Satiated

You believe a man can change his destiny?
I believe a man does all he can until his destiny is revealed.

Earlier this evening, channel 5 replayed “The Last Samurai”. Minus off the bad interpretation of Asians with the persistently thick Japanese-accented dialogue and you’re left with a pretty good storyline.

And yes, I adore Ken Watanabe. I think he’s so MAN. THE man. The perfect face of a gentleman warrior. MY ultimate samurai hero in the movie. But I sure wouldn't want him to really be a samurai... errr.. because I read that they practiced shudo which are against my moral ethics. But that's another story!

I am an old woman. I have every right to oogle at old men.

The misinterpreted protagonists within run in little circles for what they perceive to be at the heart of their existence. We can mock them for their apparent stupidity but we should question; given the same circumstances, environment and way of life, would we end up at the same point?

Essentially, it is a poignant tale of how greed manipulates the meek weak willed. Propelled by what they believe as anomalies in appearances, the ignorant justifies the use of violence by labeling the other party as a threat.

However, when stripped of its façade; No matter what color, race, gender, age, health status or religion you possess, beneath all, red blood flows. We all experience hunger when we don’t eat, cry when sadness overwhelms and smile at the faces of the people we love.

Perhaps the only difference lies in the intensity in which we feel.

You can be bitter about the wars and the suffering that history has dealt, but when you recognize we are but pawns in this propaganda scandal, you’ll know better then to allow yourself to be embroiled in the whole debate.

People were simple minded back then.

Will you allow yourself to tread that same path?
It’s your choice.

And parallel to the storyline in the movie, adversity breeds courage. It’s ironic that we need such drastic events to stir otherwise dormant courage. And like many of life’s great lessons, we learn through defeat.

You learn to pick yourself after you fall.

A friend (Zul) once said something so miraculously clever its been burnt into memory…

"And sometimes things happen to me at the time that may seem horrible, painful and unfair, but in reflection I realized that without overcoming those obstacles I would have never realized my potential, strength, will power or heart.

Without these small tests, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere. Safe and comfortable but dull and utterly pointless."

Updates

Last week proved to have an exciting spat of eye popping events. Firstly, we had ‘ang moh’ mania. Our ad hoc lecturer was this dishy Owen-lookalike who had the class erupt with enthusiasm.

(almost) anything for Mr Herd!

Who would have thought Podiatry and compression bandage could be so fun?!

Campus also held an IT fair with Ipods and other IT paraphernalia at discounted prices. The new Ipod Nano that comes with a camera and video function is so damn super cool! My neurons weighed the consequences of armed robbery versus starvation while caressing the sleek, smooth edges that encapsulated the vibrant dancing colors in the LCD screen.

dontcha' just want one too?!

It took a great deal of will power to wrench myself off that potent magnetism to return to reality.

And with fairs, food follows! So, lucky for my ravenous appetite, the school brought in Ramly burger!! Hohoho.. no need to beat down the Mats and Minahs plastered beside the burger stalls at pasar malams!

Alas, the majority of the student body was also mesmerized by the wafting smells of frying patties and I had to join the snaking queue for my dose of Ramly heaven.

See the ooze the burger made! Unfortunately, the burger looks better then it tastes. Though at $2/burger and made fresh on-the-spot, it was passable.

Our research lecture is by far the MOST boring subject in the curriculum. Having slept through and blatantly skipped lectures, I can assure you now that anything I learn, or will learn about research will probably be garnered online or vomited by the lecturer during tutorials instead. Hahaha…

The runner up to the most boring subject is taken by Counseling. With video after video of emotionless actors and a lecturer with an absolutely irritating pseudo-minnie mouse-ish voice, it becomes such a chore to sit through lectures.

the cabbage patch kid lookalike in the vid

Counseling ICA begins next week, with mine due in week 6th. I will be putting on my “Golden Horse” (the Asian equivalent to the Oscars, because I am rooted in my Chinese-Asian culture!) award winning acting chops for Stick Insect in her rendition and vice versa.

Topping off the week’s adventure must be the comical ‘dancing man’ we met on the MRT. He sang, danced and ‘interacted’ with grab poles, his own reflection and other commuters on board.

My gawd, it was hilarious!

our 'star' is the one in stripes!

To protect the anonymity of the abovementioned, alongside the possibility of a civil suite, the man’s face has been strategically obscured by way of impressive camera angling and artistic vision.

I wish all classes were like this! Haha