Quadruple Eff Double Oh

Ain't it nice to have something to believe in? Narrative simple-mindedness and a lack of any real direction aside, it's all about a cause that's for once purely political, emotional and devoid of the rational, the (dare I say it) neoliberal consumer-utility model (oops, I just did). That's why it's so intoxicating.

GET THE DEFIBRILLATOR!

CLEAR!

*zzaaaaaaap!*

CLEAR!

*BZZZZT* --

*beep*
*beep*

Offshore Drilling.

http://bit.ly/9iD6Ij

Obama wants to allow offshore drilling in some areas (off coast of Florida near Mexico and off Alaska). Leases and permits to be handed out within two years. Not surprising, this is pissing of a LOT of hippies treehuggingmueslimunchers environmentalists.

However scared i am (as well) of oil spills killing them cute little dolphins and rare sea anemones, I gotta say I (as if I have any say in this) support Mr Obama. Not cause he’s (half)black or sports a killer suit, but I believe that this policy’s in line with his overall aim to reduce the US dependency on foreign oil and move towards cleaner sources.

Once again, people have to realise that real change comes incrementally. The leap to cleaner, green fuels won’t happen overnight. The first step is to make sure the States are ready to make that leap financially. By reducing dependence on foreign oil (through tapping the US’ hefty existing natural resources) Obama will simultaneously put America a) in the budget surplus necessary to fund green research and b) above a safety net in the likely instance the first foray into green energy fails.

Despit what critics say, Obama isn’t selling out to oil companies nor is he going back on his campaign promises. I think he will eventually sponsor the green initiative, just not yet. He has the sense to know taht such things need time and money, as his healthcare battle rightly taught him.

Good move, Mr. President. 

How Easy It Is..

• To play the part of a political firebrand from a comfy armchair in Starbucks.
• To demand equality for the people when you're benefiting the most from the status quo.
• To forget that middleclassdom does not automatically give you the right (even though it gives you the free time) to 'defend the less fortunate'
• To howl for change when you refuse to sacrifice anything for it.
• To demand better schools, roads, clinics but refuse a tax hike.
• To scream for action but deny the opportunity to change one's ways.
• To expect progress to come immediately and without effort.
• To think that radical change is a direct precursor to improvement.
• To howl for democracy when you don't have working knowledge of how it functions.
• To vote based on a gut feeling and feel good that you contributed.
• To stay dumb.
• Finally, to blog the above.

Seeing Double

Yes, there seems to be two Me's on this blog. All in the interest of streamlining and centralising my blogging.

Cause I created this blog under a different Google Account, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to change the primary author soooo.. I just decided to bite the bullet.

Ah well. Anyway, just a heads up. See ya'll!

It's Been A While

And so it has. Much has happened in the 2 months between this post and the last. In easily-digestible bullet-point form:

1. Made it through (battle-weary and not much stronger, but maybe wiser) through the last months of Sapphire Committee-dom.
2. Made it through Bangsawan (not easily)
3. Got rejected by UCL (Aw, man).
4. Got accepted into LSE (Hell yeah!).
5. Received and read Ishmael! (Thank you!)
6. Bucked up on my Maths (finally showing some return on the parental investment.)
7. Adjusted to Ms Daleen. (Connotations abound!)
8. Adjusting to the fact that I don't have to do crap anymore and I can finally sit down and get some studying done.

On the Sapphire thing.

So I wasn't that good a House Captain. I'll be the first to admit it. Hell, i'd bet most of the people I worked with will agree. I tried my best, though, and i'm not gonna make any excuses. I did what I could, given what I was, and I'll defend to the death every single decision I made in that one year. No regrets. Thank you to Haq, to Yatz, to Kammy, to Suman, to Jijul, to Hairul, and all of the Committee. You were the ones who kept me sane. Haq especially. Could not have made it without his quiet support and the fact that he has my ass, always.

Kammy and Suman. We're not talking now. There I said it. Hah. We're not talking and I honestly have no idea how to approach either of you. It's difficult when there's no neutral ground or a mediator. So i'm gonna settle for what both of you've seemed to settle for as well. Pretend it doesn't exist and live around it, despite the fact i live with one of you. But hey, it's only 4 more months, right?

Hairul, thank you for being director. Jijul, thank you for pulling together an awesome cast and training them til god knows when and putting on that amazing show. I could never do something like that. (Jeez, why'm I typing like they're actually gonna read this?)

Anyway. All that's behind me. Again, no regrets. Valuable lessons were learnt. And Amin, the new HC, seems to have everything under perfect control, which is a hell of a load off my mind. =)

On Everything else.

LSE's offered me a place. Thank you. =) BSc Government and Economics, AAB. Dream offer, really. Thank you. Now the battle for a scholarship begins.

Maths isn't looking too bad now. I can probably juuust scrape through, and my tests have been.. Encouraging so far. So it all seems to be going my way for now. Must find a way to keep this up, at least till June.

.. I just realised the blog of a guy who doesn't seem to have much drama isn't really interesting to read, is it? Ah well.

In that case, I suppose, I'll end this post here, least til something interesting hits me.

(Lame) End.

Happy New Year's An Anagram Of Oh, Damn, Not Again.

Greetings, humans.

Yes, I realize in your language 'Happy New Year' isn't really an anagram of 'Oh Damn, Not Again', but it is in the language of my home planet, Snaktuf. Yeah, I hate it when jokes are lost in translation, don't you?

Anyway. New year, new year. The big One-oh, people, it's here. The end of the decade. 50 years from now, stations'll have "Music from the '10's Hour" and call Rihanna's Umbrella a Golden Oldie. Shiznit. We're getting old.

And 'So-and-so of the Decade' lists are popping up everywhere. Song of the decade, Body of the decade, Look of the decade, Gadget of the decade, Playmate of the Decade. My favourite, though, I saw a 'Celebrity Death of the Decade' list somewhere. Guess who won that one? Hah.

So my New Year's Eve was pretty good. Dinner with the Sayang at Michelangelo's in Solaris MontKiara. We tried our hand at fine dining, so to speak. And we did fail pretty badly (I farted audibly in the presence of the waiter, and the juice was terrible, so we ended up mixing them in an attempt to synthesize something palatable), but it was fun. An experience. Hell, we're just too used to mamaks and Mickey D's to start playing the upper-class couple now. Haha. Soon, maybe. Lemme earn a 7 digit salary first.

I'm working hard on Maths now. I'm almost-kinda satisfied with the progress I'm making. I'm still not practicing anywhere near as much as I should, but I think I'm slowly getting there, as Mr Conquest would say. We're getting there. Which reminds me. Shit. I haven't started Econs.

Mmmmf. I'm just not used to extended blogging now. I'm so used to the micro-format of Twitter and Medium-size of Tumblr that i'm reaching for points here, as you may have noticed. Behold, the Internets indeededly destroys minds and attention spans! So i'm gonna stop here and start packing for college. Check back in a few days for a quality post for a change*.


*Author will not be held liable for feelings of outrage due to poor quality of promised high-qality post.