Danial's Alternative Summer

Well well, spring semester has ended & three months of summer beckons! So, besides going back home (for most of my peers), going backpacking and concerts (me) I have decided to compile a list of crazy, Jackass-approved things to do to fill my boredom when in State College. Because eventually I'll run out of money traveling, right?

1. DIY Summer Sauna - close all doors, windows and any means of ventilation in your bedroom and set your heater to its maximum temperature. Let it steam for 10 minutes and enter this "homemade sauna" with your friends. Last man standing wins!
2. Molotov Poop - Fill a paper or a plastic bag with poop (any source will do ut I heard human feces has the best flammability) and light the bag on fire. Throw it to any object you desire & be proud that your waste might grab the attention of the fire brigade.
3. Semen Shoes - When you feel the need to discharge your "little you's", do it in a friend's shoes! But make sure your friend wears the shoe/s before it dries or you have to do it again.
4. TV Is Bad For You - so, buy some hammers, perhaps even a saw, and trash the television out of the living hell. If you're not done with it, you can throw it off the sixth floor of your apartment building. Still not satisfied? You can always couple it with the Molotov Poop and see the idiot box melt in flames.
5. Fecal Fridge - Oh, don't we just love poop? Something learned from watching too many episodes of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (told ya TV was bad) is poop IS fun. So, why not pass motion into a tupperware and store it in your friend's fridge? By that way, everyone can enjoy the fun (and poop)!
6. Winter In Summer - In line with being crazy, why not wear full winter clothing during mid-July when the sun is ablaze and wearing less clothes is better? Do it with your friends as a competition to see who can survive winter....in summer!
7. America Runs On Dunkin' - Taking advantage that Dunkin' Donuts is one of the few food joints that operates 24 hours, try hanging out there for a day! You know, chatting with your friends, using the store's internet bandwidth, consuming ridiculous amounts of caffeine & taking naps. If possible, try bunking in for more than a day & see when will the manager kicks you out.
   
8. Treasure Hunting - Shiver me timbers! End of Spring semester is when the seniors move out to the real world & when we get to sieve through their unwanted trash that are like a chest of gold to us. As of now, I've gotten a coffee table and looking for a disco ball and a rattlesnake for my new apartment.
   

Since it's just the beginning of a very long holiday, this list will be updated from time to time. Stay tuned!

The Enigma of Allen Park: A Difference in Socialization

Disclaimer: This article expresses the opinion of the author and does not represent anyone or any group whatsoever; this is a theoretical explanation of group dynamics and should not be misunderstood as means of personally attacking any parties. Any ideas and comments, either supportive or dismissive, are highly encouraged BUT sensitive and offensive posts will be banned.

It has been brought to my knowledge that the residents of Allen Park are seen as a “unique” bunch whereby a number of us prefer not to mix with the rest of the Malaysian community at State College during group activities or gatherings which was expected of us and this has caused some to question our behavior.

I would like to offer a theory based on the concept of socialization i.e. the process whereby a culture teaches its members about its beliefs, customs, habits and language (Kenrick, Neuberg & Cialdini, 2007). In this context, it refers to how our sophomore/junior batch was socialized in comparison to the current freshmen batch and this feature is telling since both batches came from the same learning institution in Malaysia.

The prominent factor that distinguishes the socialization of these two batches is the time spent learning in Malaysia: due to the nature of the program, the people of Allen Park had an extra year of college than the freshmen. This extra year gave everyone from the same batch time to know their peers and form bonds of friendship with each other; most of the residents here are in the same major not to mention were classmates and even roommates!

This familiarity has led us to increase our circle of friends and to trust members of our own group to provide social support, diminishing the need to seek help from people from their out-group. Besides that, our batch came in a large number and all lived in the same apartment complex far from campus (approx. 1.2 km to downtown) which contributes to us more willing to invest and share our material and emotional resources among each other.

In contrast, the freshmen had one year of study in Malaysia and based on my experience, this time frame was not enough for me to know all my batch mates. So, upon arriving to this university, they are more open and receptive to make new friends among Malaysians other than the local and international community in the area.

In conclusion, as time passes by, more and more residents of Allen Park have established a relationship with other Malaysians at Penn State while those who remain to be exclusive should be respected for their decision since they feel that they can be independent and survive on their own. Well, there would not be “Allen Park” anymore since many of us choose to go our own way and will be scattered around State College come next fall.

Facebook Quizzes: Harmless Fun or Tools of Commercialism?

Recently, my Facebook news feed has been inundated with these mysterious quizzes where they would ask "What type of politician are you?", "At what age will you have children?", "How good are you in Kelantanese?" etc. Well, I've tried one of them (I got Lim Kit Siang; someone who wants liberte, equalite, fraternite, no?) and I saw that now, you can actually make your own quiz! Well, how nifty is that?

It's not. And here's why.

Right from when this application was packaged, distributed and pushed to everyone's news feed, it has now become a cyberspace drug of epic proportions, being the filler of a Facebook junkie's boredom. Once you tried one and got the high from the results which was in your favor, you decide to shoot up another one. And another one. And another. Not contented, you decide to allow the application to post your results on everyone's news feed, letting them know of the availability of this drug. Still not contented, you move on to another variation of the drug. And repeat.

Alright. Enough with the metaphore. Here's the lowdown.

Once you click on a quiz, this will show up e.g.

Allowing Kuiz Tatabahasa Kedah! to access will let it pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work.

You have now made a commitment to let the application use all your personal information on your Facebook account AND your network of friends so it can "work." Hmm, wonder what that means? So, ignoring this stupid request you press Allow.

Now, it's quiz time! But wait, before you begin clicking on the answers look around the page. If you notice on the top, bottom and right side of the quiz there are other "clickable" links asking, begging & persuading you to join their test, quiz or game. But being the addicted, ahem, I mean committed quiz taker you are, you would continue to finish the quiz and can't wait to get the exciting results that you wanna share with your pals!

In reality, you have just become a tool of Facebook for them to maximize their profits; they are aware that by promoting these quizzes & also letting their users (yup, that's you and me) create their own quizzes, they can increase the number of their web pages to post advertisements. Since Facebook is a free social networking site, advertisements and commercials are the primary, if not only, source of revenue for them. Thus, the more popular and highly accessed a quiz is, the more advertisers would want to pay for the page & the richer Facebook gets!

So, I offer you two options:

1. Stop being Facebook's cash cow! Ignore those quizzes, hide them from your news feed & encourage your friends not to take it. And since they're applications you can delete it from your profile by simply go to "Settings" --> "Application Settings" and click those "X"s on the right. Prevent Facebook from using your profile as an ATM machine!
   
2. Ignore & deride everything I said and continue to gleefully do the "What type of flower are you?" and "Are you stupid?" knowing that Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire CEO of Facebook, is laughing all the way to the bank.
   

I'm Not Romantic But A Romantic

I have an admission to make: I am a romantic.

No, not that kind of being mushy-lovey-dovey-buy-presents-always-call-and-say-I-love-you-to-your-partner romantic. I'm the "other" type: the one who sees-something-as-nostalgic-&-god-damn-beautiful-and-sets-out-to-do-it romantic! Still not getting the drift?

Okay, here's an example. My Malaysian peers way of traveling is to go on road trips where they'd plan out multiple places to go and head out to each place, one by one. The upside of this type of travel is that you can cover a lot of places in a certain amount of time while the downside is that you can only spend a limited amount of time at a particular place then you have to move on to your next stop (unless you have wads of cash and lots of free time, that is) besides being susceptible to unavoidable fuck-ups which could cut short your tour.

In contrast, my method of traveling is backpacking to a certain city or town and bunking out there for 5-7 days before moving on. Now the romantic part is when I'm there, I want to immerse myself in the soul and culture of that place until I know (almost) every nook and cranny of the place. It's more than just buying a fridge magnet or key chain to show you've been there, it's trying to become a part of the city, even a teeny-weenie bit of it.

Another example which has some connection close to home (meaning my tanah tumpahnya darahku, Malaysia) is my insistence on taking the bus to travel rather than driving a car although the cost of riding the former ($30 to $40 one-way to Philadelphia) would be more costly than the latter. As a self-proclaimed romantic, taking the bus reminds me of riding the express bus heading back to my hometown, Kuantan, when I was in Malaysia. Taking the slow KTM commuter & LRT trains from my campus at Shah Alam to the bus station at Jalan Pekeliling then straight away bought a ticket for RM 16.90 (around $5.00 at current exchange rate) and always, always, always went for either Plusliner, MARA Liner or Bulan Restu which was way comfortable and faster than the gobshite Transnasional.

Next, I had to wait under the bus stop which had only two fans capable of giving little room for a breather as long I was shielded from the hot and sweaty tropical climate. So, taking the bus to-and-fro Philadelphia reminds me of my going back home where I have time to see the sceneries (Pennsylvania has livestock farms while Pahang has oil palm plantations) and just reflect on whatever I wanna reflect on. Read a book. Listen to music. Or just take a nap. When I've finally arrived, I felt a sense of rejuvenation and elation of going through a long physical and spiritual journey to reach home. Sweet home.

Told ya I was a romantic! =P

No More Birthdays For Me...And You Too

Ah, birthday. 

The day where everyone celebrates you adding your age by one; 

the day you were brought into this cold, beautiful world;

the day you escaped floating in your mother's womb;  

the first ever day that you saw light and life.

But have you ever wondered why the birthday boy or birthday girl is often, if not always, the center of attraction and the cause for celebration? I have received an epiphany realizing that it is our parents that we should celebrate our birthday with, not the other way around. Come to think of it,

without our father's sperm & mother's egg,

without our mother carrying us around for nine months,

without our father taking care of our mother's needs,

without our parents toil & trouble to raise us,

we wouldn't exist! Shouldn't this be the occasion that we dedicate and appreciate our parents' sacrifice? It is because of them that we have this special day, which no one can claim to or take away from, called our birthday. 

So, starting from this year I shall not celebrate my birthday but use that day to call my parents back home to thank them for bringing me into this world. I shall shut-off my Facebook wall and shun any sort of surprise birthday party planned for me. 

Whomever feels offended by my nonconforming weirdness, I'll be happy to redirect you to this blog post here. Remember, don't always think that your birthday is all about you; it is your mom and dad you should cherish and love. Always.

2008: A Malaysian Indie Retrospect

Welcome 2009. Although I have been living and studying in America for four months since early August, I've been keeping tabs on the happenings on the local music scene back in Malaysia and from what I gather, we are on the up! Day by day, our strength grew by numbers with more and more diverse bands sprouting like cendawan selepas hujan supported by various organizers, mish-mash of indie clothing labels and weekly gig hangouts. There are still issues to be ironed out e.g. organizers paying bands little money, bands having difficulties promoting themselves to the masses and too many bands doing it for their 15 minutes of fame but at the turn of the year, we are storming the mainstream front.

/REBIRTH
The seeds were sown two years ago when the hit television series Kami aired on national television whereby it incorporated the local indie scene as its setting and used songs from local bands in their soundtrack, sometimes having these bands perform in certain episodes. This helps promote our scene to the masses but it also attracted the unavoidable poseurs. More interest was raised when the band Hujan came into the fray; they were the answer to the "Indonesian Invasion" of pop rock Indonesian bands who were conquering the airwaves at that time. With hits like Pagi Yang Gelap, Aku Skandal & Bila Aku Sudah Tiada getting adequate airplay, Hujan, and to a certain extent Meet Uncle Hussain, were the pioneers of our rise from obscurity.

//DANCE FLOOR
2008 started off with a bang as Bodysurf Music & Theatrical Records did a one-day extravaganza Independent Day Out Festival consisting of a full-blown gig, an acoustics/poetry stage and clothing/arts bazaar. This set the precedent for other gig organizers to do their own gigs at well-known jaunts such as the aforementioned MCPA Hall, Annexe Central Market & Laundry Bar. With cover charge ranging from RM10 to RM25, one can enjoy around 10-15 bands per gig with a couple of them established headliners to pull the crowd. Expect yourself to be sweaty or bruised at a gig as we Malaysians are committed moshers.

Laundry Bar took an unorthodox method from the rest of the pack by charging gig goers absolutely FREE if they want to watch a show over there. They would either organize it themselves or invite other people to organize shows at this establishment. Monthly gigs such as Project Bazooka, Moonshine (spearheaded by Reza Salleh) and the ASEAN oriented Crossborders helped our local bands to gain credence with the urbanites. Other gig hangouts in the Klang Valley worth mentioning include Skizo Studio, Gudang Noisy, Cloth And Clef, One Cafe & No Black Tie.

///BRANCHES
Initially expected to be an exclusively "indie rock" scene, I was surprised at how this indie boom diversified and at the same time strengthened existing low-profile scenes; as months pass by a certain trend can be seen in gigs whereby organizers try to accomodate bands from different genres to attract a wide range of fans. As an example, Supernova Independent Festival held by Street Signal & Andamedia have a wide variety of bands such as Dashown (hardcore), The Times (mod rock), The Otherside Orchestra (elektro rock), Funky Doryz (funk/jazz) etc in their set list.

Compared to the 90s underground era where majority of supporters of a certain liking fanatically stick to their own genre ("grunge dengan grunge, oi dengan oi"), the youth of the millenium embrace each other's musical stance and some even become fans of other genres. They have come to an understanding that music is free to be enjoyed by all and there should not be any form of "genre discrimination" which is quite often mentioned and promoted by hardcore bands Restraint & Second Combat. On the other hand, if you still don't like that band you can always go to the back of the hall!

Currently, our microcosm consists of the initial "indie rockers" led by Hujan and Meet Uncle Hussain besides power pop personas Couple (who was named in Rolling Stones Top 25 Bands In Myspace), the latest pop punk sensation Bunkface, the retro disco-punk Komplot, Brit-rockers revivalist Bittersweet and countless more. On a softer note, the above mentioned Reza Salleh with other singer-songwriters such as Azmyl Yunor, Jerome Kugan, Yuna & Estrella helped raise the profile of our acoustics/jazz scene by providing a platform for them and their peers to showcase their talents.

By shunning riffs, our own post-rock/progressive/shoegaze movement is starting to catch steam as bands such as Telephony Delivery, Deepset, Furniture, Telebury & Citizens Of Ice Cream can manage to attract their own set of fans as far as Singapore. These genres are further galvanized with international acts such as Mono, Toe, My Disco & recently Mogwai hitting our shores. Looking back to the past, the reverberations of "Punks not dead!" is in face still relevant today as there is still a punk movement (Carburetor Dung, Dum Dum Tak) albeit small; likewise, grunge (Flu , Madhouse) and ska (Plague Of Happiness, Skudap-Skudip) has seen a revival as there are Malaysians who still believe in the music of Kurt Cobain and Sir Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, respectively.

////HXC
Even though understated, the local hardcore scene must not be underestimated. Difficulty in gaining acceptance by the public due to it's "heavy" sound has not been a deterrence for them to expand their reach to the international arena: as current as summer 2007, Second Combat had the honor to tour with France's Backsight all around Europe while EP collaborations (also called split) between Malaysian bands with their South East Asian and Australian counterparts are increasingly becoming popular.

One of the major reason why the this scene stands out from their peers is the broad connection they have with the global hardcore community. Their ability to pull celebrated oversea acts such as Bleeding Through, Sick Of It All, Soilwork, Comeback Kid, Ignite and Caliban to come and perform in Malaysia shows that we are becoming a hot bed of hardcore activity. Only time will tell when our very own Malaysian bands start to tour the world and gain international recognition.

/////ARTLABELS
The second coming of independent bands this time has led to a surge in indie clothing brands. These groups usually would sell their stuff at gigs and some have even "sponsor" bands by designing tees for them e.g. WEARENVY currently has six to eight bands under their wings. On 1st January 2008, The Super Sunday, a collective of four individuals who have a passion in graffiti, opened up a concept store at the famous Kuala Lumpur shopping district of Bukit Bintang. This store serves as a port for indie clothing groups and bands to sell their merchandise, making it more accessible to everyone.

During mid-2008, a collective of 18 clothing labels banded together to form Angkatan Baju Malaya aiming to "...organize clothing festival as demanded by the masses" and "...educate the masses with our own unique perspectives and values in life through our wearable artworks." With the slogan "T-Shirts For The Rakyat!" they set out on a tour to four major cities in Malaysia, supported by bands and gigs. However, the highest accolade should be given to Pop Malaya who managed to grab the attention of Time magazine in their article on Asian pop clothing "Your Logo Here."

/////FIESTA/
Cranking it up to a larger scale, 2008 also sees to the increase of major music and art festivals. RANTAI.ART hit it big in December 2007 with their RANtAi Art Event and their third edition a year later. This showcase is something similar to the Independent Day Out Festival but they focus more on the arts; there are still band performances but emphasis is more towards art exhibitions, indie clothing bazaars, poem recitals and indie movie screenings. A similar event include KLue Urbanscapes which was held at the KL Performing Art Center.

For wanting a purely major music event, there was the KL Indie Fest '08 held at Kl Tower where the organizers mixed current favorites with bands from the 90s underground days such as OAG, Dead Mushroom and A.C.A.B. The highlight of the year would be the annual (except 2007) Rock The World (RTW) held at Stadium Merdeka hosted by Jason Lo. This year's RTW sparked a fiery debate on Junk Online with many criticizing Lo for bringing in too many old crooners and too little bands (less than the usual 30+) performing. However, it was still a hit as thousands turned up for our very own Glastonbury or Big Day Out. There was also the Sunburst Music Festival where local acts are pitted up with international performers such as Incubus, John Legend & The Roots. Hopefully our homemade talent will still be featured in this event in the future when it expands.

/////AIRWAVE & THE IDIOT BOX//
2008 was also the year our mass media begin recognizing the talent and potential of indie bands. Fly FM and Hot FM drew first blood by start spinning songs of bands such as Hujan, Meet Uncle Hussain, Komplot, Estrella etc. Fly FM even created a slot for local bands i.e. Campur Chart which is aired weekly to gauge the best songs weekly.

Conversely, we haven't had that much penetration in television except being featured in interviews or highlighted in youth programs. But now, bands are coming up with their own video clips e.g. Hujan (Jiwa Kelajuan), Estrella (Stay), Meet Uncle Hussain (Lagu Untukmu) and Laila's Lounge (Mawar Khayalan) to show that Malaysians bands and video directors/producers have the creativity to show that their work is of high quality. In terms of the silver screen, My Indie Rock Darling gained good reviews while Kami The Movie, released on Hari Raya Aidilfitri, was deemed a hit.

/////EPILOGUE///2009: TIME TO REACH FOR THE STARS?
Butterfingers has set a benchmark with their album KEMBALI, meticulously fusing progressive folk rock with traditional Malay culture of pantuns and peribahasa. On the world wide web various blogs, podcasts and networks have been set up to further promote the scene in cyberspace; examples such as The Wknd Sessions, Undergroundo.tv and Gua has plenty of clips and news while the soon to be launched MyIndie.Fm will be the first Malaysian indie streaming radio. Furthermore, following Hujan, Yuna, Oh Chentaku and Estrella will be heading to the UK for a tour sometime around March while Phunk Mob, GruvAvenue, 40 Winks, Mia Palencia, Couple & Yuna got invited to play at Singapore's Mosaic Music Festival; Deepset, on the other hand, got rave reviews (8/10) from The Silent Ballet on their LP The Lights We Shed Shall Burn Your Eyes.

While 2008 was the year of soul searching and gaining a platform, I hope that 2009 will be the year we break out from the bubble. With the rapid growth of our scene and achievements being put to the books, we still have a lot of potential to harness especially in promoting it to the masses. Some commentators have lamented the demise of our mainstream music scene and it is high time for us to show that the indie scene has the willpower and sustainability to take Malaysia to the world!


This just in (17 January): Meet Uncle Hussain just won Malaysia's Anugerah Juara Lagu 2008 beating pop superstar Faizal Tahir. This is the second consecutive year an indie band won this annual award with Estranged winning it last year.

Reporting From America! #3

Thanksgiving break is upon me: after nearly three months of laboring through the semester, the obligatory one-week semester break has begun! I am set for Philadelphia on Sunday, visiting my friends at Temple University & probably hanging out with my Cell Biology classmate, Antwoine. Before setting off on my adventure to the city (State College is a small town), here are some pros and cons of working and living in America.

PROS!
The First Amendment

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

In short, the freedom of speech. Americans proudly defend their democracy by saying that the country is founded on the rights of every American citizens to speak out whatever they want; from appraisals to criticisms. My American friends told me that if they lambast their own country and government e.g. "I hate America!" or "America sucks!" they would not get any form of censure or punishment because they are protected by the constitution.

Although this might seem crazy and alien to other people, I am a proponent for free speech. Walking around campus and downtown, I would sometimes see people holding placards advocating same-sex marriage, activists spreading anti-sweatshop pamphlets and even a pro-Palestinian group waving their nation's flag and shouting for the freedom of their motherland. Besides, my university even have its own resident preacher, famously known as the Willard Preacher, he would hang out in front of the Willard building preaching to students on his view of his faith which is Christianity and most of the times students would hang out and debate with him on his ideals.

I strongly believe that we should be given the right to exercise free speech because the benefits outweigh the harms. Although there are instances whereby certain parties abuse this amendment to spread hate and propaganda, the vast majority choose to use it in a responsible and sensible manner. Modern society is rapidly progressing intellectually and I'd hope that more and more people of the world will be aware of this great power and fight for their rights of free speech. You can obliterate a person's body but you will never stem his ideals.

Science & Teknology
Even though America is one of the 'youngest' countries in the world and still an evolving culture, it has improved leaps and bounds in terms of research, development and innovation of technology. Just say any type of industry and there always seems to be a top American corporation in the list. Other civilizations have laid the ground work and currently Americans are at the forefront of using all these knowledge to drive the enhancement of human life.

Pertaining to biotechnology and the like, America has managed to produce a great number of scientists in various fields of biology incessantly finding ways to cure a disease or to increase crop yield. As a future scientist, Insya Allah, these are exciting times for me as more and more new discoveries are being made and the rate of advancement in almost all fields of biology is reaching hyperdrive. One must make sure not to miss out in this new age of discovery.

CONS!
SiCKO
The title of Michael Moore's shocking (as all his documentaries are) expose on America's health care system. In fear of making medicine "socialized", this overtly capitalistic country shun the calls for a Universal Health Care system whereby all citizens in this country are entitled to free health services paid for by the government. Instead, you'd get this bunch of medicare insurance companies squeezing the people out of their pockets.

If you want to get treatment at clinic or hospital, you must have insurance BUT these so-called "caring" insurance corporations will find any means and ways to make sure they WON'T cover your ailment. Contrary to the concept of helping people become healthier, more and more people are dying because they are paying the premium and grossly expensive medical fees for the sickness their insurance company won't provide. In short, if you don't have money you might as well die.

HATE TEXAS...I MEAN TAXES
It seems that over here everything is taxed. As I have alluded in my previous post, everything here is taxed. You won't get it in restaurants because you will be tipping $14 to the waitress! Recent examples are taxes on your salary which is a lot: local, state and federal taxes must be taken off your monthly salary in the order of 10-15%. What is more ridiculous is that my friend who bought a car from a private seller (not from a dealership) also has to pay tax! 'Nuff said.

So, here are my recent (3 months) observation on this country called America. As time goes by, the more I learn about how things work here, I shall report to you as soon as possible and maybe my opinions on the matters above could change. This is Danial Ariff, signing off!

Post-Rock: Savior Of My Soul

I don't know why but suddenly I feel tired. Lethargic. Fatigue.

I walk everyday to class.
I take care of what I eat.
I have enough sleep.

But at the end of the day, I feel nonchalant and melancholic. I feel that there is nothing to look forward to during the weekends. The only thing to be excited for would be the upcoming tests and assignments in the next couple of weeks. Life is like a clockwork: it resets when the clock strikes 12. I have had this experience before during a certain point in the semester when I felt that my vigor and enthusiasm abandoning me, my energy dissipating to the cosmos & my passion being blunted by the sharp knives of boredom.

This is where post-rock comes in. You might dismiss it as a mere four or five-piece band playing pointless instrumental music for 5-10 minutes without any vocals but it is more than that. Simon Reynolds, the person responsible in coining this genre, defines post-rock as "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords." In layman's term, post-rock is magic.

The difference between this genre with other genres is that it enters deep down into your soul and connects with your feelings. If you are in emotional turmoil, rather than playing other genres of music I'd rather you give post-rock a chance. For example, if you put on Kelly Clarkson's Behind These Hazel Eyes it is YOU who has to listen to what the singer wants to express meaning that you don't really have an outlet to pour your anger, frustration or disappointment. She doesn't really care about what's going on in your mind. On the other hand, if you press play on your iPod to Explosion In The Sky's First Breath After Coma you can just take a deep breathe and THE SONG will be the one listening to your problems, nodding along to what you have to express.

It helps you to step back and think about what you have done or what happened. It helps you calm down and not to react harshly without thinking. It helps you to vent your pent-up anger which you are dying to release. It helps you to shed your tears which you held back for so long. It gives you time and space for you to work out a solution. It gives you hope and strength to weather the storm ahead. It gives you back your real self.

I am currently listening to Deepset's Every Instance Of Time Is A Journey Through Hope. As the title suggests, hopefully by the end of this weekend I will be rejuvenated and raring to go battle through the coming winter which will be dark, long and cold.

Literally Taking It To The Streets

There it was. Penn State's corner back Lydell Sargeant intercepted Tyrell Pryor's long pass with seconds to spare and it was game over. We let the clock wind down & game, set and match! We finally beat Ohio State 13-6 at their own stadium, breaking the 7 year duck of not winning there. My friend, Brendan & I went out to see if anyone went mental but we ended up at a street party on Shortlidge Rd in front of McLanahans. Upon exiting the dorms, we saw people running towards downtown so we blindly followed them. For all you know, there already was a group of people jumping and singing along Penn State songs!

As more and more people joined in the fun, we managed to block the whole junction singing, shouting and jigging until the mean ol' police asked us to move. So, we did a mini-parade to the junction of Locust Lane and saw another bunch of revelers at the apartments on Beaver Ave & what the heck, we decided to join in! People we banging cymbals, playing the trombone, throwing paper towels and shouted WE ARE...PENN STATE!!! countless times. The police with full riot gear had to control the streets and I even got maced which was very sickening to my nose and mouth but managed to get away quickly.

After hanging out around there while trying to find my snow cap (I think some punk grabbed it from my head) and aborting my decision to party at the Beaver Stadium I finally decided to head home. This event shows that we are pretty feckin' passionate in our alma mater and nothing beats winning against Ohio State at their homeground and storming up the ranks in the National Standings. LET'S GO PSU!

Finally, Encounter With Drunk Americans!

It was one of my mini-goals to accomplish when I came to the United States of America: observe the drunken culture of people over there! Here is a brief encounter of me and my friend Naim, with three Mat Sallehs while walking back home from campus (oh, we went to watch an improv comedy group!) around midnight:

Drunk 1: (Saw Naim with pizza boxes in his hand) Hey, looks like you have more than one pizza over there.

Naim: Yeah, but both are for my friends back home.

Drunk 2: That's alright, man. By the way, do you guys know where Hamilton Avenue is?

Danial: Yeah, it's just down this road.

Drunk 1: I'll take your word for that man. We'll just follow them while they drop bits and pieces of pizza to us.

Everyone: Hahahahahahahaha...

Then, Naim asked me "Ko tau ke jalan ke Hamilton Avenue ni?" and I replied "Tak salah aku kat depan ni je. Kalau salah, cabut lah!" We then proceeded to walk our usual fast pace leaving the group of three drunkards behind and fortunately for us there was a group of girls walking towards us. They passed us but got stopped by the gang of three. Then, we never looked backed again...