. The gift giving is so fun, and the overall good moods of everyone and happiness is awesome, but what I really, really love is the lights. I’ve always loved light. City lights, Christmas lights, the stars, any lights. I love the way they sparkle, especially against the night sky. I can stare at them forever and a day. Same way that I love fireworks. Anyways, I love Christmas and it’s coming up. I hope you all have a very nice and safe Christmas. I know that’s a bit early to wish that, but just take it as a pre-emptive strike. We should all go to Carols in the Domain or something this year.
Speaking of Christmas, turns out my family are heading down to Melbourne for about a week from Christmas onward. We’re going to go watch two days of the Boxing Day Test of the Ashes. This is just about the biggest event on the Australian sporting calendar, bar probably the Melbourne Cup. It’s every young cricketer’s dream to play in the Boxing day Test, and the next best thing after that is to be present there to watch it, so pretty keen about that.
After that is over, it is New Year’s Eve and Day. Amazing. How could one whole year have passed so quickly? Ridiculous. I remember going to the zoo last New Year’s Eve, the fireworks and then meeting that cool drunk guy on the train on the way home. And that was a year ago. Crazy.
Anyways, my battery is about to die, and I just really wanted to get something down. I’ll see you all around soon, and hopefully many more Macca’s runs before the year runs out and we hit 2011.
The cricket is coming back. Watching the Australia A vs. England match recently, really gets the energy up and running, along with the anticipation of a home Ashes summer. Everybody likes to beat a Pom. In anything really. Cricket, Rugby, Badmington, Ping Pong, Mathematics, anything really. Heck, I think we’d love watching us beating them in damn AFL even though they probably couldn’t play it for nuts. There’s just something special about beating those guys up there who sent the criminals down here that really captures the mind. It’s kind of like when you get that maths question that your teacher couldn’t do and you stand up, sing the national anthem with your hand glued to your chest, and yell out “Not so bad for convicts now, are we?!”
Anyways, I remember the first time I was at a one-dayer. My first match I’d watched was Steve Waugh’s last test, but this one-dayer was something special. I remember walking through the tunnels and feeling that familiar, but at the same time not-familiar-enough rush of excitement building quickly through my body. As we opened up into the seats I looked up and saw the field, and that first look is always the best. But then, somewhat impossibly it got better. He was standing right there, fielding at deep long off right in front of me.
It was Michael Clarke. THE Michael Clarke. Just standing there. About 10.34 metres in front of me. The real Michael Clarke. Definitely not a fake. Not a mannequin dressed in Michael Clarke’s gear, and definitely not one of those blow up dolls that you can buy from those seedy, dark shops that Rohan always glances into as we walk past them in the city. It was the real deal.
Being surrounded by my brother and his friends, I was pretty much the only Australian shirt in a mass of light blue. Sri Lankans do that for their Indian brethren, they are willing to support their family from across the sea if no Sri Lankans are involved, and so everyone had put on their 2nd team Indian Cricket gear and were out in force. As Michael Clarke fielded in front of us, the chants began. I joined in. “Michael Clarke’s a W***er! Michael Clarke’s a W***er!” I then realised that everyone else in the group wasn’t actually chanting “Michael Clarke’s a Winner!” and so I quickly stopped, slightly ashamed that I may have been caught on camera abusing my favourite player.
I also remember my first six. Well not the first six I ever hit, but the first one I ever saw. Actually first I’ll tell you about the first, one so far, the only, six I have hit. It was in a knock out game for school and an offie was bowling. I remember talking to Danny at the other end and telling him I was going to hit the van parked on the road directly down the ground. Next ball, a bit of air and I came prancing down the track like Bryan at the Madi Gras and took a nice swing at it. It connected nicely and just flew. It was heading straight for the van and I was scared for a second. This is going to hit, I thought, and suddenly my heart was in my throat. Metaphorically, of course. And then it just went straight over the van. Straight over the van and bounced on the road. Straight over the van, bounced on the road and straight into the window of that house across the road. And the whole window fell out. Just in case the owners of that house are reading this, I’m sorry. Not really, but yeah. It was a sweet hit.
Anyways, onto the first six I ever saw hit, and it was Mathew Hayden. Sometimes he liked to walk at the bowlers. I’ve never really been entirely sure why he would do this. Maybe dudes bowling at 140kph was never fast enough for him and he liked to live on the edge. Who knows. But yeah, so he walks down the pitch and just picks one off a length and launches the ball into the night. It was beautiful. Watching the white ball sailing through the black night sky with a little comet trail was simply amazing and the single reason everyone should go watch a cricket match before they die. The image has been burnt into my memory ever since, similar to the image of James nuggetting people’s bags at my place one late night.
I know none of you enjoy cricket (Rohan excluded), and that really is disappointing, because it is truly my favourite sport in the world. I would easily regard it as the most tactical sport I’ve ever watched, mainly because everything is like a chess game without the time outs and such that you find in other tactical games like Gridiron or Basketball. People always complain that “the bowlers take forever to bowl”, “it’s such a slow game”, “theres not enough Lo Zio in it”, but what people who haven’t played the game don’t realise is how mentally draining and quick it really is. I could go on and on probably forever telling you stories about watching the cricket and playing cricket, but that would assume that you guys are still reading this after wading through all that cricket related talk earlier in the post.
This is just a shortish one and I’ll see you guys all around soon hopefully. Somewhere like the beach would be sweet. Just a quick shoutout to all the people who have helped me through my interview prep recently like Bryan (times infinity), Lean, Winnie, James and Sy, really appreciate it and I hope that I can help you guys back to a similar level. Also a special thank you to everyone who sent me a text of message to wish me luck for today. Anyways everyone, laters homies.
I live life on the wild side. It’s true. I can’t deny it. And as the saying goes ‘live fast, die young.’ I know many of you guys will just take that saying on face value and the statistics provided by certain authorities regarding the direct correlation between speeding and fatalities of young adolescents, but what some of you will not notice is that it is also proven by physics. The title of a Rick Ross classic is actually supported by none other than Einstein himself and his theory of special relativity in regards to time dilation.
OK, now that I’ve scared away all the normal people, I can continue with this post. What I wanted to blog about was the fact that I actually find myself in deadly circumstances a little too much for the liking of both myself and the creators of the facebook group “We like Deva being alive! <3”. It is true. I have escaped death so many times that some people are contemplating creating a Final Destination 5 based solely on one of my trips to the barber.
The most recent case was when I went to the toilet recently and found out that it looked like I had been eating something green, if you catch my drift. In fact, this case has yet to be solved, and I may die yet. James thinks it is funny, but James thinks a lot of things. Anyways, to make this post slightly more believable here are some in depth accounts of the times I nearly died.
Death Escaped #1: Drive-by Death Delicately Dodged.
So I’m going to watch basketball at Auburn. I don’t remember where I’m coming from, but I’m late. I’m about 5 mins into the game when I leave Lidcombe station, so I decide to run it. Everyone else was already watching the game. And so I make it to the intersection and for anyone who’s walked to Auburn before knows that this light takes longer to change than it takes Weezy to finish the 1.6. Roughly around 8 - 9 minutes.
Anyways, just as I arrive at the intersection, I see the little red man flashing. I’m sure you all know me well enough that I never walk when the red man is there. Heck, I care so much that if I enter with the green man and half way across the road it changes to the red man flashing then I turn around and walk back and wait for the green man again. Ok maybe not that strict, but you get the idea.
Anyways, these were excruciating circumstances and there is always an exception to the rule, so I decide I can make it. I’m already sprinting, and I’m not the slowest in the world (that would be Bryan) and so I decide to risk it. Go for Gold. Go for the metaphorical Hail Mary.
The cars slowly start to move and I’m already three quarters of the way through. I’m definitely going to make it. but then out of the corner of my eye I see that the last lane is empty. And about 20m down the road is some leb dude in his pimped out Impreza (Not sure if it actually was, but I hear that only fools drive that car so yeah) screaming down. The other cars have to start from a stand still so I can beat them, but this one is absolutely blitzing it down the road. I put on the extra burst of speed and JUST make it across, as I feel the car whiz straight past behind me, the wind of the car whipping across my back and I could even hear the men in car laughing. True story. I wish it wasn’t, though.
I used my photographic memory to print this photo of the dude in his car. He has been taking good care of his teeth.
Death escaped #2: Death by Acid (aka Revenge of the Hydronium Ions)
OK, so this one time I really needed to pee. This was a while ago and I still wore glasses back then. Anyways, so I’m peeing and to do this, boys need the use of their hands. So I hold my glasses with my mouth instead and begin to pee.
And then it happens. I drop the glasses. As if in slow motion I see it slowly falling to what is surely its inevitable demise in my pee. But as if I have the reflexes of Weezy on a five cent coin about to fall down a drain, I reach out with a hand and grab it quickly. It was so close, but I was able to get out alive. Never want to be in that situation again.
Death escaped #3: Poking at Death.
Please refer to earlier blog post for in depth account.
Death escaped #4: On the Way to Gaby’s
So we’re driving to Gaby’s. Well Rohan is driving, and I’m in the passenger seat being awesome in general, and Doug’s in the back, re-enacting the accident that caused his birth. Kidding, he was just sitting there. Anyways, as Doug does, he decides he’s bored and decides it’s time to tickle me.
Tickling is my kryptonite. I wished to keep it a secret, but for the greater good of this story, I think it needs to be said. I just don’t know what to do when I get tickled, mainly cos my brain stops functioning and starts exploding.
So anyways back to the story and self-proclaimed genius and all round good guy, Mr D. Yu, wraps his ridiculously long arms around my arms and starts to tickle me. I naturally flip into a frenzy and start kicking and squirming and singing My Heart Will Go On in perfect pitch. This may not seem like much of a problem to some of you, but what happened next was. I accidentally kick Rohan’s gear stick. And it goes into neutral. We are on a uphill part of the highway, and all of a sudden we are revving like the red P platers we truly are. Luckily there was no one behind us. Or around us. Or in the country. Or so it seemed. Another lucky escape for the good guys.
Death escaped #5: The hottest day in the Universe.
So we’re playing Wests out west this one time, and it is hot. I mean like really hot. As in, you know when you see the weather reporter and they go it’s going to be fine and 25 out in the city, and then quickly whisper that it’s going to be about 80 out west, that’s where we were playing. Just that I think it was forecasted to be about 35 in the city. As I walked out onto the field, I could feel myself melting away faster than The Revolution’s dream of winning the championship as Bryan shot those freethrows against Ritz 101. It was an absolute stinker of a day and about 5 mins in I could feel myself needing the drinks break scheduled for every hour.
I was so hot. So ridiculously hot that the most cold, most big, most Hugh Jackman endorsed bottle of Lipton Ice Tea could quench my thirst and cool me down. I remember throughout the day people were constantly pulling up with cramps and I think I ended up bowling 16 or 17 overs, which I know means nothing to most of you, but it’s a lot.
Some dude died on the field that day and when I went to pick up his skull, it started melting in my hand. As you can see here, he had a really small head.
Anyways, they are just a mere sample of the number of different times I have metaphorically flirted with the metaphorical girl that is known by the metaphorical name, Death. Anyways, I’m done here and I’ll just leave you with this final story. Me, my brother and my dad are sitting out in the living room, each with a laptop and typing stuff. Time passes: first minutes, then hours. My sister walks past and says something like “oh look at you guys, think you’re so good”. Or something dumb like that. Anyways, we’re all watching the cricket and my dad’s typing at his computer and I look over and notice he’s still on the logon screen. “Why’d you log out of your computer?” I enquired to my father, to which he replied gracefully, “I never got in. I’ve forgotten my password.” OK maybe it isn’t that funny to you, but he seriously had been sitting there for two hours or maybe even a little more, trying out new passwords. OK now I sound lame. Way to go, Simon. Gosh. Laters everyone.
19 years isn’t very old, but at the same time I think it’s very long. Whenever I talk to family about my life and what is happening in it, it usually follows a very similar pattern. We discuss my gap yearing and this is usually followed by the question of “What, are you a girl? Don’t be so scared. You should’ve gone to Armidale.” And then normally someone brings up my cricket, and then I get the usual advice of “cricket can wait, son. Finish your studies first, then you can play all the cricket you want. Put the ball and bat down for the next few years.” It’s funny because sometimes I feel like I’m already starting to defend myself even before I get accused of being soft.
But the reason I wanted to share that, was recently I was talking with a friend about dreaming, and what I came up with, is that dreaming is for ourselves. Dreaming is the carrot out in front of the horse that keeps it going, It gives us a little portal into our own world, where the things and people we love is really our highest priority, and it allows us to live the lives we want to. I don’t think you need to dream of being an astronaut or being a superstar to dream. I think as long as you have something you want or need that you love, whether it be a career or a person or a goal, then that is your dream. Sometimes I talk to people, and they say, “It scares me that I don’t dream.” I think it’s not that people dream, it’s that they just don’t see what their dreams are.
I think it’s very clever the manner in which we have named dreams as it shares the name with the often surreal events that take place whilst we sleep. I think the comparison that someone may have made is the way in which it is another world, a world that doesn’t involve the usual drag of everyday life. What I’ve noticed about sleeping dreams is that even when it’s something boring that I’m dreaming of, like going to school or doing a test, it is never boring. In our dreams everything seems intense almost, even the most normal of acts.
And even when we have mad dreams and we explain them to others the next day, though they may be slightly humorous they are rarely as fun to others as they were for ourselves. And I think that is why someone named both acts the same, because they are both intensely personal, and only we can truly understand their beauty. I think we need to dream for ourselves, and we need to keep it real for everyone else. Everyone always about ‘keeping it real’, or as people like to call it ‘being realistic’. I think that it is an important part of life but when you look at some people’s stories like how Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basketball team, you just have to wonder, “What if Michael Jordan decided to keep it real then?” Sometimes I really do think that impossible is nothing, but that the people around us love us too much to dare to believe that. I think that to everyone else your own dreams are maybe foolish and naive, and at times irrelevant. It is of little consequence and a mere side story that will not affect anyone else’s lives unless they come to fruition, and until they do, I think it is something that means something only to ourselves.
Having said that, I love to hear people dream. To listen to people talk and verbally paint the picture of their perfect world is a beautiful thing, and to hear the passion through their voice is something unmatched in this world. Meaningless conversation can be funny and enjoyable, but it is when someone opens the door to their world and shows me what they want and desire and need that really intrigues me. It seems the things we value the most are often the hardest for us to get, and I’m not yet sure if that is because we value them so.
A lot of my day is spent day dreaming, making a little world where everything is the way I want it to be, and though I do it unintentionally, I enjoy it. It makes me sad sometimes knowing that it can’t be that way, and even sadder when I realise that it actually can be that way but the way the world is built and how I view different things means that I am the one who makes it impossible.
It’s funny cos even though I spend so much time being optimistic and shooting for stars, there is always a little bit of me that is always there as a counter. I have a very pessimistic side. Kind of like the grumpy old man that lives in the apartment below and taps his roof when you are making too much noise, every time that I feel like I’m flying in life, I can always rely on my pessimistic side to keep me in check. Maybe I am insensitive and unappreciative of the key role that he plays in my life, but sometimes I hope that he would just go ahead and die.
Anyways, that’s all I wanted to say, and I’ve been itching to blog for ages and I just thought I’d spit a little out. Hope to see you guys sometime soon once your exams are done and I’ve dodged my way around these interviews. Adios amigos.
The other day I went to the doctor to get my knee checked out. It’s been swelling up and hurting a lot, or as they say in the business, “causing great discomfort”. Knees are pretty important, and the pair I have are pretty much gone, hence my inability to jump even close to as high as I used to back in the days of high school when I used to jump straight to the maths rooms (C2.3) from the basketball courts because I was too lazy to walk up the oval.
Anyways, turns out my knees are kinda funny and though there are no torn ligaments or tendons it’s either that I have a rough knee cap or more probably have bits of cartilage floating around in my knee for my right knee, whilst on my left knee my leg bone (tibia) is just sticking out. It was kinda weird how nonchalant the doctor was when telling me that my bone is just sticking out. I spose when you see people who are going to die from cancer and things, a bone sticking out is really nothing. Also, this bone sticking out thing is only seen in little children as they grow, and she jokingly told me to stop being a kid and to be a man. If I had a dollar every time I heard that I’d have a substantial amount of money. Possibly enough for a movie ticket or a white under shirt at Target.
Speaking of money, there are quite a lot of things you can pick up about humans in general from facebook. I know what you’re thinking: How can facebook be a true interpretation of society if key members of the universe such as Ameya and Lo Zio are not, or at times even falsely, represented to the masses which we have affectionately come to know as the Internet Peoplez Inc. Well, my friends, a grape doesn’t make a vineyard, a stick doesn’t make a forest and just cos we know Phat, it doesn’t make every dude in the universe a straight out pimp. I’m not really sure what I meant by all that, but doesn’t matter. So back to facebook, and if it’s taught us anything at all it is that people love relating to each other, liking my burns of R. Swami (which are now available for the universe to enjoy) and that we like to do quizzes.
On the first point, if you just look at the thousands of likes that pages about relationships and struggles through life and everything in general, it will easily show you that, even though everyone really is different, we all are the same. I think the same thing can be said about songs as well and how people will be amazed at how ‘this song describes exactly how I feel right now!’ And I think it’s kinda sad and happy that everyone goes through the same stuff, we all lose the people we love, we all lose at goals in life, and we all win sometimes. I’m just waiting for that last ‘sometime’ to come I spose.
On the point about the quizzes, I think that is very revealing about our character as well. I think we are all keen to ‘find out’ about our ‘future’, and I think it’s in the human nature to not be happy sitting down, so to speak. I think when we were younger, we were all so keen to become a teenager so we could have more fun and stuff, and now everyone is keen to know what they will be when they get a full time job, or what kind of husband or wife they’ll get or make. Or what kind of Lord of the Rings character they are.
And just another thing I’ve noticed about the human way of life is the way in which we say that we ‘fall’ in love. Fall is a very interesting word to use, because first of all, it’s a verb that describes movement in one direction only. I think that alone is very clever. Also, the choice of ‘fall’ is also interesting in the sense that when you think of falling in the normal sense, everyone knows that if you fall or trip it’s going to hurt if someone doesn’t catch you. Yet somehow I think many of the universe will be guilty of not thinking this in terms of love. I wonder who first thought of using the word ‘fall’. Pretty interesting.
Something else that I remembered the other day. Hobos. I was telling Rohan and Doug that I really suck at getting past charity people and I always end up getting sucked into donating to charity stalls and stuff. And it reminded me how Bryan is convinced that there is this one hobo in the city who makes sixty grand a year from, well, being a hobo. Regardless of whether this fact is true or not, what is more ridiculous is where Bryan gets all this ridiculous information from. It’s like how he’s convinced that Vegemite is made from ants. And that’s why there is ‘mite’ in its name. True story. Crazy bloke.
My aunty left back for America today. That was sad. But I’m really happy that I saw her as well, and really got to meet her for what is really the first time because the last time I saw her I was around 3 years old and that doesn’t even count. She’s heaps nice and she really reminds me of my mum and so naturally she’s awesome. I love meeting people, and when it is your family it is a billion times better because you see characteristics in them that you see in your other family members and in yourself too.
Anyways, I think I’ll just cap it off there. For all of you that haven’t before, go listen to “the Special Two” by Missy Higgins. Great song, and it makes me sad when I listen to it. Great lyrics, and I think for all of us some of the lyrics will ‘describe how we feel exactly’ at one point of our lives. Anyways, good luck with your exams everyone and ‘til next time, laters homies.
Turns out today is Pink Ribbon day. Which begs the question, what were we doing selling stuff last Friday? Anyways, it was a lot of fun. It started all on Friday morning. I was pretty soft and didn’t go play basketball because my knee is all squishy. Anyways, headed out to the city at roughly some time and met up with the one and only Lo Zio. For those of you unaware, Bryan’s new nickname is ‘Lo Zio’. You may ask, why is Bryan’s new nickname ‘Lo Zio’? In that case, stop asking silly questions James. Speaking of silly, Ne Yo keeps telling me that he’s So Sick, and he doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it, such as the highly recommended course of action of seeing a health professional. Oh well, he’s Ne Yo and I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.
Anyways, later the gang grew and we found ourselves with the Fellowship of the Ring. We had the nine members, myself, Alison, Lo Zio, Sy, George (Alison’s pet monkey), Lean, Simy, Aryan and later Winnie. We tried to delegate roles of the fellowship, but that was difficult, and I think in the end I was either Legolas or Boromir. Either way it was pretty cool. Bryan kept trying to make people characters that aren’t even a part of the fellowship, like Gollum, and he wanted be a Uruk-Hai. I am starting to think he didn’t concentrate in the first one. Anyways, the fellowship got split up and me, Aryan, George and Alison were at one spot and the others were at a different spot. I think our group of four all had a really good time walking around and selling stuff. Overall, a pretty fun day.
One point that I should mention was that we were instructed that if we were ever held up, to hand over the money immediately. This forced me into a rare sign of ill-discipline, responding with ‘Bullocks!’ No one was taking our money. I then made a deal that I would give myself up hostage, and then Alison would come in later and bust me out. Big dude in hockey mask, little girl in tattered white dress, didn’t matter. The Pink Ribbon people were definitely getting their money that day. In a cruel twist of fate, just after I had said that, it turned out that noone would hold up our stall that day. Pity.
Right near the end, as I was having a conversation with George and Sy, we were alerted to the absence of two schoolgirls who had gone for a walk to sell stuff. For those of you that don’t know, school girls die. That’s just what they do. If they go out alone somewhere, you might as well head to the cemetery and start digging a hole. Actually you probably won’t find the body, so no point anyways. Anyways, as you probably have realised from knowing me for the last 283 millennia, I have a bit of ‘hero’ blood running through my veins. So I immediately took it upon us three to hunt down the baddies and rescue the two girls from death.
We had only been walking for a little while, when Sy was like ‘hey this feels like an adventure, let’s pick characters.’ I was like OK, that sounds fair enough. She then quickly piped in that she wanted to be Donkey Kong. I was like OK, that sounds fair enough. She then quickly said that if you break the law you shouldn’t have to be punished. I was like OK, that doesn’t sound fair at all. Anyways, after assigning me as Legolas, we quickly went about finding the two girls. I heard Aragorn say “Legolas, what do your Elf eyes see?”, and quickly I spotted our teammates. Just as I was about to whoop some ass by with my unlimited arrows, Sy ran in and started picking up members of the whole gang and throwing them around. She even used the move where Donkey Kong slams the ground and everything rumbles. She even used the move where in Super Smash Bros. you pick up the enemy on your back and jump off the level as a suicide mission. Suffice to say, we won that battle, and I didn’t even have to do anything. She then came back and started telling me how she’s the best FIFA player ever and once won FIFA ‘98 World Cup edition with Afghanistan by only using slide tackle/chip pass button. Crazy.
Anyways in other news, my jaw always hurts. My wisdom teeth are coming out like Bryan out of the closet. Slowly and painfully. In other other news, congratulations to Mr. R. Swami whose soccer team won their Champions of Champions final yesterday. For the non-soccer playing readers, being an expert on soccer, I will explain what this means. Pretty much it means that they are the best team in the universe. At one point it was limited to the galaxy, but then we realised that they weren’t actually playing soccer over in the galaxy Xertoz, but some other useless sport. For those of you that do not know, I have decided to become a soccer expert following my recent win in FIFA ‘08 set on legendary difficulty. Thank you, thank you and I will be doing autographs later this week.
Later that night, the last remaining stragglers of Me, Simy, Lo Zio and Lean and Aryan had a highly intellectual discussion regarding the way in which girls want ‘bad guys’. It seems to make no sense at all. Apparently this is the case for many girls, but if it is true, it begs so many basic questions. Why would a girl want some dude who is scary? Why would a girl want a dude that might hurt her? Why is Lo Zio still single? All questions that I need to answer before I fully accept this theory. I’m still sticking with the Banter Hypothesis. I still need some work, but I think I’m getting better. The process of banter roughly follows this: You smell. Wink. Buddy Punch. Pick up girl.
On a more serious note, the other day I was really tired so I took a nap in the afternoon and was woken up a little while later by my dad shouting that I should go pick up my brother from the station. Before I had got the keys and left the door, I was further confronted by a scheming mother with the ingenious plan of me going to woolies straight after I dropped my brother at home. I go to woolies a lot. Almost every two days or so I reckon. Occasionally I will end up going to it about three times in the space of half an hour as the shopping list continually gets larger. So about 10 mins and one really sweet parking job later, I’m buying coconut milk and orange juice from Woolies. The girl at the checkout was a looker. First one ever I reckon. So I grabbed the stuff, did some sweet moves, diffused a bomb, and a further 10 mins and one more equally sweet parking job later and I was sitting at home. Anyways, the reason I’m telling you this is because, well it is all pretty unnecessary, and I think I just wanted to talk about my sweet parking. But what I really wanted to talk about actually happened later on.
Later that day, I was going to pick up my sister from school, and was waiting at a traffic light, and across the street (right next to the vet for those who know my house) there were a few women tying flowers to the light post, which for those of you who don’t know, means someone has passed away there. I thought they were maybe replacing flowers, but turns out that a man had died there just the day before. To see those four women standing there crying, and watching one just break down in tears killed me, and I felt really sad for them. To lose someone in a car accident, which turned out to be a result of poor judgement, is just a waste. I know you don’t think about it every time you drive, but seriously we should realise how just waiting a little longer so that a turn is safer or just driving a little more carefully, can change everything. I hope I never know anyone who his injured or killed in an accident. To the man who passed away that day, may he rest in peace, and I hope that his family find a way to be happy again.
Well isn’t that a sombre note to end on today. All your exams are coming up and it’s amazing that you guys are almost finished a whole year of your courses already and will be finishing uni altogether in a couple more years. I really hope I don’t end up in Armidale, too but I suppose sometimes life grabs you by the wrist and directs you where to go. Oh well, I spose the quicker we keep it real, the better. Elephants can’t jump, penguins can’t fly and sometimes even I get sad. But I dunno, everything will get better I spose. Look at that, even Ne-Yo’s changed his tune too. He’s now saying that we should be together, eternally. See you all around soon, homies.
← Older Entries Page 1 of 7
It's time we celebrated what's great. Ameya.
