Best of Both Worlds

Ramadhan month is here and the fasting month can bring some latent cravings... I mean, latent interests. I'm talking about food. Cooking food. Or meals that can be experimented on. And I love to experiment to achieve some of those 'best-of-both-worlds' feeling. Here's an example.

A six hour trip to Japan can be uncomfortable if you don't do it right. Somewhere in the 4th hour a nasty cramp took over and pretty much the most unpleasant moment in my plane experience.

It was finally morning and the first thing I ordered was a can of Coca Cola but left it to enter the bathroom. A Stewardess came up to me when she noticed how messed up I look I guess before I entered the bathroom. Then I came out and she appeared with a warm cup of lemonade to ease the dizziness. How thoughtful!

So I sat at my seat with warm lemonade and cold coca cola on my tray. I drank both separately in turns.

The result. Pure happiness. Heaven. Like lemons fell and burst to fill the world with its aroma.

Thank you Singapore Airlines :)

Work Attachment Begins

It's Semester 3 and it's the time for Student Work Experience where each student is given work placement in select areas in need of specialists looking to improve their skill set. My work attachment? JABATAN PERIKANAN.

First day is doing well. It took some quick understanding of the system and the people who work there. If you have a dad who works in the same ministry but in different departments that pretty much compliment each other (Dad is in Pertanian while I'm in Perikanan, both under Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources), here's the trick: Imagine you are your father. And everything went real smooth.

The funky part is that almost everyone in Fisheries knows my dad. The FUNKIEST part is that I FEEL like my dad.

Hope this goes well. Good luck to the freshies in ITB and the buddies at work attachment this year!

Life in your dreams

Have you ever felt that during the your last 10 hours of sleep, it felt as if you spent a long period in life? If you've seen Inception, you get the idea. Every time we sleep we, feel as if we endured, felt, and experienced lives we couldn't feel otherwise while awake.

Then you realize how your dreams feel more real?

At times, I want to keep dreaming. Despite what the whole 'The Matrix' concept explains, you have no control of your dreams. I once had dreams of a pack of dogs hacking all over my flesh (of which the phenomenon is explained to be due to the stress accumulated from handling the ITB orientation).

Last night's dream, it was like sitting in the cinema and watching stories unfold that span in periods longer than the 3 hours that you sit in. And you tend to find things that you try hard to capture.

But what I dreamt that night it was beyond anything I could explain. It was by one act that made me remember all of it, and by that one act it was followed by a string of events that would last a lifetime.

THE ACT...

It isn't what you do that makes it memorable, it was the person, that projection of a person in your life, that you shared in your dream.

WAS A KISS.

You wake up and wonder,
did the other dream the same and can dreams be connected?
Why did it have to end?
How can it be real if it never happened.

I'M NOT SAYING WHO...

You know you can never dream it again. You can't have the same dream twice.
Maybe someday I'll sleep forever and I will keep dreaming lifetimes.
In the mean time, I'll live in reality to make dreams come true.

Code 99

Rugby term to remember: Code 99. Scary when you know it. Scarier if you've seen it. Much scarier if you're in it.

Article from Wikipedia.org:

"In rugby union, the "99" call was a policy of simultaneous attack by the Lions during their 1974 tour to South Africa. The tour was marred by on-pitch violence, which rugby historians partly blame on the tensions of the era which included violence in Vietnam, Ireland, England and Apartheid era South Africa.

Lions' captain Willie John McBride instigated a policy of "one in, all in" - that is, when one Lion attacked, all other Lions were expected to join in the melee or hit the nearest Springbok. By doing so, the referee would be unable to identify any single instigator and so would be left with the choice of sending off all or none of the team. In this respect, the "99" call was extremely successful, as no Lions player was sent off during the tour.

Many players involved in this match called the 'Battle of the Boet' (named after the venue - the Boet Erasmus Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa) have since admitted this was a regrettable 'lowlight' in their careers. Dr Hannes Marais, the captain of the Springbok side has stated the misrepresentation and vilification of South Africans of the time was unfortunate although understandable and had little factual basis on a player to player level. Many critics refer to this match as the dirtiest game in the history of rugby union while it also marks the beginning of ostracism of Apartheid on the sportsfield internationally.

Some argue the Battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium was a precursor to the sentiments that boiled over on the 1981 New Zealand tour. There is famous video footage of J.P.R. Williams running over half of the pitch and launching himself at Johannes van Heerden after such a call, something that Williams says he is not proud of."



So far, I use Code 99 to describe wide scale violence on the pitch. It happens at times and not always pretty to look at. Especially when it goes like the one below.

The Body Remembers

The mind forgets but the body remembers, I keep telling my comrades.
So it doesn't matter if you lost one year of rugby or more, it always comes back to you.
All that is needed is a bit of hard work, and faith.

The Field

Fifteen men for the glory of battle

Each wanting their bones to shatter

Eyes alit, sweat drops in rains

The sun blinds us extending our pain.

Brotherhood is a binding contract

Shirts are pulled among their acts

A common cause is what they fight for

The free eight men who struggles ashore.

The other seven wait their turn

Seeing their brothers ready to earn

Their feet in leap ready to fly

Reminding them they're not there to die

The sea of blood, the sea of tears

The fiery landscape of our fears

Bodies burn, hearts afire

All the reason to take me higher.

The field is where I long to be

With my brothers in arms eventually

Let ten or fifty years go past

As long as I am on that field at last.

Names I use for Rugby

PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE
A tactic where the opposition is ridiculed into getting them hot tempered. They either lose focus, or gain yellow card.

TABLE
A straight spear that will knock the flying sh*t out of you.

GANGBANG
It's when three or more tackle one player. HARD.

T-REX TACKLE
Otherwise known as the Dive Tackle. Done in surprise.

HAMMERED
A consecutive number of hits done by the forward pack NON-STOP.

PICK & MIX
Where Backs and Forwards mix up in the defense line.

SKIING
Pulling a shirt and getting dragged by the opposition.