Rooms & Houses

Well, it's been a while since I blogged here. I've blogged at Friendster, I've blogged at Blogspot. And I'm addicted to Facebook now. Stupid, addictive, little, social internet thingy. Anyways, just because of that I've ignored my Multiply blog for what, a month?

But hey, I'm on Multiply now.

So, not much, really. Apart from the fact that the new house is a bit depressing. The corridors are too small. And its long instead of big, so everyone is far awar from everyone else. The TV room, the kitchen, the vending machine and the house hall aren't on the way out, so it's a bit awkward socially sometimes. But damn, the private yard is just beautiful. There's a tree there at the side of the yard, which is just blooming with flowers. It's one of those scenes in those romance movies when it's springtime and the flowers are blooming and there's an old swing under the tree. Which the tree does have. Ho ho. Ha.

Then there's the fact that I have a fuckin' roommate. I don't like having roommates. Sure, I like hanging out with people, but when it comes to my room, I want it all to myself. All to my fuckin' self. My roommate is okay. He's a Chinese guy called Oliver Qu. That's pronounced Chu, not Qu. And yeah, we call him Ollie.

He's a good lad, but I can't play music in the room when he's around. It's annoying. I can't study without loud music. I had to use earphones, which is just a poor substitute for speakers. And he's forever studying. Everytime he's in the room, he only does one of four things: studying, studying, sleeping and studying. Gaaaah.

I need to go. The ITBs is getting really uncomfortably warm. Get a load of that. Shrewsbury. Warm. Jeez.

Signing out

Over and out

Kicking Spheres, Winning Smiles

BruNotts was a blast. We didn't really consider our football team - ridiculously named the A-Team (no, not the theme song, please) - to have any chance at all going through the group stage. In four groups of six, we had Santos (two years champions) and Palmeiras (a really strong team) in the same group, Group B. There were also three other teams which all consisted of Uni people. So us consisting of entirely A Level students, we had odds stacked against us. People even said to us we were in the Group of Death.

First game in, We won with a convincing performance, scoring four goals against one. That settled a bit of nerves, but we knew we still have Santos, Palmeiras and two other teams we don't know about, all to play against. In the next match against Palmeiras, it was a pretty tense affair, and one which we lost 2-1, all three goals scored from the penalty spot, and after we took the lead in the first half.

That kinda brought us back down to Earth. We knew we had to win the next three matches to get through, because Palmeiras and Santos would almost surely win all their coming games.

And sure enough, we won the next two matches.

Our final group game was against Santos, one of the strongest teams in the tournament. Being the underdogs, we had some support from the audience. Even Palmeiras gave us some pointers before the match on how to deal with Santos's dangers and exposing their weaknesses. That was a massive help. They warned us that Santos would play rough and hard, and would try to intimidate us in an intense physical battle.

The match itself was quite tense. Santos were definitely very physical, aggressive and violent. Eric injured his hand when one of the Santos players blatantly shoved him against the wall. We were being tackled, tripped, pushed and shoved for most of the game, but we managed to play our game. When Eric got injured, I came on and subbed him. It was a good albeit short game for me, although I did also get shoved against the wall and bruised my elbow. But I just ignored it and played on. One player even elbowed me in the face. Of course, by the time I went on, we had already scored two goals courtesy of Dave and Hanif, both screamers from distance.

After the final whistle was blown, we were just elated. We managed to do something we thought was next to impossible before we even played a game. We were celebrating, jumping over each other, shaking hands, huddling, all that team stuff. We got through to the quarter-finals.

Disappointingly, we got knocked out by White Knights by conceding two soft goals after scoring the first goal. To my judgment we were better in the game. We could've got into the semi-finals, where we would've played against Senna, which were the finalists. Although Senna were technically superior to us, it would've been great to be in the semi-finals.

Anyway, we still have at least three years here, so BruNotts is still there for ours to get :P

Signing out

Over and out

Waiting Smiles, Faking Lines

I have just realised, I've not had a proper blog entry in quite a while. It's either a blog about vegetarianism and veganism, or the story-in-progress I'm doing right now. So, just to vary the monotony of things, I decided to blog about what have been going on today.

Not much...

Except...

I was supposed to have a five minutes meeting with my tutor, Mr Fanning, which turned into a three-hour run-around. When I got to his office, it wasn't bad. My reports were good, except for the fact that I can be quiet in class (yes, I am quiet in class :P I listen a lot more than most people. Hahaha) and that Mr Woodling (the pyromaniac tennis-freak who likes to think he's a chemistry teacher) thinks I'm not pushing myself hard enough. I got either a four or five out of five on each of the bars on every subject, except Mr Woodling's bar for progress. He said mine was just satisfactory. Which is rubbish. I've not really progressed much at all in Chemistry. I might give up Chemistry next year. And take AS Theatre Studies. Should be fun :D

The meeting with Mr Marshall about Oxbridge English was fun (note: sarcasm is defined as a sharply ironical taunt, sneering or cutting remark, often with a tinge of irony). He basically said (after reading along the lines) that I should give up and look for other universities. Or that I should read two thousand books for the next year before the interview. The thing is, one thing that is going for me is the fact that I've got so much potential. Even though I haven't read as much as the other lads, I argue and make critical points better than most in my essays. And that's before considering I didn't take literature for O' Levels. Well, that could work for or against me. Mostly against me, I assume.

UCL maybe? AAA... Durham, Warwich... AAA... I'm fairly confident I could get AAA. Seriously, I do. I'm doing pretty well in English. Pure Maths and Mechanics is just a cruise. Physics needs a bit of work, but an A is not that out of reach. I'm doubtful about Chemistry... Anyway, if I don't get AAA, please do taunt me and make fun out of me. That'll teach me a lesson for being overconfident. Ho ho. Ha.

What I need now is sleep. No, I can't. I gotta pack. Moving houses is just a bit of a bother, really. Just as I was getting comfortabe with my ensuite (if that's how you spell it) and my private little space, I have to move out. Probably into a double. And certainly with no ensuite.

And oh. I got into the finals of the David Harrison competition. I don't know if I should be bummed or happy. A mixture of both, I guess. What was essentially two hours of PowerPoint work and research (all the material is from just one website :P ) turned to be one of the best seven Maths presentations in the school. Hahahahahaha

What am I doing?! I should be getting back to the house right now and stuff all my stuff (ho ho, redundancy check) into that tiny little bag and turn on some aggressive punk rock music. Ha ha. Ho.

Signing out

Over and out

Smashing Plates, Running Boys

We had a massive foodfight in KH yesterday. And by massive, I mean huge. The whole school got involved. Probably about 400 people.. It started out slowly. Some people were throwing bread rolls and plums to the dayboys, who were 50 metres away. They responded, and responded big. Things took up pace, and as soon as I picked up and threw an orange, there was this 10 seconds of chaos when everything was just a massive blur and things got really nasty.

You could hear plates smashing and see bowls flying. For a few seconds I was a bit scared. Really. It was chaotic. Some people said they saw me throwing a (glass) bowl of rice, which I'm sure I didn't. If that rumour gets around, I'm gonna get into trouble.

After that ten seconds, everyone just bailed amidst the flying plums and oranges. It took us longer to run out the door because we we furthest away from any exits. So I literally had to barge my way out. I was stepping on foodstuff and trays along the way.

Back at the house, our housemaster told us to go back to KH and help clean up. Which we did. But we got back to the house pretty soon because there was enough people there.

Back at the house, again, our housemaster calld in all the sixth formers for an emergency meeting. He was asking people who were involved to own up and admit. I did. Geo did. And Sam did.

He asked us why we did it. All I said was "I was in the same situation as Sam. I got hit by something, I didn't even know what it was, and I just picked up an orange and threw in the direction where it came from."

We got gated for the night. Not bad, I guess. I didn't really have any plans that night. Wanted to go to the Churchill's house play, but can always go tonight. Sam was pissed off with the housemaster. He was saying "Sir, I don't understand this. You want to encourage honesty by punishing us? I don't get it." He argued a little more with the housemaster.

I feel sorry for him. Everyone who was involved should've felt obligated to own up and admit. I was imvolved only partly, but I owned up. Sam only threw a bread roll. He owned up. There were people who did much worse who didn't own up..

This picture is from when were cleaning KH..



Signing out

Over and out

Horrifying Tortures, Wiring Brains

I was reading Dibs’s blog, and thought “well, she didn’t get my point.” Haha. In a sense, yeah. Sorry, but I’m not just against the killing of animals. I’m against the extremely unethical, unfair and monstrous ways companies treat the animals.

I’m sorry if you think it’s okay that animals should suffer months, even years, of insanity-inducing confinement just so that we could have a snack. I don’t think it’s fair that animals should only be allowed to roam in a chicken coop full of hundreds or even thousands of other chickens on their own excrements and the corpses of other chickens. I’m against the way chickens are given chemicals so that they grow at an absurdly abnormal rate, so much that their own feet can’t support their own weight, and they become crippled because of it.

I’m against monkeys having their scalps removed and their brains connected with wires and bolts to a computer so that we can study how the brain works (yes, this is real. I’ll show you the video if you want). I’m against dairy cows being impregnated annually just to keep the milk flowing, and then have their babies taken away from them to be auctioned. I’m against cattle being castrated (having their testicles cut off, seriously) and their horns cut off so that when they go insane out of lack of stimulation, they won’t hurt themselves. I’m against them made insane because they are put in cages so small they can’t turn around or even lie down properly.

I’m against egg-laying chickens kept in cages no bigger than a TV filled with 5-7 other chickens. I’m against them being starved of food for two weeks if the rate of egg-laying decreases, just to speed up the production. I’m against sheep having pieces of their flesh being cut off to remove maggots because of infection while they’re still alive, just because the farmers aren’t responsible enough to properly sanitise and clean them.

Animals were not made to be tortured by human beings. Slaughtering them might even be the most humane thing we can do them, considering the amount of suffering they’ve been through before the slaughterhouse. The Prophet (SAW) did not live in a time of when animals are subjected to such suffering. Cattle, sheep and chickens were allowed pretty much to roam, and be natural. Religiously, animal torture for the production of food was never condoned.

The greedy nature of big companies (and even small companies) to meet the demands of the public for meat and therefore make massive profits, have taken away their morality and humane side.

And one more thing. If you think you can be an environmentalist without being a vegetarian, you’re so misguided. To produce a single hamburger, you need to use up enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 20 miles and enough water for 17 showers. 125,000 square miles of rainforest per year is being destroyed to make room for the meat industry. To produce a pound of meat, 2500 gallons of water is needed. To produce a pound of wheat, only 25 gallons is needed. Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population.

I’d rather sacrifice my meat-eating, than have the torture of innocent animals on my conscience. It’s just a small sacrifice for me to make. And I love myself for it.

Signing out

Over and out

Changing Hearts, Rising Against

There has never been a video that have ever made such an impact on me more than Rise Against’s video, ‘Ready To Fall.’ I’m now in the transitional state from vegetarianism to veganism. Vegetarianism was easy. I only had to give up meat. I didn’t crave meat at all after that. It only affected me in that respect. Only food.

Now veganism is much, much more intense. This will probably the single biggest change in my life. I’m not exaggerating. This is gonna be the single hardest change I’m going to make to my lifestyle.

Veganism involves a lot of things. It involves not wearing any clothing made of leather or wool, and definitely not fur. This means I will probably have to check my wardrobe for anything that was made from either leather or wool, and just not wear it ever again. If what I heard of Nike shoes is true, that means I have to give up Nike shoes. If you know me well enough, you’ll know I bought a lot of Nike shoes in the past. Damn.

I won’t drink milk and eat cheese again. I won’t eat eggs (I never liked them anyway) and I won’t eat fish. I will probably never wear sports shoes from Nike or Adidas, if I have my sources right. I won’t buy stuff in KFC, even French fries or mashed potatoes. I’m gonna have to check every single piece of clothing’s tag to check if they’re made from wool every time I want to buy a new shirt or anything. I’ll never buy toothpaste that doesn’t say ‘Not tested on animals’ or ‘Cruelty-free.’ I’m gonna buy all my shampoos and stuff from The Body Shop (which I’ve already done anyway, and I absolutely love it :P ).

Damn. Fuck-a-doodle-do. This is gonna be one fucker of a task.

I’m gonna have to change the strap of my Swatch for a start. It says genuine leather in the back. All day I felt like throwing it away. It feels disgusting now to have it on my wrist. I think I might have to buy new school shoes. It looks like it’s made of leather. Urggh..

I’m sorry if it reads like a list. I kinda am making a list for myself, of what to do and what not to do.

I’m proud that the kind of music I listen to, is actually very much associated with veganism, radicalism and environmentalism. Punk rockers like Rise Against, Goldfinger and Billy Talent are all vegetarians. So are members of Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying and Hawthorne Heights. Well, not all the members. There are other popular artist as well who are vegetarians. Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, won an Oscar for that), Jorja Fox (CSI), Sophie Ellis Bextor, Jamelia, Joss Stone, etc.

I’m not becoming vegetarian because one of my favourite bands is. I turned vegetarian because I believed in the morals of not eating animals. Having them as role models only inspired me more.

Any respect I had for Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce Knowles I had lost when I saw photos of them in fur coats. They disgust me now.

I might sound like I’m ranting on and on. And maybe I am. I dunno... I just hope this anger towards carnivorism never goes away. I can’t see myself eating meat now. Ever. If you ever see me eat meat, slap me in the face and remind me of this blog. I want to make this happen. All the exhilaration of knowing that you’ve changed for the better, and still changing for the better. And all the disappointment of looking back on how you were oblivious to all the pain and all the hurt.

If you wanna know why I’m so disgusted of meat, leather, fur, milk, or even wool, either go to peta.org.uk, 'cows are cool' website, or just ask me directly.

Signing out

Over and out