Behind Moving In, Up, and Across

So apparently I have a place to myself now.

No just kidding. I'm renting.

But it comes with a lot of responsibilities that are usually not present when living with your parents/living in college halls.

Gas. Electric. Water. Broadband. Furniture. Cleaning. And a council tax you have to submit and exemption form for or get a court summons for it.

I mean, I know I have to pay for what I use eventually, but now?!

My dad was right. There's no such thing as a free lunch. And even if there were free lunches, I will probably gorge myself until I get fat with excess carbohydrates, which I would have to run halfway across the world to get rid off.

But personally, I wouldn't mind.

Sigh. I guess I just like running, both to get to fitness and away from my duties as a member of the society. And also to forget.

I still need my running shoes though.

( Not like Pokemon. I can run without running shoes, but personally, I wouldn't want to. )

The point is though, I can run, walk or crawl 500 miles, but I will fall down, and then, THEN, responsibilities will come knocking at my door.

That won't be fun.

So might as well turn around and stare responsibility in the face (if it has one) and show him/her/it that I will rise to the challenge.

Besides, there are juniors watching. And she is watching. I can't run. I can't lose. Not now.

Cya.

Behind A Witche's Crusade

By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.
By the stinking of my nose, something frightful this way goes.


By the clacking of my teeth, something vengeful this way seethes.
By the twitching of my ears, something evil this way nears.


By the stinging of my cheeks, something poison this way reeks.
By the stamping of my feet, something deadly this way meets.


By the dropping of my jaws, something feral this way claws.
By the clenching of my fists, something quicker this way miss'.


By the splitting of my hair, something hidden this way bares.
By the stretching of my arms, something mighty this way comes.


By the creaking of my bones, something holy this way shone.
By the reaching of my hands, something haunted this way ends.


By the beating of my heart, something hopeful this way starts.
By the blinking of my eyes, something wicked this way dies.





Cya.

Behind Alternate Life Saving

I have a confession to make.

I was nominated for the ALS ice bucket challenge.

And I just didn't care.

Don't get me wrong. I promise I will donate when I get back to the UK. (It's not very polite to donate money you didn't earn, i.e. your parents' salary.)

I'm just saying that, in my opinion, ALS ice bucket challenges are overly overhyped.

Let's face the facts:

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS - or also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, affects 1.2-4.0 out of 100,000 people globally yearly.

And now we look at two other neurodegenerative diseases:

Parkinson's: 300 per 100,000 persons in industrialised countries
Alzheimer's: 400 per 100,000 persons globally

Meanwhile, we discover that the ALS ice bucket challenge raised a whopping $112.4 million. With just that ONE challenge.

While years of donations and funding to the other two diseases have led to:

Parkinson's: NPF has funded more than $180 million in research and support services
Alzheimer's: NIH funds $480 million yearly on Alzheimer's research

Considering 28% goes to research, about $31 million will be spent for ALS research. But even after this conversion, we can see that the money flow is disproportionate to the prevalence of cases in the world.

Now, this might be due to a variety of reasons.

One would be that ALS is more life damaging than the other degenerative diseases. You hear stories about how ALS affects people even when they are in their early 20s, and you feel as if it is apitiful waste. But does that give us a reason to put aside the larger population of elders with other neurodegenerative diseases? They built us up; are we gonna abandon them?

Forgive me for sounding heartless, but it is, indeed, a delicate balance.

Another possibility is that the ALS foundation employs really smart people. They know how to communicate with this tech savvy world. They know that people nowadays are attention-seeking, social creatures. And they appealed to it, just like the plague of Facebook game notifications.

But I am not donating to them.
I do not actually have qualifications to say stuff like this.

And I am short of cash to freely donate.

So here's what I will do.

I will pledge to donate blood at least twice this year.

It is needed.
It is life-saving.
And more-importantly, it is mine to give.

I'm surprised no one thought of a blood bucket challenge yet.

.......

Ah. That's why.

Cya at the blood donation drive!

Behind Textual Frustration

Textually Frustrated

When texting with someone over IM or SMS that takes too long to reply leaving you waiting and frustrated.

Thank you Urban Dictionary.

*   *   *

I have a hierarchy of priority for my communications.

First on the list are the means which require my immediate attention, such as a phone call, or a person knocking on my door.

Next is the kind of messages which I can observe long after it has been sent, such as SMS, a letter, or a voicemail. This is because the sender would not know if I have actually received it, and hence not as effective.

Last on that list is the type which requires a stable Internet connection for communication to be effective, such as Skype, Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger. (Not everyone has Mobile Data activated all the time, you know.)


Which is why I don't understand the fact that people get annoyed when they do not get a reply in the first half-a-minute of them sending a text.

It's like ordering beer from a bar, and expecting it to arrive the next second. Just because it can be done, doesn't mean the bartender would. He has other drinks to pour, even if just for himself, before he could serve you.

The problem with the society nowadays is that we assume everyone is attached to their phones 24/7.

...which, to a certain extent, is true. The world at the palm of your hands? Who doesn't want that kind of power?

But that's only half the problem.

The other problem is that everything now must be fast, fast, FAST.

 Our food must be fast, our transport must be smooth, our games must not have lag, and our communication must be instant.

This is a hallmark of city life, where everyone is rushing to go everywhere to do everything.

And this puts a burden on society as a whole. If they want everything to be fast, the members of the society themselves to have to be faster, to keep up, as it were.

It puts an expectation on everyone. Faster is better, they all say.

But you know, some times, I wanna take it slow. Sometimes, I want to go the pretty way, just to enjoy the journey, or just to piss off the city people. Sometimes, I don't want to reply that text.

I can choose to be fast in today's world. But I can choose not to.

Call it laziness. Call it unproductive. Call it irresponsible.

But if it's not important enough for you to even bother calling, it's not important enough for me to rush.

Cya. Call me, beep me if you wanna reach me.

Behind Freedumb of the Spaken

Before I start, let me make two things clear.

FIRSTLY, I am not out to insult or blame anyone, I am merely stating an opinion, one you don't have give two shi- shakes of a tail about.

SECONDLY, although I am a supporter of freedom of speech, and I understand that a certain restriction on it is needed to be imposed on it to prevent chaos, THERE IS A LIMIT TO BOTH SIDES. Jeez, you all shout so loud and proud, but you just don't get it do you?

But first, definition of "Freedom of Speech":

The freedom to an opinion and the right to express it in a non-violent and non-threatening manner. It does not, as opposed to what many people think, grant the freedom to say anything without consequences.

Thank you, Urban Dictionary. You actually make more sense than people would. Sometimes.

Now essentially what this means is that I can say things like: "My god is different than your god", or "You don't like durians? Shame." without having any fear of reprimand. It is an opinion which does not affect you in any way, and hence is free to be expressed.

On the other hand, phrases such as: "Imma burn you and your family, witch!" or "You're going to hell/court for insulting my god!" is NOT okay. This is akin to a threat, both physically and mentally, which, unlike an opinion, will harm people in this wonderful society. Even if no action is taken, the trauma may- nay, WILL be pretty severe, especially if the whole issue gets blown out of proportion.

Speaking of out of proportion, it has become oh-so-easy to do so in this digital age. What with fanatics prowling every social media platform around, it is too easy to turn something innocent into an eruption of hate-shares.

Now, before I proceed, let me tell you that Islam is a religion that I really respect. Muslims that I've met are generally really nice, whether here in Malaysia or in the United Kingdom. Surely there are extremists, but in every religion, there are extremities, and therein lies extremists. And Islam takes commitment, especially during the holy month. Added to the good values to make a functioning society: it really deserves my respect.

But let me tell you that my respect is not enough to cover my dumbfoundness when the whole Malaysian media world, mainstream and otherwise, raises a big hoo-ha over a Korean lady wearing a dress with Quranic verses on it.

Yes, she was impolite to Islam. Yes, she has to respect local laws, even if she's just a tourist.

And the authorities were dragged in it too. I mean, c'mon. She's Korean. And she bought it in India. How would she know those were holy verses? Someone should just tell her its impolite. If anything, you should go hunt down the sellers in India.

But I don't blame the authorities. They did their job in protecting the public from mental trauma. I don't want to blame the trolls on the Internet too, but....

Using the power of FREEDOM OF SPEECH, the pic of her with the offensive outfit went all around the country and pissed off Muslims nationwide because there are holy verses where there are not supposed to be any.

(Same could not be said for Christianity.)

Look. If you didn't want the whole nation to be offended WHY SHARE THAT PICTURE? I mean, yes, it's your right to share the picture if you agree with it and you agree she should be punished by the law, but you are causing hurt to both the Korean lady and stress to your brothers around the nation? Especially if there is a risk of death threats, which come surprisingly common with big religions.

When you share on impulse, that is where Freedom becomes FreeDUMB.

I bet if you don't share this article, no one will even know of its existence. So no one gets offended, everyone is happy.

But hey, that's just my opinion. Not forcing you to do anything, not even to like a Facebook page.

Cya.

RAGERAGERAGERAGERAGERAGERAGE
RAGERAGERAGERAGERAGERAGERAGE

Behind Old Wood Chucks

Say it fast, yeah?

*deep breath*

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

As

much wood chuck as a wood chuck would chuck if a wood chuck could chuck would.

Now

would a wood chuck chuck a sunk junk chunk if a wood chuck should chuck wood?

If

a wood chuck chucks chunks like a wood chuck would then you know it's made of wood.

When

a wood chuck would chuck your chunk of wood would you chuck the wood chuck good?

No

A wood chuck could chuck Chuck's wood good, I hope it's understood.

Even

Norris knows no wood chuck would know to chuck Chuck Norris's wood,

Cause

A wood chuck would chuck no one's wood; wood chucks would not be rude.

Then

Woody's poor wood chuck would chuck wood if Woody would let the wood chuck chuck,

But

Poor Wooden Woody's wood was chucked, so Woody's wood chuck would chuck Woody.

So

Would ya, could ya, would ya, could ya wood chuck chuck wood good?

Or

Could ya, would ya, could ya, would ya chuck your wood chuck's wood?

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

As

much wood chuck as a wood chuck would chuck if a wood chuck could chuck would.

Cya, nature! You scary!

Behind Reluctant Wings

First MH 370.

Then MH 17.

Then ATR-72.

Now 5017?

What are the odds?

Quick Googling shows that the odds of being in a fatal airline accident is 1 in 4.7 million.

And now three flights down in a single week, two by storms (one questionable), one by gun.

What crappery is this? Anymore tragedies in the skies and you're practically proving the existence of a god (albeit a cruel, twisted one, and definitely not mainstream).

My condolences to those whose lives have taken a turn for the worse by these incidents. I have no support for you, nor anything anyone can do could replace your loss. I can only advise you to stay strong.

They're all still up there now. Somewhere.

But what can we do? Funds? FB likes? Advice? Airline assurance and insurance?

Dumbledore: No spell can reawaken the dead, Harry. I trust you know that. 

Even magic can't bring them back.

I understand that this is a great loss for the world, both in the skies and on the earth.

But life goes on. 

Shit happens, even if it defies probability.

Get the investigations over with, stop exploiting the crashes for media coverage, settle minor differences and cooperate for heck's sake! You ain't helping anyone!

And before you call me a heartless bastard, know that I do feel terrible for not feeling terrible for them.

And I try to emphatise. I really do.

But I can't. It's not rational to do so.

I know what the world would be like if everyone stopped caring, especially at a time like this, where those affected need all the care and support they can get.

But caring hurts, and I can't too much to people I don't even know.

I'm selfish, and I'm sorry.

What can I do? 

This post doesn't deserve a sprite. Or maybe I'll add it in later, when I've calmed down.

Cya.