threw myself into freedom.

I waited at the entryway to time and I
jumped past the treshold to be caught by the wind and I
kicked off my shackles that landed in the darkened corner, I
felt the change creeping over me, I
felt my body growing to fit the open space and I
flew restlessly to reach the clouds that I'd missed, I
drank deeply from the pools that I'd tortured myself with, I
emptied my head of the dark, of the mundies, of the nothing that I wanted, I
threw myself into freedom.

The good old days

So I was thinking last night about how much fun we had in that school whose accursed name we shall not speak (or type). And I decided to have a reminiscent blog entry and remember how:

• You used to have a crush on a girl for years and years and then came out of the closet at age 18.
• You had cybersex with a certain boy who loved ice skating and whose "love has fallen like a dead goose".
• You used to like your cousin. So did you.
• You gave a 20+ year old stranger a massage in his hotel room.
• You stabbed your friend in the thigh with a fork.
• You once thought you were pregnant because you gave him a hand job.
• You once caused an accident by just opening the car door.
• You fell down three times on the roof of the building we were staying in.
• Someone fell down the stairs a whole lot.
• We cried over Take That "Back for Good".
• We had fun in Club 311.

And that's just some of it. We really had fun, huh? Maybe that's why life is so boring and mundane and depressing now. It's relative.

BBC: Doctors save man with vodka drip

This is a MUST to put up:

Last Updated: Wednesday, 10 October 2007, 11:24 GMT 12:24 UK
Doctors save man with vodka drip

Australian doctors have kept an Italian tourist alive by feeding him vodka through a drip for three days, medical staff in Queensland say.

The 24-year-old man, who had swallowed a poison in an apparent suicide attempt, was treated while in a coma.

Doctors set up the drip after running out of medicinal alcohol, used as an antidote to the poison.

Medical staff said the patient had made a full recovery, and the hangover had worn off by the time he woke up.

He had been taken to hospital in the northern Queensland town of Mackay after swallowing ethylene glycol - a poison contained in anti-freeze.

"The patient was drip-fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit," Dr Todd Fraser said in a statement.

"Fortunately for him he was in a medically induced coma for a good portion of that. By the time he woke up I think his hangover would have well and truly gone."

He spent 20 days in hospital before being discharged.

How awesome is this week? First I find out that drinking makes you smart. Now I find out that vodka saves lives. This is like the most awesome run up to the drinking session this Friday ever.

On the Dangerous Topics of Islam and Hijabs

I just realised something. I'd mentioned in an earlier entry that the hijab was wajib and quoted a reference to the text that made it so. I'd been sitting here thinking about the text because as I recall, it mentioned somethings very interesting. From the reference:

The translation [of the text]:

"And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms..." [Abdullah Yusuf Ali]

The style of the language employed in the verse is very important. Allah Most High begins with the imperative form of the verb "qalla," which means to say or tell. Thus, Allah Most High is commanding the Prophet, peace be upon him, to tell the believing
women to take a series of steps:

1. To guard their gaze, which is an important factor in modest interaction;
2. To guard their chastity or sexuality;
3. To conceal their adornment and natural beauty, which scholars have interpreted to mean the whole body except for the face, hands, and (for Hanafis) the feet.
4. And, finally, to emphasize the above point, Allah Ta'ala uses the phrase, "wa-lyadhribna bikhumurihinna ala juyubihinna." The verb "yadhribna" which means "to draw or pull over" appears as a feminine plural, thus going back to the original subject of the verse, the believing women. Most importantly, it starts off with the letter "lam," which is called "lam al-amr." Lam al-amr, when prefixed to a present tense verb, such as "yadhribna," makesthe verb an imperative, that is, a command. It is not understood as a recommendation, but a specific command directly from Allah Most High to His slaves among the believing women.

The part highlighted in red specifically tells us that the relevant text only tells Muslim women to conceal their "adornment and natural beauty". It was only the scholars that interpreted that to mean the whole body. The only thing that was specifically mentioned to cover was their bosoms. Interesting, no?

It's a dogfight.

"Feel the force, you must."

"No! Come to the dark side. We have cookies."

"Mmmm... cookies..."

Just to update you peons on the Formula 1 (and to give myself a place to vent on the sexcitingness of it all), these are the current driver standings:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 107 points
2. Fernando Alonso - 103 points
3. Kimi Raïkkonen - 100 points

That's right. It all comes down to this one last race, baby! Saõ Paulo, Brazil. What's gonna happen? Well the last race proved that anything's possible. Hamilton didn't finish, leaving him stuck at 107 points, and Alonso found himself sandwiched between two Ferrari drivers on the podium, resulting in this lovely little sexciting situation.

And just to make it more fun, I've just worked out how its possible to have a 3 way tie at 108 points. This is what the race outcome will have to be:

2nd - Kimi Raïkkonen

4th - Fernando Alonso

8th - Lewis Hamilton

Likely? Not really. But hey, it's possible. Especially since neither Raïkkonen or Alonso have ever won the Brazilian race. Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't call me next Sunday at approximately 1am.

Holga v Diana

Diana+

• Overview
  Film format: 120
  Size: 5” x 3.75” x 3” (12.5cm x 9.5cm x 7.6cm)
  Variable shutter (daytime & “B” for unlimited long exposures)
  12-shot (5.2x5.2cm), 16-shot (4.2x4.2cm), and endless Panorama (4.6x4.6cm) formats
  Removable lens for super-wide-angle pinhole shots.

And just look at the endless Panorama:

Holga

• Overview
  Size: 22cm (8.65in) x 17,5cm (7in) x 9,5cm (3.75in)
  Weight: 730g (1.6lb)
  Format: all 120 medium format film (color negative, slide, b&w)
  Lens: Plastic 60mm, f/8
  Focus: manual zone focus with four distance settings
  Approximate 35mm format equivalent focal length: 38mm
  Aperture settings: f/8, f/11
  Shutter speeds: 1/125, “B“
  Flash: Color gel system (yellow, red, blue, clear), powered by 2 “AA” batteries
  Uncoupled advance & shutter release for multiple & partial exposures
  Standard tripod thread
  Professional lab development only

What ever shall I do? On the one hand, there's this nice and petite and pretty-sounding Diana+ with endless panorama. On the other, there's this giant thing called a Holga with all these awesome things that it can do. Oh woe is me.

Pins & Needles

I had pins & needles this morning. And then I made the mistake of Googling it. Its scientific name is paresthesia.

Causes include: Poor circulation of the limbs, alcoholism, dehydration, Fabry disease, multiple sclerosis, Vitamin B12 deficiency, Lyme disease, neurological disorder, ...

I'm a bit scared now.

(Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paresthesia)

Cadbury Fun!

I'm bored, so I will entertain myself by putting up some photos, the first of which are photos of a Cadbury pyramid and a Cadbury tower I made in classroom training one day.

Cadbury Tower. Mmmmm.

Cadbury Pyramid. Mmmmm.

Family Guy goodness. My current wallpaper. He so kewt ^:^

Random black and white thing from my research for my monochrome party.

Okay, that's enough.

Healthy foods?

So I just found this website called The World's Healthiest Foods, at www.whfoods.org. The website tells you how to eat healthy, cook healthy and more things along those lines.

There are also guides on how to "heal with foods", e.g. how to treat your hypertension or asthma by eating the right things.

I think we all need a bit of this.

Insert beaming smile here.

So I was at the gym yesterday in my second ever yoga class and guess who walks in? Amelia. That's right. Mamalia. She looks good. It turns out that she's started her own events company that does, in her own words, "all kinds of events.. galas.. promotions..". She even sources models for them.

Then I hear today from my very own GNN (Gay News Network), that Mun is doing well in London having just moved in what Archie and is loving his wife, Cherry. She just got promoted to personal shopper. I think that's awesome, considering she's only been there a few months. Well on her way to being a buyer. So proud.

Then I got thinking to everyone else. Lauren's been headhunted twice already and she's only been working for a year. GNN has his spanking new job in that ad agency, which he's working his butt off for and they'd better recognize. Didi's well insinuated herself into the world of entertainment and lifestyle. Even Sookie has two jobs. I may not trust her, but it's good that she's gotten so far.

All in all, my conclusion is this: I'm very proud of us all. We're like little birdies learning to fly and have just reached the very top of the tallest tree in the forest. Next stop: the sky.

Tak malu, ke?

So L and I were waiting to cross the road from Maya to Velvet, when I heard someone say, quite obviously addressed to me on this fine Ramadhan night, "Tak malu, ke?" I suspect it came from that Red Saga that I was staunchly refusing to look at.

I didn't say anything at the time, but I can't help trying to think of a way to succinctly convey the message that I had had a lifetime of Islamic education, and that my parents had barely let more than a few months of my life go by without some Ustaz or other teaching me things. That I had searched for meaning and found my own way, and that I probably knew and cared more about the religion than he did. That my belief is not based on my parents forcing it on me, and my prayer is (mostly) not because I'm forced to, but is pure and sincere when I do go through with it.

I've been trying to think of a concise way to say it all, that I may not have been wearing a hijab, but I bet I have more religion in my heart than some who do. That I may be out at night, but at least I don't pretend to be that staunch when I know that I'm not.

Then I had it. The perfect way. Succinct, precise, and concise: "Fuck You!"

Poison

So I buka-ed with two members of my family of the female persuasion last night. Big mistake. Like every other family, my family has its problems, and at some point throughout the time that we've all been born, somebody has slighted somebody else and etc.

These girls... I should've seen it coming. The second we sit down, it's "that guy said this when he doesn't do that" and "she shouldn't do things like that.. so disrespectful" and "why does he pray if he drinks?". It's like poison.

They hold on to every slight that's ever happened, intentionally or not. They pick on the ones that they don't really like or who aren't totally and exactly like them, or hang out with them. It's like poison.

After a while, I catch myself starting to think that way, and there it is, seeping into my brain, this deep poison that I spent so long expunging from my mind.

I cannot let myself think this way, about my family or my friends. There's too much love. And also, I have to live with my family for the rest of my life. With my friends, I just don't want to throw away all the years we've had together over stupid little things. Must learn to let go before they pull me back in again.

The Star: Firm to help find man harassing teen using nude photo

By TUNKU SHAHARIAH

SUNGAI PETANI: Police are working with Digi Communications to trace a person who has been “terrorising” an underage girl by sending a nude photograph of the girl.

The person had been sending the photograph of the 16-year-old girl via the multimedia messaging service (MMS) since late last month, said Kuala Muda OCPD Asst Comm Hashim Ali.

(etc...)

It is learnt that she had taken the photograph with her own camera phone “as a girlish prank.” However, it is believed that she accidentally sent the photograph to an unknown number by mistake when she was trying to store the picture in her phone.

On Sept 26, she was shocked to receive the same photograph, which was purportedly sent by a Digi Telecommunications user.

(etc...)

Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Stupid.