Konsumerisme is Killing Me

"This is a $4,000 sofa, upholstered in Italian silk. It is not just a couch."

"It's just a couch!"

-American Beauty

Consumerism, if you've had actually wikied the word, is defined as the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions.

If we roll back the time and go back to the 40s and 50s, consumerism would probably be your regular necessities : clothes, food, transport maybe and whatnots. Pay for what they needed.

Now, we are living in an era with the luxury to choose instead of accept. A concept of modernism perhaps. Civilized? Or de-civilization?

If i could pick a point in history, then i have to choose Beatle-mania. It reformed the concept of advertising and the image of artists as tools to sell. Then it was Michael Jordan who became a machine in the sports' industry, establishing his own brand under Nike. Then David Beckham became the household with Adidas, with AC Milan and Real Madrid exposing his marketing abilities.

In the modern age, marketing targets our minds. Our Dreams. Our ambitions.

"Wear Jordan Apparel and You can play like MJ himself!"

Let's consider a spade, a spade. You could wear your t-shirt or shorts from Brand-X and you could still play like Michael Jordan.

Advertisements poison you. You're gonna see David Beckham wearing the latest Adidas jersey and you might realize you won't look half as good as he does but still you're going to buy the item because they've infected your brain. And people go to Thailand and try to find that fake three stripe item.

Consumerism is a cool n chic entity these days. And I'm included. I'm on the surfboard riding the waves of modern consumerism. Wish i could kick the habit away. Anything with Liverpool on the shirt and adidas would project this cool image in my conscious.

It's more aesthetic than substance. You're gonna find the same furniture in different shops but Ikea may be your choice since it's cool and trendy. "I just bought the Henrik Larsson living room set!". "No way! My husband got me this John Arne Riise master bed for our wedding anniversary!". They put labels and more labels to make their average furniture sound like mega cool.

The Daniel Agger 3-storeyed bookshelf.
Litmanen cutlery set, complete with Anna Kournikova rambo knives.
Johansson dining table.

Just because they have all these Danish/Finnish/Swedish/Scandinavian names, they sound cool to you. If you put the names of Malaysians, then it would sound uncool, you would probably puke.

Ali Samad table set.
Yap Ah Loy master bed.
Muthusamy kitchen model.

With all these hullabaloo, ask yourselves, is modern consumerism taking over your mind?

Let's hope not. Buy Malaysian. If not, then go buy Thailand made products.

transitory state : winter / spring

I reminisce a winter's morning of cold breeze and subzero temperature in February. That slippery ice hovering over what used to be solid earth. I was practically walking on thin ice. When the wind passes by your face, it takes away a piece of heat from your skin, and that cool sensation hit you. Your blood vessels constrict, trying to reserve some heat for the body. You breath that merciless dry breeze, up to your nostrils, up to my allergic rhinitised nose which makes it more difficult to sip even a millilitre oxygen.

The snowflakes hit me one by one, like an endless wave of tickles over my face. And you might notice they were of different shapes and sizes. And there are some dogs lying on the white sandy snow, naked. Some are hibernating to death. Trees are naked too, with their gothic branches capturing the snow as they fall on them. Roots that go deep into the core of the earth keep them alive and well through the harsh winter.

You notice that at any given moment, 70-80% of people wear black clothing in winter. From jackets to trench coats to boots. Are they making a fashion statement? Maybe that's physics in fashion, since black absorbs and keeps more heat than any other color. And the nose senses the smell of drunkard Russians even in the morning.

Everything just adds up to the gloom of winter. But you can't deny the beauty of it all. Growing up in a warm weather condition, it was everyone's childish wish to play with snow.

How i miss the sun...

After that temporary coma of winter, the sun reappears, filling each horizon, each space there is to be filled. The sun testifies to Allah's grace. That warmth of nature is none to imitate.

14 : 33 And He has made the sun and the moon, both constantly pursuing their courses, to be of service to you; and He has made the night and the day, to be of service to you.

36 : 38 And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (appointed). That is the Decree of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.

That stretch of white sandy snow soon will be replaced by seas of color. That bed of red roses. A field of yellow daffodils. That wide yellowish green cornfield. Green leaves budding out. Some pink, maybe purples flowers i don't bother to know their names. Those naked trees clothed back again. And the crops will grow. Life starts back again. A testimony of Allah's ability to bring back the dead.

7 : 57 And it is He Who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before His Mercy (rain). Till when they have carried a heavy-laden cloud, We drive it to a land that is dead, then We cause water (rain) to descend thereon. Then We produce every kind of fruit therewith. Similarly, We shall raise up the dead, so that you may remember or take heed.

And the birds will start chirping their songs yet again. They remigrate to where they once called home. They leave their droppings here and there, leaving us a bit angered by their actions. But you can see the sky filled with motions of joy, and you can hear that song of happiness ringing in the air. Chirping aloud.

16 : 79 Do they not see the birds held (flying) in the midst of the sky? None holds them but Allah [none gave them the ability to fly but Allah]. Verily, in this are clear Ayat (proofs and signs) for people who believe (in the Oneness of Allah).

Dissecting Maxis' iPhone plans

Let me first explain the classification of iPhones.

First, there is the locked iPhone. Locked meaning that the iPhone is under contract with any mobile phone service provider, example At&t in the States. Meaning that you have to buy the phone along with the service. Your prepaid SIM cards won't work in these kinda phones.

Then, there is the officially unlocked iPhones. Meaning that you can buy the phone without the phone line, and your SIM card would work perfectly fine. This version of iPhone is released only in a few countries, such as Russia, Singapore, Czech Republic and few other countries.

Then there is the un-officially unlocked iPhones. These are actually locked iPhones, which are supposed to be under contract and could only recognize certain SIM cards. But after some manipulation using some hacking softwares, they are able to recognize your own SIM cards. I've bought a locked iPhone from USA and now i'm using my own SIM card after unlocking it.

NOTE:Just found out through a friend that the iphones sold in Malaysia are officially unlocked. But it is still under contract. You have to buy the phone along with the service provider, but after your contract has expired, you can throw away your maxis SIM card and use another SIM card without needing to unlock it using the software. Link here.

I bet most of you know the above mentioned stuff already.

Now to Maxis. They are offering 6 ,12 and 24 month plans. And there are 4 subplans or packages under each plan. Lowyat.net forum calculated the cost of these plans quite meticulously. I'm going to mention a few only.

For a 6 month plan, an 8gb iphone costs RM2540 and a 16gb iphone costs RM2960. The cheapest subplan is the 'Value Plus 80', which requires a commitment of RM80 each month for six months.

So if you are to buy an 8gb iPhone : RM2540 + RM80x6= RM 3020, excluding sms and voice rate. For a 16gb iphone, it would be RM3440.

For a 12 month plan, the first package is called iValue1. An 8gb=RM1900, while a 16gb=RM2290. It requires a payment of RM100/month. And an additional advance payment of RM200 is needed, which will be refunded from 1st month onwards. This includes 333 mins of calls, and 500mb of data usage. Additional usage will be charged accordingly to the rate 15sen/min and 0.5sen/kb data.

RM1900+1200=RM3100 for an 8gb. And RM 2290+1200=RM3490 for a 16gb.

For a 12 month plan, with the iValue4 package, an 8gb iphone costs only RM1080, but the monthly payment is RM375. And the advance payment is RM1000 this time around.

RM1080+RM375x12=RM1080+RM4500=RM5580. Of course you have to fork out an additional RM1000 when you buy the phone initially. (will be refunded)

For a 24 month plan with the subplan iValue 4, an 8gb phone costs RM0! Wow! While the the monthly commitment is RM375.

RM375 x 24 = RM9000.

iPhones on the internet costs within the range of RM2400-2600 for a 16gb, without any contract tied to it. You could buy it and unlock it yourself and use your existing SIM card.

I won't say it is good or bad. It depends on your financial status. But it certainly is not student-friendly.

PS : All calculations made using the iPhone application called 'calculator'.

MRSM Langkawi 1999-2009

Assalamualaikum..

Ehem ehem. Sejuk hati aku baca berita MRSM Langkawi top yang Paksu e-melkan.

Masuk tahun ni MRSM Langkawi dah 10 tahun.

Waktu form 1, dua kawan sekolah rendah aku Mohd. Nur Shuhud dan M.Ilyas Zubir melanjutkan pelajaran ke MRSM Langkawi. Sebelum M.Ilyas Zubir belajar di sana, dia sempat bermain muzik bersama-sama dengan Pancaragam Besi Buruk terkenal di Alor Star, Pancaragam KSAH.

Siap letak gambar kat blog dia. Pergh.

Sekarang dah ramai mula kerja. Geng trek pantas akaun. Trek pantas kejuruteraan. Trek pantas AUSMAT.

Kesombongan aku menyebabkan aku kurang berinteraksi dengan geng MRSM. Aku diam sangat. Kat forum pun jarang bersuara.

Introvert-lah kot.

Aku ingat lagi apa aku cakap kat saudara Mohd. Rashdan waktu pertama kalinya dia ingin menganjurkan kem motivasi di Langkawi (2006) :-

"Aku tak suka kem-kem motivasi ini."

Jiwa remaja lagi ketika itu. Jiwa memberontak. yaa..

Tapi sekarang baru aku nampak kesan kem-kem ni. Tahniah saudara Rashdan Saad.

Aku rasa cadangan menubuhkan alumni MRSM Langkawi yang dibincang beberapa tahun dulu patut diteruskan dan menumpu ke arah program-program seumpama ini. (ayat skema) Ini mungkin tujuan jangka masa pendek. Mungkin kewangan kita nanti tidak cukup untuk menaja pelajar, tetapi mungkin boleh digunakan untuk aktiviti-aktiviti lain di MRSM contohnya untuk program-program minggu aktiviti dan untuk SPM.

Mungkin tanggungjawab lagi besar sekarang, memandangkan adik-adik sekarang dah bukan bitara lagi. Mungkin perlu menyedarkan mereka bitara tu hanya status semata-mata.

Mungkin ada yang ingin melakar logo yang sesuai untuk alumni ini, dan kemudian mungkin ada yang ingin membuat merchandising bagi mengutip dana untuk persatuan ini. Kewangan sangat penting dol. Boleh jugak mintak derma nanti.

Bagi sesiapa yang akan menghadapi exam final April/Mei ini, budak-budak engineering kebanyakan, aku ucapkan selamat maju jaya. Buat elok-elok. Jadi engineer-engineer yang mantap dunia dan akhirat. Juga ditujukan kepada kawan-kawan kejuruteraan non MRSM Langkawi aku. Dapat kerja elok-elok, nanti blanja aku minum milo ais.

Kepada Najmi Ismail

Selamat hari lahir ke 24.

Terima kasih ajar aku bentuk liang lahad di Arab Saudi. Bertingkat-tingkat rupanya.

Terima kasih jual burger. Di saat kelaparan, burger-mu jadi idaman.

Wallpaper iPhone kau lawa.

Sila tukar casing iPhone kau tu. Jangan pakai glove Nike tu lagi. haha.

Selamat hari lahir ke 24.

Whatever tomorrow brings...

I'm a blogging addict perhaps.

So far i have self diagnosed myself a number of times. CIPD. Hemorrhoids (duhh). Hypovitaminosis (lack of vitamins). Now i want to add to that plethora of diagnoses with "blogging addiction".

Tomorrow, Liverpool FC will face Manchester United at Old Trafford. An anticipated game for every football fan world wide.

I still remember when i was a kid/teenager i would usually perform solat sunat hajat before the Man Utd-Liverpool game. My mom told me i could pray for whatever i want. So i did pray for victory for my favourite team.

Yea, for that team sponsored by Carlsberg.

Now i feel like smacking that little kid for being such a clumsy boy. How could he pray for a football team and worse, a team that promotes beer? I did it up til the age of 15 i guess, and i stopped doing it because i entered a boarding school at the age of 16 and thus, was unable to watch EPL matches.

But then again, I can't stop laughing at myself. At least i didn't do something syirik. Not that i met any bomoh to ask for Liverpool's victory.

Due to the dominance of the Mancs, most of the time we ended up losing. But that didn't stop me from praying over and over again.

But now i am older (the receding hairline says it all), i got to know what is right and what is wrong, who is handsome and who is not, and how an iPhone works.

There are much more meaningful things to pray for, and Liverpool FC is not one of my agenda nowadays. And also i am not praying for a better physical appearance i.e. to be more handsome.

Whatever tomorrow brings, i will be content with it.

You'll never walk alone. Come on ye mighty Reds!

PS : I've written something rather simple on my other blog.

English or/atau bahasa Melayu

Atau sains dalam bahasa Melayu? Matematik pun ikut samalah. Maths and science, they're merpati dua sejoli.

Aku nampak A. Samad Said dalam Utusan Melayu (akhbar kerajaan) beberapa hari lepas. Muka dia sama macam aku jumpak kat MPH Midvalley. Janggut dia menjadi janggut idamanku.

Sebelum mula aku ada satu pengumuman.

Liverpool 4 - 0 Real Madrid. Bukan 1, bukan 2, bukan 3.

Aku sokong sains dan matematik dalam bahasa penjajah, bahasa omputeh.

Sebenarnya aku agak biased dalam hal ni. Aku tak suka sangat bahasa Melayu. Kemungkinan trauma psikologi waktu sekolah dulu. Setiap kali buat karangan, kalau tersilap satu ayat di permulaan karangan, karangan aku dikira batal.

Keluar tajuk. Walaupon isi-isi penting kat bawah tu boleh dipakai. Kat MRSM, ada 2-3 kali saja aku dapat A dalam subjek bahasa Melayu. Most of the time dapat C.

Rigid sangat. Tension aku. Sebab itulah aku ada vendetta against Malay language ni. Sebab tu aku lebih suka tulis di dalam broken English aku ni. Kalau BM freestyle aku layan je.

Tapi aku suka bahasa Kedah. Bahasa ayahanda, ibunda, kakanda aku. I'm a Kedahan first, Japanese second, Malaysian third.

Malaysia baru nak 52 tahun merdeka. Kemajuan dalam sains dan teknologi tak ke mana lagi. Kita banyak belajar ilmu orang sebab ketinggalan sangat.

Kita bukanlah pelopor dalam apa-apa bidang. Kalau kita tengok zaman dulu sekali pon, bagaimana Al-Kindi dan Al-Farabi belajar falsafah Yunani di dalam bahasa Yunani lah, sebab Yunani pelopor di dalam bidang itu. Aristotle, Plato dan rakan-rakan nerd yang lain.

Lepas tu terjemahkan ke dalam bahasa arab.

Sekarang English ni dah jadi macam lingua franca. Bahasa pengantara di dalam sains dan teknologi. Diorang banyak menjadi pelopor pelbagai bidang. Jadi bagi aku, tak salah kalau kita merendahkan diri belajar dalam bahasa asing dulu.

TAPI aku baru dapat tahun bukan semua orang senang nak paham bahasa omputeh. Rumet aku, mak dia cikgu. Bukan setakat bahasa Inggeris, bahasa Melayu pon susah nak blajar bagi sesetengah bebudak. Kesian jugak kalau nak dipaksa belajar dalam English ni.

Jadi mungkin pada saat kita 52 tahun merdeka ini, jika kita dapat menguasai dan mempelajari ilmu-ilmu sains dan teknologi di dalam bahasa Inggeris dan kemudian menterjemahkan di dalam bahasa Melayu dan mungkin 50 tahun kemudian (diharapkan lebih awal), ilmu dapat disampaikan di dalam bahasa Melayu supaya lebih mudah difahami.

Membina ketamadunan ilmu bukan senang ya adik adik. Kalau nak guna bahasa Melayu pon, perlulah planning yang betul. Janganlah dibandingkan dengan senang dengan tamadun-tamadun Arab atau Barat yang dah lama diasaskan itu dan yang telah memberi bermacam-macam jenis sumbangan di dalam sains dan teknologi.

Mungkin pelajar-pelajar medic Russia dapat menterjemahkan karya-karya Piragov dan Sechenov ke dalam bahasa Melayu, pelajar-pelajar Jepon dapat menterjemahkan karya-karya mamat-mamat yang bina skyline GTR tu ke dalam bahasa ibunda. Dan yang belajar di UK dan USA boleh jugak translate karya-karya agung engineering/medic/architecture ke dalam bahasa Melayu.

Mungkin ini pengorbanan yang kita perlu ambil.

(banyaknya aku punya mungkin)

Ini bukan sekadar soal bahasa, bagi aku ini soal budaya ilmu yang masih kurang di Malaysia. Soal mentaliti. Bukan nak kutuk orang, aku pon sama. Kita perlu sedar di mana kita berada.

Kalau dulu orang luar boleh belajar bahasa Melayu di zaman kesultanan Melayu Melaka sebab Melaka maju dan ingin berniaga dengan Melaka, kita juga perlu sedar siapa yang lagi maju dari kita sekarang.

Hemorrhoidal episodes...

I've been having my biggest bout with hemorrhoid for the past 2 weeks. The flakes of feces are tainted with red spots, indicating bleeding somewhere in my rectum.

Rectalgia. Pain in the rectum. It fissurates. It lacerates.

Hemorrhoid, according to the definition given by wikipedia, is the "presence of cushions of tissue filled with blood vessels at the junction of rectum and anus." In other words, my rectum wall swells (kebengkakan) and these swellings are filled with blood.

So there's a resistance at the exit door and the friction of my hard feces (due to lack of fibres) with the rectum wall caused quite some pain.

I KINDA GOT USED TO IT.

My diet lacks fruits. That's why my mama has asked me to eat lots of em, but being the stubborn son she has always known, i rarely take fruits.

I need more and more and more fibres.
More Bananas.
Less red pepper chicken.
Oranges are good.
Oily foods are bad.
Water and juices.
Instead of carbonated soft drinks.

Like once a year, i would eat a quarter of an apple.

An Apple a day keeps Bill Gates away.

My iPhone is working perfectly fine. Perhaps an iMac or MacBook in the future?

One thing about Apple products that never ceases to amaze me is that they are practically sterile. So far there are no known viruses which are able to infect the Mac OS.

Last week i had this surge of buzzes from friends on YM, promoting these "acai pills", which according to the advert, are able to reduce weight. Of course, these were viruses rather than actual friends who collectively decided to sell the same pills on the internet.

And then i can't log on to YM on my laptop. Error 81003005. I searched incessantly for the way to cure this virus, but even after wasting my internet credit by re-installing the YM a few times, it still won't work.

&^(^#(*^*^#)@)(!@~_*_)!

It seems funny that i've been writing about myself in these last few posts. I need to write something better pretty soon. I need to crap more, like i used to.

Happy Women's Day

No one needs to tell me a woman's worth. There's my wonderful mom, and my two sisters. And my grandma lives with us too when i was young.

I'm lucky to be given a wonderful mom. But i'm saving the post for mother's day.

I would come back home after school with women all around. At school, boys all around me. Two extremes of life.

Mind you, i studied in an all boys school up til the age of 15.

33:35 - For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in Charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah.s praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward.

By Allah's side men and women are equal.

Happy women's day to all.

PS : My yahoo messenger has a problem. I can't go online that often. But my roommate is letting me use his YM on his laptop. Damn bugs and viruses on me laptop.

I wanted to write something a little longer but i'm kinda busy with some stuff.

entrepreneurship

The enterprising youths of Volgograd really amaze me.

Bunge's burger (rindu burger kau Nge). My classmate's chicken rice. The Hello Mama idd cards. Skype phone service. Mozac's and Kimi's iPhone businesses.

Dave is a barber on the fifth floor. Arvin is a careterer who once thought of starting up a catering business in Malaysia after he broke his leg. Kak Rita's yummy chocolate cakes. Keli's "nasi tomato" (where's my order). Fairuz's chicken chop and roti john (very rarely sold, like once a year). Fairuz is also selling t-shirts for the upcoming Volgames '09.

Endless photostat services (UMNO's, SyafiqAzimKerol's, SPR's, Dumin's) some bright, some dim. Matpih and the gang sold some t-shirts and jackets bearing the university logo.

Azzad, Christopher and Asyuk with their ticketing services.

As for me, i am a successful consumer! And i am proud to be one.

I'm greedy for money (who isn't?), but i'm just not into business. When i was a kid, I always thought it was wrong to take extra money from people. Even after understanding what business is all about, that particular ideology sticks in my mind. Business is not wrong. Wish i could be a bit Jewish or Chinese minded, you know, that business soul inside.

My mother doesn't encourage me to start a private clinic. And she isn't quite business minded. Actually she started a business few years back, rearing fish in our kampung. I can't remember what fish was it. She left it for someone to take care of it. Few years later when i asked her, she said she just didn't know what happened with that project.

So, there's this genetic predisposition. The nonbusiness gene.

When i was young, i had the intention of starting up a music shop selling cds and cassettes and dvds. So i asked my ustaz (religious teacher), Ustaz Ayob, what are the zakat rates for such business.

"Juai benda-benda hiburan ni pon dah salah dah, nak kira zakat pasaipa."

Ouch.

The only relevant business in Malaysia is the Mamak shop. You have Chinese, Indians and Malays together in there. It transcends the border of a mere dining shop, to an abode of unity, just like a friend mentioned in his blog a few years back. The ability to attract all races is equal to the ability of milking money out of the pockets of each Malaysian.

But the thing is, i'm not Indian. I'm a Japanese. Maybe i could twitch it a bit, darken my skin colour tone, and open a Sushi-Mamak restaurant.

You'll have capati with wasabi. Nasi beriani and Eel curry. All those sushi rolls soaked with dalcha gravy.

Then people will be diarrheating blood after each visit.

Sheeeesh. Pffffffffft. #&*(*_#*&*!(_*((#*$(!@#(~@).

I think i will just continue being a consumer.

Chronic Introverted Personality Disorder

I suffer from chronic introverted personality disorder (CIPD). Not COPD. I don't smoke. Believe it or not, i've never taken a sip of cigarette. But i've tasted shisha sippings once or twice.

I will keep this post short. My friends are asking for short writings.

People close to me know that i am an introvert. I don't talk much. I keep bottling up my feelings, emotions and whatever they are inside, and at times, it will burst like that coca cola bottle you had just shaken. But of course when i am in the company of my close friends, i tend to be menacingly extrovert. And at times, sarcastic. I prefer a personal talk with someone, so that i could fully concentrate on that particular conversation.

Bipolar disorder perhaps?

I always thought that people would understand body language. Last year, i had a big fight with my roommate. I didn't confront him man to man. Just that, i didn't talk that much with him, and when he asked something i would give a short and unfriendly reply. I really thought he understood why i acted that way.

Does body language require beautiful curves and contours of the body? With this muscular 6 pack abdomen that i have, why couldn't he understand?

We had our fair share of problems and later we settled our differences and we are still roommates. And we still support Liverpool FC, even in times of pure stupidity from the Mighty Reds.

What you are reading or what you have read on this blog, maybe they are the manifestations of my introvert thoughts which i have extrovertly expressed in written form. Some of these writings have been thought about for years. Some are parts of ideas of the old blog from friendster and of my previous incarnations on blogspot. Recycled.

It might take a while for people to understand me. Heck, i couldn't even map out my own personality.

So there you go. A bit of my soul. And as i said, i will keep this one short.

I am trying to change bit by bit, you know trying to pretend being extrovert. But it's mentally hard. It's about finding a balance between introvertedness and extrovertedity. There are times when you need to talk, and times when it is better to just shut up.

My mum described my infancy as a time when i would just smile at anyone and everyone. How times have changed.

To check your introvertedness level, click here.