v3 - vicissitude iii (not final version)

The mere flapping of the wings of a butterfly may change the atmosphere in a small way, which in turn will cause other changes. Over time, this may ultimately cause a tornado to appear. Or, in the same sense, prevent a tornado from appearing.

This is commonly known as the Butterfly Effect, and it’s the name of the movie I just watched. It’s about this guy who had mental blackouts as a kid, and one day, when he was 20-ish or so and in college, discovers that he could travel back in time into the events where he had blackouts - and control things that happened then. Initially wanting to do good, he goes back and changed something - only to come back to find that he screwed up something (or someone) else.

Apparently, just by doing something apparently trivial to change the past he triggers giant chain events that ultimately results in a very different alternate futures for himself and others. So he goes back and forth trying to straighten things out, only to screw things up more and more.

A really nice movie, this one. Personally I think the person could’ve done better in changing his pasts - some things he did was seriously not very intelligent, and considering the fact that he could go back and change the past as many times as he wanted, there were numerous possibilities of him correcting what he screwed up. But hey, I guess I’d be too freaked out to think straight if I was in his shoes too, so I’ll just let it slide.

I went out with my ‘media gang’ yesterday (remember to consider the fact that I blog about the previous day past midnight on the subsequent day - ergo I’m talking about Friday), we walked around Parkson - considered watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2 but Tish thought Davy Jones was geli, so we didn’t watch. Instead I demonstrated my skills in throwing the ball down the longkang at the bowling alley near the cinema. Rubee was a 1337 bowler (state representative or something like that, if memory serves), and she whooped our ass. Hell, she could dish out curve balls and all that while I was struggling to keep the ball on the lane. At least I beat Kroll 75-64. Take that, baysh. ^_^

Played a few rounds of Daytona with the guys while the girls watched on - I still couldn’t handle drifting really well, but at least I got pretty good times. I’ll have to practice more.

Okay, now for a little randomness that I put in on impulse. My computer is currently blasting Three Doors Down’s “Here Without You”.

After eating at McDonalds we couldn’t think of anything else to do so we went over to Rubee’s place to play Uno. The TV was on showing Akademi Fantasia - what I consider to be another version of American Idol, a place for sexually-challenged narcissists to flaunt their (oftentimes) nonexistent ‘talents’ in showbusiness. Minus Simon Cowell to put them in their proper places. Our world needs less tact and more truth. Ironically, there’s this show later on with this Simon Cowell ripoff insulting audition participants in a different show. ^_^ Ownage.

Since we did not watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2 yesterday, I went out today, alone, to watch this movie I’ve been itching to watch since its premiere on the 13th July. Pirates rank number two in my awesome ownage list, right after ninjas.

And I didn’t regret it one bit. The movie is nice, even though it isn’t as epic-feeling as the first. And the ending was a real annoying ‘to be continued’ type, even though it is not explicitly stated. But hell, if Chow Yun Fatt’s in the third movie as rumoured, I’m not complaining. Think about it - this really cool Chinese pirate with dual-wielding pistols in this really cool looking full-white pirate clothing and a cigarette in his mouth. Doves flying slow-mo in the background. Cheesy music.

Either that, or he’ll be some dishonest Chinese conman in a junk. >.<

Still, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 feels kinda inspired by the Monkey Island series. There’s the voodoo lady, the native cannibal tribes, the pirate, and the girl who’s (daughter of) governor of some island. That among other things. Let’s not forget to mention the undead pirate nemesis in the first movie. ^_^

Of course, further research shows that Monkey Island was actually inspired by the original Disney ride that predates the old game series. Really surprising, as I kinda expected the ride to be new. Thank wikipedia for such fast research. ^_^

Ack. And now I shall close my post. Btw, I’m still listening to Here Without You. I’m bored.

Apparently people are counting down to exams at the moment. And while I’m sitting here, almost 3am in the morning, updating my blog and drinking Yeo’s Soya Bean Milk. And that’s after wandering around the vast oceans of the internet for the past 2 hours - after watching the final episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig. It’s an excellent anime series which is very different from your typical anime storylines concerning powerups, samurai, ninjas or hot girls. Well, sure - they’ve got Major Kusanagi in it, but I dare not perv on her for fear of her dropping into my room with her thermo-optics camo and snapping my neck. Yes, we’re talking about that lady who likes jumping off tall buildings. Naked.

I would also like to complain that the producer of GitS:SAC must somehow find pleasure in destroying the cute little Tachikomas. Like, how can anyone bear to destroy these cute little things?! Just watch the final episode in 2nd Gig, and you’ll understand. Damn it - this is making me feel a little more emo than I want to be right now, so let’s move on to somethng else.

My wandering around the internet has also led me to registering an account at Technorati to claim this blog as my own. I have no idea why I did that, actually. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Well, whatever la. I’m also considering joining the Magic: the Gathering ColdSnap release tourney next Sunday. Of course, the main problem is that I’ve been away from playing MtG for so long - and that I have no Type-2 legal cards. Kamigawa is rotating out of block because of ColdSnap. T-T

Went around town and then went to Boulevard today because I had to run an errand for my dad. Had to return some books he borrowed from a rental store near Boulevard. I lepak around Boulevard after that. Actually, that directly translates to ‘I wandered around the arcades at Boulevard’, but you didn’t have to know that. I found a new love for Daytona USA - mainly due to its gear-shift system. Its manual gear system is four-shift, unlike other games which feature up/down gear toggle - totally spoils the realism.

Okay, so this post is short, but I’m feeling kinda sleepy right now. So let me just close this post with a small rant about the PS3 controller: It sucks. Okay. Maybe it doesn’t suck that much. Actually, it’ll probably rock - but not as much as the PS2 controller. Why, you ask? Well, reports show that it’s dumping the vibration system in favour of motion-sensing. This plain sucks. Not only is it a painfully glaring ripoff of Wii’s controller, but it’s taking two steps backwards just by removing the vibration function.

Rule of thumb here - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Now how are we supposed to have a good Metal Gear Solid 4 torture scene? And I’ll be damned if I have to wave my hands around like a little kid while playing a video game. Real men don’t move anything beyond their wrists and fingers while gaming. Makes one wonder - why the hell is Sony copying a kid’s toy? Yes, Wii fanboys. Here’s your Wii-basher right here. Flame on!

Law: A P License holder (P for Palui) cannot have any amount of alcohol whatsoever in his blood while driving. Else he’s gonna get in trouble - RM 1000 in fines or 3 months in the cell, and maybe even license kena gantung.

Fact: Nobody cares. The police here aren’t worth shit anyway.

Now I’m not saying that you should go out and run over people when you’re blessed by the drinks fairy now. You should probably not get yourself killed, even for something as godly important as drinking. And here we have it, proof that I am still sober (probably due to my supernatural ninja motabolism - a normal human should be hugging the toilets by now), even as I sip my over-concentrated cup of vodka-greentea combo, which I invented during my birthday. Or someone else invented. I don’t remember. I was too drunk then to remember shit.

Scott and Kroll were right. The driving theory class was boring as hell. If the officers didn’t pop in every now and then to check and kick out anyone who’s sleeping, I’d probably end up drooling all over my stuff already. Blame them for making me wake up 5.45am to attend their classes at 7am. Hey, I had to put out my laundry and stuff - I am a irresponsible young adult after all. (take that, Blue Fairy)

Kroll picked me up because his brother is taking the theory lessons as well. At least I had someone to talk to when I was bored. Sorta. We were late early - we arrived around 7.15am but they were still taking down forms from applicants, so we actually only ended up in the back of the queue for the numbers. But everyone gets a number anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

Here’s the junk I picked up during class today. That little green book on the left cost me RM10. Man, I always pay for answer sheets and end up never looking at them. What a waste of money. Hmph. And the notes up there - I scribbled random stuff from the boards because I was so damn bored.

Here’s a picture of boredom in action:

I had to secretly take this photo… I’m not sure if cameras are allowed, but I was never a fan of rules anyway. Well yeah, they’re basically teaching us what a normal human with half a brain could probably figure out without much thinking. But then again, taking into account that 99.97% of the Malaysian population is mentally handicapped or worse, I guess this class was necessary for people who are not me. Yay for egoism.

Well, apparently there are many more laws on the road than most people would care. So say the instructors anyway. Of course, I’ll just stick to my fundamental rule of driving: 1. Do not crash. I think that sums up whatever crap they had to take five hours to say. See how great my paraphrasing skills are? And while you’re admiring my l33t skillz, feel free to admire the many Bakku-shans in the picture above too. Urban dictionary rocks.

Here’s a picture of me bored, and Kroll’s bro sitting in the background texting. And that’s how bored everyone was. I almost fell asleep several times despite the Caffiene + Glucolin combo I had in the morning. Damn. And there’s a second class coming soon too. T-T

Well, it was over at 2pm. Went minum with Kroll and bro at Raja, had some pisang goreng and stuff. Then he dropped me off at home. I went to sleep very soon after that. My body couldn’t handle the physical stress of waking up so early much longer. Woke up around an hour later. Surfed the internet, gamed a little.

And so here I am. Once again, closing a post. Good night, mortals.

Whoa. I actually finished typing up a blog entry before midnight. ^_^

Almost forgot - my prediction for World Cup champion: Italy wins by 1. Last minute goal. Predicted by Pro Evo 5.

Y’know, the more I think about it, the more I think Scott may be right - I seriously never have my camera with me when I need it the most. Twice. Of all the days to accidentally leave my camera at home, I have to choose today. Today, where Scott, Kroll and I once again trespass upon female living quarters and lepak there.

Before that we were rushing our IMCS evaluation reports, which was actually a measly 150-word task. We sat at Raja, sipped teh peng and brainstormed about who to praise and who to hantam, while munching on popiah (or whatever that great tasting thing was that sold for 3 per RM1). Rushed over to my place after that to print out our work, and then dumped the papers to Fish. That was it - freedom. We had tapau some cucur before going to the girls’ hostel, and then we went on our merry way.

With the help of my elite ninja stealth skills, we managed to infiltrate the girls’ hostel Block C. Kroll took the lead after that and knocked on Tish’s door. I think she almost stabbed Kroll with a pen. No choice for her after that, she had to layan us at least. ^_^

Mei Vun showed up a while after that and joined us, while we were munching on our cucur. Bah - all of the sudden Cammy called Scott’s phone and asked him to drive her from Yuki’s place over to her place. We almost thought our escapade would be over then. T.T Fortunately we came up with a bright idea and asked Tish if she wanted to buy groceries or whatever from DPS and we could bring her there. To our surprise she actually followed… Carrying her auntie bag. Seriously looks like Nenek Tish after that. o.O (Shit. She’ll kill me if she reads this)

So we went and drove Cammy back to her place. At DPS - Scott, Kroll and I bought mugs for ourselves, which we plan to leave at Tish’s place so that we have excuse to return to the girls’ hostel later on (hmm… maybe I shouldn’t talk about secret plans on my blog… but whatever la). “Aiyah~ I came to take back my mug.”. Then after that, “I’ll just leave it here first la. Lazy to take back home now.”. Repeat until excuse is exhausted. If we’re lucky, we’ll have this perpetual excuse to return to the girls’ hostels. ^_^

Ahaha. For absolutely no reason whatsoever, I felt the urge to buy a tin of Glucolin today. Maybe I’ll use it as Ban Kai powder or something when I’m rushing assignments. Glucolin + Caffiene will surely boost effects by several multipliers, no? Otherwise maybe I’ll overdose on this or something when I go badminton or basketball or football or Tae Kwan Do or maybe even arcades. Hell, maybe this stuff will increase my reaction like Spider-Man or something. Of course, I already do have superhuman reflexes - I am a ninja after all. ^_^

So anyway, after going to DPS, we stopped at Raja to tapau some food for our dinner. I went for fried noodles because there is seriously nothing else I can think of to eat. Once again, I emphasise the undeniable fact that the hardest question in life is “What to eat now?”. Then we went on our way back to the hostel.

Pause story mode. So what are we missing here? You may not have noticed, but I have forgotten to go home and pick up my camera again. How retarded. And thus I am unable to provide pictures of me having a small dinner party at the girls’ hostel with two girls and two guys.

Of course, it may be a good thing - there will be no hard evidence should the security actually decide to get off their fat asses and nail us for going into the girls’ hostel. Apparently guys aren’t allowed in the girls’ hostels and all that. Not that we care anyway. It’s not like we’re gonna rape anyone or anything. Of course, Tish took this as a basis to call us perverts, regardless of truth. It’s called tentative truth, and you can’t prove a thing.

Anyway, we had dinner, chatted, watched a Cantonese drama on TV, and then washed up. Actually the girls washed up while we sat there like idiots, but you don’t have to know that. Pretend you didn’t read the previous sentence. The girls then retired to their rooms - to do work. Work? I thought we were all done. Whatever la. So the three of us guys lepak a while longer and then we went home at around 8.30pm to 9pm. I drove.

And I learned one very important thing. Sandals are bad for driving. Very bad. They get caught onto the pedals and you can’t control the clutch properly. Barefoot is slightly better, but still very bad for driving. Lack of control, that one. The car was jerky throughout the journey. Yeah, so I didn’t drive really well from campus to my place, but good excuse here - I have no license. The fact that I can drive should already amaze most mortals. Still, the two bastards laughed their asses off.

Laugh. Laugh some more. At least I didn’t engine mati this time. Not like someone when we went to the hostels this afternoon. Oh, I wonder who.