16 posts tagged “college”
My Fridays are really free, you know that? And so are my Thursdays.
I just came back from our (rival? haha) college event Orientation Odyssey Night. Their team did a good job setting up the event, including a fairly nice stage and all. I won't say my opinions on the event here yet, because I usually like to dress my posts up with a lot of photos and videos.
You won't be seeing any videos or photos of performances on the next post - there aren't any! Plain and simple. There are, however, a crapload of post-event photography. We're all worse than socialites at a restaurant opening.
OO Nite '08 is, however, memorable for two things. One was the fact that today was my maiden solo drive. The parents, bless 'em, let me drive on my own to college for OO Nite. Seroja was having her birthday party which I had to leave early for, and the family were all at home, so they let me take the BMW out. Thank God. This is a very major step for me. I was nervous and all, but now that I've survived and made it safely back - multiple trips no less - I'm a lot more confident about driving alone.
Second thing it's memorable for - Julia performed! As part of a band called Impromptu (am I getting the exact spelling correct? Or are they spelling it funny the way young people now like to do, like Impromp2 or something?) with Kieran, Bryan, and local college emcee legends Samson and Martin, Julia did pretty neat. I finally saw her rap on stage. I won't disclose on my full opinions on her performance until a bit later, mind.
So there aren't pictures. Is there anything I can provide?
Nope, there's nothing. Will you wait a day or something so I can post the many photos of myself and many people? Mucho thanks to Sarah for the liberal lending of her camera to me (for those photo-frenzied thirty minutes or so after the event).
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Movies I've been watching?
I watched two excellent ones - Hot Fuzz and Hard Candy. Two extremely dissimilar films, but tremendously excellent. Hot Fuzz is one of the funniest movies I've ever watched. Hard Candy was one of the most beautiful movies I've ever watched. And torturous too. Once you watch it you'll understand. I love Ellen Page, even if she's kinda scary, yes.
...Wow, that sounds really official. Officious, even.
I just had my first meeting with the Advertising (DAV1) course representative, Carmen, whom I have worked quite a bit with, and it went very well. Minor stuff. My vice-, and defacto assistant, Siok Cheng, attended and sounded off some good ideas.
Looks like the term of office could be successful... who knows.
Going off. So busy. Things to do, things to do. I hope I can finish my magazine and newspaper in time. I don't even know what to name the publications. "Triangular Magazine". By Jove, bad name.
I'm going to do a Big-O-Vision accompanied superpiece tonight to represent my feelings over this year. There's so many. So, so many. And exeunt.
...Like pills, I pop M&Ms madly for my cure. Like the way I said to Samantha, "I am for Ms".
Amirul B Ruslan here! Here are phots! Photos of people. A story or two before we go into Big-O-Vision...
I wrote 1,545 words for The Book That Must Not Be Named Or Else There Shall Be Hell To Pay. For forty minutes of the Muse's flow. Fine by me, Muses. I need triple that amount. I'm happy. I've reached the First Gate. I don't know what other writers say, but for me, the day you cross 10,000 words, you know either to keep and stay loyal forever to your text, or can it completely.
Still sick. One week! One week! Journalism I is fun, scary-ish, and a chat with a delightful senior has revealed much. Visha the course rep has stories from my Warehouse of Knowledge.
BM Lanjutan now. Our lecturer, whose histrionics offered humor of grand amounts last year, demands coursework in unorthodox means. There be acting/poetry/oratory here. But in Malay! Shudders.
(Tabby: thanks for the photos, but I hate your laptop's keyboard)
So, Big-O-Vision beckons!
Amirul and Tabby, though the fact is Tabby is on the left and Amirul is on the right. We jump. Both of us are off the ground, but it would appear my liftoff is not as perfect.
Julia and me. The hostel is the confines for these photo. Believe it or not but this is the work of my phone. MY phone can produce this much of a gem? Splendid. Oh, wait. The title says "tabs pixs". So it's not from my phone. Not splendid!
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Pause to Big-O-Vision:
I have new glasses.
And we return to Big-O-Vision
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Julia and Tabby. You may ask why it's only them who get so highlighted among my friends. Easy. They're the only ones who seem to think being in EVERY photo in my phone memory card is their divine right. So there. Julia takes wonderful photos. Amazingness. A photographer she is.
Tabby's phone documents the crouching Julia within its natural habitat of bricks and concrete.
Tabby leaves questionable stains on my neck. Worry not: they are wholly in pen ink. Or not. I leave you to your own conclusion. She likes these so much she photographs it.
Wind, the people of DJR1, and a phone camera photograph from the top of the fourth floor. From left: Sheela the girl at the edge of the grop, (somebody's arm, I think Valentina?), Visha the course rep, Tabby the gazelle, and Amirul the guy who wears Kelantan jersey.
Big-O-Visions!
"Your vision is something I cannot quite grasp." - Gavin Rechera
Today was a pleasant day, though I spent most of it depressed - I have to, it's part of the job - and groaning about so-and-so, producing 771 words in a matter of half an hour, and hopefully being able to produce a like amount for the much much later grind between 7pm to whenever I choose to sleep. I sustain myself on a large carton of Tropical Punch, and the words of Gavin Rechera. Great man, him.
Book review interview today, it turned out. I reviewed five books, but two reviews ended up being shortlisted. I was rather surprised when it happened; by shortlisting Jennifer Government and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (shock horror gasp!), the review-reviewing committee skipped on House of Leaves, The Raw Shark Texts, and The Harmony Silk Factory. At least now I can honestly say I don't only review Danielewski.
It could have been worse, of course, but at least I know I did an OK job.
6313 is my happy number, the number that governs my existence, at least until I come out tomorrow with a new happy number. Standing alone talking to yourself sounds like a good idea.
My happy number yesterday was 5542, if you're wondering.
Now I'd post a Friends-Only post as to why I'm so dreadfully unhappy, but I'm not, because nobody on my Neighborhood - the unlucky ones on my Friends list at least - ever reads my Friends-Only posts; that and the fact that my Friends list on Vox is a tiny, tiny, tiny element of my unhappiness.
For the purposes of my fiction (working with the so-far-happily-cooperative Book That Must Not Be Named), I have to live this unhappiness because it's giving my a wave of constant writing. I hope this stays.
On a more interesting note, I recently changed my desktop wallpaper (I'm afraid I don't have the photo to show you), and now it shouts out a blank white desktop with only the words I, AMIRUL B RUSLAN, WILL PLAY NO GAMES. EVER. It's the miracle my mom would never have imagined! Seriously. While I didn't quite uninstall them all - why waste 70GB+ of gamey data? - I have hidden the shortcuts so it stays in a neat folder that only Shafiq can touch. That or I can just click Start at the bottom left corner.
Oh! I realize I've not mentioned the interview. The interview was alright. Three lecturers asked me some good questions on the two books, starting with Jennifer Government, but I think I really got to a point when I was talking about Deathly Hallows. The announcement of Dumbledore's orientation was a question, though I think I got a good-enough answer in. When I came out I was greeted by two people waiting, one of them a familiar face in the form of the English Language Society's amazing Mei-Yi, and the other starting off with the great quote, "Holy shit you reviewed Potter?"
I did indeed.
6313! 6313! Happy happy 6313!
Show us your favorite photo of yourself
That's right, polygons. It's not a triangle, square or pentagon. We're not even sure what it has taken shape, so the descriptor "polygon" will have to suffice.
I have been sick all week, with it reaching its crux point on Wednesday and Thursday. My legions of fans have been worried sick, sometimes even sicker than I was, which rather made me quite happy. I received a total of two text messages wishing I was well! I know, I'm so popular.
In the calendar of the Pantheon, this is the Week of teh Love. All good followers of the Pantheon (and non-followers, as well) must declare their love to at least one person. It all suddenly started when Rui Ern came up to me during the Mass Comm lecture on Tuesday and declared her undying affections. I had already expected this, so my response held none of the surprise lesser mortals would have kept. But since it is teh Love week (yes, teh Language happens to work in many inverse ways), I had to spread love around, happy-happy!
Of course, when Rui Ern declared her love for me, it left a few people rather depressed, such as Julia, whose response was, "But Rui Ern... what about me?" Poor Julia.
[By now one can imagine the effect of several doses of medicine running wildly in my head. I have no natural resistance to these feelings of euphoria that tablets of paracetamol induce]
I walked across the large lecture hall, of which I believe the human capacity totals nearly 300 people, and I told Stephanie how I truly felt about her. The reaction was most enthralling. Here, I will regale my misadventures.
ME: (*walking over*) Hello, Stephanie. I have something you need to know.
HER: Yes?
ME: I am hopelessly and madly in love with you.
HER: Yes, I kn--- what?!
ME: (*walking away, depressed over the less-than-enthusiastic reaction*)
Okay, there was no real depression - I was actually laughing. When I discussed this with Shafiq later in the holy chambers known as 404, he simply said, "You tend to declare your love quite a lot, don't you?" I was naturally indigni - whatever you spelled it.
Later, the next day, this byzantine love polygon (it's not really a polygon if it doesn't close up at the end, right?) expanded when Visha, in her most oblique ways possible, explained to all that she was actually in love with me, thus leaving everybody with a major dilemma. Why, yeah. New traditions run strangely.
Aren't we all so glad week of teh Love is soon coming to an end?
Today, under the curious influence of the medicinal products I must ingest to restore maximum health points, I also declared my love, but in a hinty-hinty subtley way that is completely serious, unlike the unfortunate tale of Stephanie. So... um, don't go to Friendster? Because, well. Less than three weeks to go!
ACT ONE, SCENE ONE
One man (man/boy/lad/guy/whatever) is giving a monologue to the screen. He is standing, shifting his weight from foot to foot every so often. This character is AMIRUL.
AMIRUL
Hey. I want to tell you about something, and I hope I can type as fast and as long as I'd like to think, because if I can't, that would suck, and besides, I fall short lots of times.
He paces around. The camera follows him. A cough is heard offscreen.
OFFSCREEN VOICE
(*Cough*)
AMIRUL
So today... today I've been attending meetings... hell, I just got back from one. There was a meeting for all the Course Representatives in the entire SSSH --
(*Subtitles appear onscreen, saying "SSSH: School of Social Sciences And Humanities"*)
Yeah, yeah, you know what that means. So I'm there because I'm Visha's assistant, right? We're supposed to be there. I've never really met any of the others, either. There're a lot of courses, eh, from like Journalism (JOURNALISM!) to like Broadcast Communication and Fashion Design. Lots, as I said.
He stops pacing around. The camera zooms a small increment.
It was long, two hours long. But no doubt enlightening. More work has to be done, that kind of stuff. When it was done, like, 11.30am, we were both almost half an hour late for our class - we had our IT practical - but we were quite lucky, eh. I myself, I'm quite lucky. I had to skip Swimming to attend the meet. Luckily for me I can always go and take it again any other day of the week.
AMIRUL pauses, and smiles once.
Oh! Yeah, lucky for me I was late for IT practical instead of something else (say, E-Commerce tutorials, God forbid, no). They were only learning how to make subdocuments in Microsoft Word, how to make Tables of Content. Hell if I don't know how to, because I do, and if I don't I've got the Office '07 to try this on. But hey, that's all boring stuff, you know? We had a significantly more important class next. Mass Comm., you know. A two hour lecture. A short detour to the SSH office beforehand to ask about the SPM verification things - you don't need to know, it's boring - and off we went to DK ABD. It's the lecture hall with the plastic chairs. Those plastic chairs aren't as nice as the cushioned seats in ABF, but they sure as heck beat the Bronze Age benches in DK X and Y, like.
Then we were working on the Hubungan Etnik assignment. Finishing it up, really. We've got to compile it tomorrow. 's gonna give us some time to work, okay. Then there's... ooh!... the English Language Society first meeting for the junior exco. Now that's a long meeting. Four to six-thirty. That long. And like in any newly established democracy, it kinda got chaotic at times. That's just with, what, sixteen newly minted potential executive committee members. Add that to the voice of, what, ten senior committee members. Add that to the overruling voice of the four advisors. I'm surprised I can even run Journalism (JOURNALISM!) at all. Sorry, run it with Visha. She does the running. I do the following and keeping up, and the occasional escort job, as well as replacement duties.
Yeah, so I'm here. I've checked my blog and my mail (I used to ignore my Gmail for long stretches of time, but now I don't, yeah) and the usual blogs (ha! I can't tell you their names now can I... okay: Jim, Roslyn, etc etc etc). I think I'll go off and live in the streets of warmth, because this bit here is... so COLD! It's cold, really. Today I was wearing three layers of shirts to counteract the cold. You know what happened then?
OFFSCREEN VOICE
What?
AMIRUL
I took one off.
OFFSCREEN VOICE
Eh, so?
AMIRUL
I'm just telling you,
OFFSCREEN VOICE
Oh... okay.
AMIRUL
Should I continue?
OFFSCREEN VOICE
Go on.
AMIRUL
Are we running out of time?
OFFSCREEN VOICE
You're talking to a nonexistent entity whose sphere of influence doesn't even consider time. There is no concept of time. Time is a swearword here, because it does not exist. Not only does it not exist, it forbids itself from existing. It forbids itself from forbidding itself from existing, because to forbid itself from existing is to actually exist, and that's forbidden. And... No, we're not running out of time.
AMIRUL
Cool.
So, yeah, now I'm here. I'm yearning for food. I want a burger. No! I had a burger already. No! I've had burgers these few weeks. So I'll have rice! No. No. I'll have to wait a long time. Ah well... I'll have both, I guess. Laters. Dinner awaits!
OFFSCREEN VOICE
But we're not running out of time.
AMIRUL
Yeah, I know.
AMIRUL turns and begins to walk away, footsteps resonating all across the empty room.
OFFSCREEN VOICE
That guy should really learn the proper way of being interviewed.
SCENE.
From left: Me. From right: Me.
And thus, through the marvel that is camera-phones, and Julia's wonderful laptop, you see the first photos of the life TARC makes of us. At least Week 4, I mean.
I don't know if this has ever held truth, but I find that the truly, horribly boring Bahasa Malaysia class (which I can't be exempted from since I didn't get a credit off it) to be extremely conducive to my creativity. I just conjured three different story ideas. And titles too! I have a weekend spent at home; with nobody else at home too. I must write!
Right next to me to the left of my seat is this guy who's commanding a crew of eight people standing right behind him - thus blocking up the lane. He's got horribly pasty skin - and he's got teeth that's just as bad. He's showing off his teeth with his nerdy grins to his pals as he shows them something that apparently all his friends must concur with. So Mr. King Of Nerds here also happens to be scratching his arms very loudly with his spectacularly long fingernails. It both disturbs me and piques my curiosity. His royal entourage just got disbanded. A librarian told him off for bringing a group to an individual research desk. Not that it means anything. Four minutes later three of the eight return, and the grinning continues, and I'm feeling like I'm sitting beside Napoleon freaking Dynamite, except that he's got faux-styled and spiky hair, instead of a big afro. He even laughs like him too.
Well, yeah, I'm doing my coursework research as I type this. It's E-Commerce; and surprisingly I can't seem to find any references as to WHY THE INTERNET IS IMPORTANT TO ELECTRONIC COMMERCE. In fact, any searches on THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET seem to only pop up information on its uses to the disabled, and/or medical research, and especially how the military wants to consolidate power through the Internet. I'm very sad, now. Oh wait! I know. There's always that Online Resources button on the college website. I'm sure that's bound to be useful.
Oh. King Of Nerds' High Stewart has gotten himself a computer. He's remarkably scarred. It's like... the kind of scars you get when you prematurely end a pimple's reign on your face. The other royal followers seem to be grinning and pointing to some strange sort of article. Is it some kind of strange nerd-porn? Perhaps they're wetting themselves over new photos of the iPhone.
Excuse meanness today. I haven't had breakfast yet, don't want to use my cash, and have much work to do. I know we've got weeks to go, but still. Hey! The King has left the building. That was sudden.
