Enough With The Heavy

Yes, my blog all ain't all about doom and gloom, so I've decided to show you what I've been over the weekend. It's my hobby game. You guess it out.

Think...

Think...

Think...

Any answer yet?

Look at my Facebook picture, silly!

Yeah, Guitar Hero. I can't seem to get enough of that game. I know, people might say 'play the real thing, asshole', but I don't give a donkey's ass. The game's real cool and how many of you actually get to play electric guitar? I know this game is a mere unreal simulation but hey, it's the experience of playing your fav rock songs that count. :P

I'' just show you a bit of what I play on the normal charts. TURN UP THE VOLUME TO HEAR THE SONG. It's Stricken by Disturbed.





I got 99% on this..sorry bout the quality..apparently my phone's all i have

Next time..I'll show you how I tackle the hardest song on GH3, on medium of course xD

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Hardest Lesson

I haven't been blogging lately. I did tell you I would when there was something worth blogging. Well, here it is:






There are words that make us
shudder, wince;
Wormwood,persimmon,
Alum, quince.

There are words that soothe,
tranquilize;
Slumbering, rainbows,
Butterflies.

There are words that tighten,
Words that roll;
Tension, turmoil,
Chaos, spoil.

There are words that shimmer,
beguile;
Stars, ships,
Firelight, smile.

And of course,
Words that make our lives full;
Peace, love,
Home, beautiful


Good morning to the panel of distinguished judges, teachers and fellow friends. My speech today is entitled 'Words, Words and Words'. Marvellous aren’t they, words? Such a beautiful instrument that we can experience- hold a second. How is it that you know what my words meant? Ah, yes. With words you are able to understand what my point is, and not some random thought, though I'm sure you wouldn't want to know what I was thinking like, what’s for lunch? Fellow audience, you might ask, what is the reason I speak of words? Nathaniel Hawthorne once spoke of how potent words are for good and evil. Yes, for evil. We all know that words could cut, hence are we all murderers? I confess, I myself am a murderer too. I’m a downright smooth criminal- with words. Isn't it just exciting to use that fantastic, flamboyant, furious, flaming F-word? Very naughty, but is it that fun? Gone were the days when insults had class with words- glorious insults before the English language got boiled down to four-letter words. Who then could truly be a man of words? Ask me and I’ll tell you Winston Churchill, the famous Prime Minister of England during the World War 2. Why? Let’s take a look of an exchange between Winston Churchill and Lady Astor. She told him, "If you were my husband, I'd give you poison" He replied, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it". Don't you see? With a mere clever manipulation of words and wit, you can turn the whole tide of the conversation around Words also give you that extra edge over your speech, what we call ‘the cheek’. Just like what Oscar Wilde said, “Some people spread happiness WHEREVER they go, some, WHENEVER they go”. So, watch what you say, because I will make you eat your words. Fellow audience, when you have the power of an atomic bomb, you have a history worth knowing, Words originated when the Anglo-Saxons spread their Germanic language all over Northern Europe, followed by the Norse invaders, or what we call ‘Vikings’, who spread their own influences into the language. Words might have been used by invaders, but that doesn’t mean we’re invaders right? We’re the killers, remember? Anyway, thanks to an event called The Great Vowel Shift, words were made to pronounce the way they are, no sticky stacky words, just plain, A, E, I, O, U. The progress of words. Flowing with the modern era we are expected to advance with words but now, things just keep getting shorter and shorter. Ladies and gentlemen we are introduced to something called SMSes, which are text messages comprising words, symbols and numerals all combined into one. SMSes have been a scarily popular trend. I was in a daze to discover that my grandmother was an expert at using text messages. Could you imagine that? Often we can hear teachers nagging at students at how a massive complex word could be shortened to like, what say you, two or three acronyms? Acronyms such as 'MYOB' or 'GTH'. 'MYOB' stands for 'Mind your own beeswax!', while 'GTH' stands for 'Go to..heaven' Or is it the other way round? Isn't this all a paradox of society? In modern life we can send people to the moon, we have so many developments in science and technology, yet we still see people using short forms, symbols, squiggles and hieroglyphics in our everyday words! What, and I repeat what is communication technology coming to?

Consequentially, we should learn to love and treasure our words. Remember that atavism is not progress and reverting to an archaic form of writing is not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Let us embrace the power of words. A careless word may kindle strife, a cruel word may wreck one’s life. A timely word may level stress, a loving word may heal and bless. P and P on that. No, it’s not a new acronym, it’s called, Pause..and Ponder. Thank you.






There are just so much things in my mind I have right now..I don't think it's appropriate I put it now, please don't ask me to. I just feel sad, disappointed, down and very dissatisfied that I didn't make it to nationals.

In the end, I keep telling myself this quote from The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (not sure if it's exactly like in the movie):

"You may be as mad as the dogs at what happened, and you might curse the fates at all you've been through, but in the end, you have to let it go"

Friday, July 24, 2009

Verdict

Number 8 had his face boiling. It was unnaturally something that happens at the point when he was stricken with nervousness. It couldn't be helped. Somewhere not so far away, a friend of his spotted him from way across. Saw he had the face of a tomato.

Talking helped. The other contestants were on the same page, in the same boat. They were very friendly. Hmm. Maybe in times of desperation comrades talk to each other. I don't know. I'm just narrating here, how am I supposed to know?! Finally it was his turn. What thoughts went through his mind, he wasn't sure. He just kept telling himself, "Speak normally, you'll know it'll be alright". Thinking is so much easier than doing it.

Then he did it.

Nervous at first.

It just flowed.

He was so exhilarated at the end of it. He knew that he had done alright. The hardest part, or seemingly to him, had ended. Big relief. He was just so 'un-tensed'. He could finally relax, momentarily.

And then number 11 finished. Time for break.

He was just so happy to see his friends. They were beaming at him, giving him the thumbs up. Throughout the break he felt that he had indeed done something so spectacular. The feel of it was truly awesome. And then it came:

Spontaneity time.

Time for quarantine. As usual, the contestants made a 'campfire' in the quarantine area, and jokingly said that they must have had A(H1N1) if they were quarantined. One by one they left. Slowly the place got lonelier and lonelier. Number 8 was thankful that he wasn't the last one to go. If it was, there would be no sailor in the same boat. Shipwreck time.

Being brought to the room where the topic would be given, a plan was made up. Since it was such a long distance to the stage, after given the topic, while walking, there would be much time for him to develop his ideas further. That was the flaw in the plan. They gave 4 minutes in the room to write your ideas, but thoughts also can be processed while you walk, see? That includes an extra half a minute of thinking. Valuable, it was. Upon entering the room, the envelope was given. Opening it, he saw a folded paper which bore the words 'Success' on it, apparently typed on by Microsoft Word. The timer started. Thoughts came rushing. Pencil came into contact with the paper. Point by point was written down. Done. He looked up. The time wasn't finished yet. Odd. He turned to the paper. Tried hard to spark further ideas. Not much hope.

*ring* Time was up. Why does the notation for it always had to be a ring? Walking to the stage, words morphed and developed in his mind. Alright.

Up the stage he goes. Once bitten, twice shy? No way, it was more comfortable once you know the surroundings of your presentation arena. Once again, it rolled. All that was pent up in his mind, unfurled. He just spat it out, hoping it would be relevant and enough for the judges.

Looking back at it now, he was so, so exhilarated and relieved it was over. But is it really over? No.

Yes, no.

Why?

What was the verdict?

He was to bring it on to a further stage.

He made it to the next round.

Okay, but what's the damn verdict?!

First.

Congrats, number 8. I know that he knows he should be humble, and though he can relax for a short moment, he will have to prepare very soon for a bigger challenge a fortnight from now. Happy he might be, but he was not going to be satisfied with an achievement like this.

He was going to go far.

Man's reach exceeds his grasp.

Let's just hope he will do it.

Good luck, number 8.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

To Be Bad

There are always many different ways how people would present their speech. They call this their 'style'. I'm having a competition up very soon. And I don't know, I'll do the best I can. I have practiced quite often. You know the script? Yeah, it's not some thing that's been conjured on the last second. It's been revised over and over again ever since it was made. Well who made it? Yours truly. When? Last year.

If I'm not mistaken, it's been like ten times since my script has been changed. Changed to become shorter, wittier, more interesting. I don't know about this business, really. It's now been finalized, put into battle, if you want to hear that as an exaggeration.

It is never an easy task to do a public speech. Some of you might know. You turn green on stage, get sweaty palms, knees shake, you stutter. That's something even I had to face. That's why they say impromptu is always easier. It is spontaneous after all. But really, it all depends on timing.

Four minutes of thinking, three minute presentation, it's okay.

One minute of thinking, four to five minute presentation, you die.

I had the latter in ISKL. Still lived through the tale.

That's not my main problem. The fixed speech is. Particularly the tension that actually builds up. I actually have a few techniques on how it MIGHT reduce the nervousness, like a friend doing stupid jokes to you before you go up on stage, really cracks you up and makes you more gleeful to start. I actually want to try that. That's why I'm bringing a joker nuthead of a friend with me on that day itself. I won't give you more into detail. Wait 'til the day comes. I'll put it all here, don't worry.

I actually feel pretty strained from this competition. Whether teacher says just do your best, in whatsoever competition that anyone takes part in, there is always the tension to win. Well, screw that. I'm gonna tell myself it doesn't matter. I go there simply just for one thing: To pass my message. But of course, my presentation is also very important. I have practiced, believe me, so many times, and I feel I still haven't perfected it yet. Most of the time nowadays I feel it's okay, it's just the tension before that I have to overcome. Dang it.

Indirectly, I also feel pressure, because last year's national champion was from my school. There is already a standard expected. No one expects me to be just like him, that's alright, but like I said, there is always a certain hidden point of tension in what we do when people achieve such great heights.

And that's where it came. Today. After I did my presentation on Monday, my teacher grabbed some comments from the other teachers. So then she came up to me and said, "Marc, I asked some of the teachers' comments and I agree on them to. Last time, Julius (the winner) had the 'mischief' in his speech. And maybe that's why people don't really get the jokes on your speech. Julius's mischief comes very naturally with him. But you have the goody-goody image, those typical, studious, nerdy image. But don't worry, I'm sure we'll work on that. (how to improve my character on the speech)"

What the bloody hell.

Studious, nerdy?

Of course, I'm not an apple polisher, or what you call a boot licker to teachers, but I have generally a positive image on teachers. They wouldn't say I'm the naughty type.

Obviously she doesn't know what I can do.

Obviously she hasn't seen my other side before.

Obviously she hasn't known what character I can make myself become.

You want mischief?

I'll give you mischief.

Even more than mischief.

Just watch me as I will show you how devious I can become when I talk.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Human Nature

I will try to post as frequent as possible. If I expect people to update a lot, well, I myself have to do the same. Before I bring about what I'm gonna post, I actually forgot to post some guidelines (if it's actually needed) in my blog.

1. I will blog whenever there is something WORTH blogging about.

2. I won't talk about those mushy-mushy stuff like some blogs do; my posts will be meaningful :D

3. Please do not flame my blog, if you do not like it, please tell me, I will take it constructively and try to fix/repair/improve whatever it is.


Blog nature, huh? Now, Human Nature. I had been thinking of this for a long time, even I thought of posting this today last night. I would want to take a moment to talk about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. No. This would not be some sort of memorial where I talked about how great he was, how dearly I missed him, his great contributions, etc, etc.

Of course I do treasure, love and respect him, but the time for mourning is over. If I do talk about those stuff here, you'd probably flame me to hell for putting something so cliched (mind the 'e') in my post. No, don't worry, it's not about that. This will be of course, about HUMAN NATURE.

Human Nature, of course, is one of MJ's songs. When MJ died, the repercussions of shock were felt everywhere around the world. Instantly we could see the aftermath of it. People mourned and rejoiced for the renowned King of Pop. His songs went on the chart again. so many people paid tribute and all exclaimed how much they loved him, loved his music. How they missed him so much.

That's the thing that troubles me, in fact.

Human nature.

Don't we all just stop and look at something for a moment?

We never appreciate something until it's gone.

Just like Michael Jackson. Only when he died did people say how much they appreciate him, how people expressed how sorry they were, only did people raise funds for his memorial. Only then did people listen to his music. What is all this?

Sometime not so long ago, people ridiculed him like mad. Called him Wacko Jacko, gave him great insults, condemned him a child molester, even indirectly forced him to be in a state of recluse. People are hypocrites. I am not surprised that when MJ died, a portion of people mourning for him were actually faking it. And what about his music? Brilliant! I listened to them again, very brilliant. And why is it that only when he dies, only then people remember his music? What happened to it before then? All swallowed by the mainstream, which I consider mostly rubbish these days, compared to MJ's songs. Even though they are more than a decade ago, I can't help loving those songs again. Very catchy. If MJ did not die, I wonder how far back his songs were stuck in oblivion.

Tabloids killed his career. People are like that. You know, my mum was one who felt deeply for the death for MJ for she was a huge fan of him ,and she knew his background. She even went to his 1996 concert in M'sia. She told me something very interesting. She said "Most of the time people never remember your good deeds, only your bad ones". Very true. Bad ones always overshadow the good ones. Take for example this restaurant. It's excellent, you go there all the time. But once, if you happen to find a hair in your soup, by some stupid mistake they did, would you ever go there again? I bet not. Just like MJ. All his good deeds, overshadowed by stupid tabloids. Like that incident in Germany where he hung his baby off the balcony. Instantly he was criticized and condemned by ALL. God, do they even consider what he was doing? He said he was excited to show the fans his baby. True, he said that he did a terrible mistake on that. Okay, we all make mistakes, and MJ was sorry for that, by why couldn't the people forgive him? Tabloids zoomed up on him, all with wholesome criticisms that made everyone forget the ACTUAL reason why he was at Germany in the first place. To get some sort of Humanitarian award for the charity work he's done on the planet. Because of that incident, it totally tarnished his image, the bad over the good.

Another incident is the child molestation case. Come on, how could they think such a thing? They called him weird with children. Look at MJ's background. He never had a childhood, thus making him childish. But people don't understand. He LOVES CHILDREN VERY MUCH. Numerous times he has donated so much money to sick children. He even said "Before I would harm a child, I would slit my wrists". And yet people still want to take advantage of him, accusing him on child molestation. I believe with his background, never having a childhood, hence now loving children so much, he would never have done such a thing. We just love tabloids, follow them like nobody's business. Soon, everybody started turning against him.

I confess, I am ashamed of myself, for I was, too, not to say against him, but I ridiculed him for the things he had done. If only back then I knew his background. Indeed I was embarrassed and if possible, like to apologize for my behavior. Mum told me it was okay. I wondered why? She told me everybody had been blinded. Even La Toya, Jackson's sister, had been estranged with him, for she actually believed that he molested a child. Imagine, your sister who KNOWS who you are and how you feel, believing wrongly.

I think I really feel Jackson deserved better. Life had been unfair to him. At least now, I could imagine him in heaven, as a child again. Living the childhood he never had with his child friends he never had when he was small. Rest in peace, MJ. Away from the cruel human nature. When will we ever learn, people?

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Turning Point

All this happened on the 14th of February this year:

*Trembling, I opened up the sealed envelope. Inside was a slip of folded paper. Immediately the timekeeper started the watch. Damnit! She was quick to watch my movements indeed. No time to waste. I opened the folded paper. There were two topics: Turning Point or Conspiracy. With one minute of time running out, split-second decisions had to be made. I chose...Conspiracy. What happened next, was left to my brains and hands, not my eyes. A voice jerked me. One minute was up. Trembling indeed. You should have seen my hands. Taking the slip of paper on which i wrote my points on, I stepped up to the podium, to face the crowd, to face the Caucasian judges."

I didn't go too well, as I remembered. Maybe I should have talked about turning points. But what do I know about turning points? Turning point of a game? Turning point of a parabolic curve? U-turns? What did I had to last for 4 full minutes of spontaneity?

This post will NOT be about my experiences. No. The only turning point here is that I've finally decided to start a blog and see how it goes. I'm not really doing hardcore gaming at the moment, so I guess I can actually dedicate some time here. Get off my lazy arse and work my fingers. Let you guys know what I think of. And in the process, watch and learn. Yes, this won't be a one-minute idea generation or a four-minute speakout. Marc finally changes his perception of blogs.