inferiority complex thy suffer…

i rarely copy paste others work in my blog,but i came across a very fresh story on the web which i thought might be interesting to share.

This one managed managed to intrigue me.

If you manage to intrigue farah hanani shamsuddin, that says a lot.

Enjoy!

Terry Bisson

They’re Made out of Meat

"They’re made out of meat."
    
"Meat?"
    
"Meat. They’re made out of meat."
    
"Meat?"
    
"There’s no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They’re completely meat."
    
"That’s impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"
    
"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don’t come from them. The signals come from machines."
    
"So who made the machines? That’s who we want to contact."
    
"They made the machines. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
    
"That’s ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You’re asking me to believe in sentient meat."
    
"I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in that sector and they’re made out of meat."
    
"Maybe they’re like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."
    
"Nope. They’re born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn’t take long. Do you have any idea what’s the life span of meat?"
    
"Spare me. Okay, maybe they’re only part meat. You know, like the weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."
    
"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads, like the weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They’re meat all the way through."
    
"No brain?"
    
"Oh, there’s a brain all right. It’s just that the brain is made out of meat! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you."
    
"So … what does the thinking?"
    
"You’re not understanding, are you? You’re refusing to deal with what I’m telling you. The brain does the thinking. The meat."
    
"Thinking meat! You’re asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
    
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?"
    
"Omigod. You’re serious then. They’re made out of meat."
    
"Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they’ve been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."
    
"Omigod. So what does this meat have in mind?"
    
"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the Universe, contact other sentiences, swap ideas and information. The usual."

< 2 >

    
"We’re supposed to talk to meat."
    
"That’s the idea. That’s the message they’re sending out by radio. ‘Hello. Anyone out there. Anybody home.’ That sort of thing."
    
"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
    
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."
    
"I thought you just told me they used radio."
    
"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
    
"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"
    
"Officially or unofficially?"
    
"Both."
    
"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."
    
"I was hoping you would say that."
    
"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"
    
"I agree one hundred percent. What’s there to say? ‘Hello, meat. How’s it going?’ But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"
    
"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can’t live on them. And being meat, they can only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."
    
"So we just pretend there’s no one home in the Universe."
    
"That’s it."
    
"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you probed? You’re sure they won’t remember?"
    
"They’ll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we’re just a dream to them."
    
"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat’s dream."
    
"And we marked the entire sector unoccupied."
    
"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"
    
"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."
    
"They always come around."
    
"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone …"
    

the end

Only now i can fully comprehend our forefathers’ gripe regarding the post independence generation. Obviously,there has been continous whining how we, the young generation take the freedom we currently enjoy for granted.One prominent accusation is how the values that our ancestors cultivated relentlessly over the years;the essence of neighbourhood,brotherhood, unity, good camaraderie,strong partnership is now sadly fragile.

No offence intended, but once my carefree mind thought that this was a thought from a delusional old man.One must understand before judging my naiveness, that i was "diasramakan" ( conditioned in a boarding school system) for 5 years. Thus, i could count myself as lucky for given the chance to practice brotherhood on a daily basis. When 350 bright-eyed students was condemned to live in box roughly the size of a classroom, ( our dormitories), it was perfectly natural to develope into a tight knit family. Both sufferings and joy paid a visit, but i never recalled an occasion they were confronted alone, always as a unit.Hence, for me to think that our forefathers’ claims were invalid was understandable.

Originally, how we came to adopt the aforementioned values is when Malaya was under colonial oppression.To overcome struggles,community oriented living was the key of survival.It was beknowned that our grandfathers once knew the whole kampong and its family members, true like a one big family.If one misfortune befalls a family, the whole village will mourn as well, just to illustrate how great the extent of dependence of one another back then.As one Malay saying goes,

" cubit peha kanan, peha kiri juga terasa sakit"  .

That is, if any attempt to metaphorise the act of that stature was to be done.

We’ve all heard stories from the good old days.One can always count on the neighbour next door to do any favours; even taking care of the family.Nowadays,it is unheard of such trust placed upon a non- relative, particularly the neighbours.

Some might blast me as unfair, as i was comparing two blatantly different situation.The argument often was that today,the environment is neither full of hardships nor we are forced to live within the constrains of a box so the probability to form such lifestyle is miniscule. Besides, remembering the names of your whole block seems irrelevant when all your needs are well catered.This is the modern-age.Help is just 911 away.

However, i continue to wonder wether this is a good excuse? I thought the practice of such values should be passed on regardless of the setting. If not, how are we to defend our sovereignity from future threats if we do not even know each other.I guess being chucked into an environment that epitomise the hip and urban did put everything to perspective.

I could dish one tip to one who wish to recognise this worrrying trend.

Go live in a condo, an apartment or anything as such.

Rest assured one could witness the alarming rate of individualism. Take me for example, i do not even know my housemates’ name, what more step a foot in their rooms.I was so used to barge into anyone’s private space anytime i felt like it in previous living, it was hard now to accept that contact between my housemate was limited to glances of ignorance in the bathroom.Not even a word of utterance, save for a few rare smiles if i’m lucky.

Dont say that i havent tried, but all efforts proved futile. I clearly recalled an incident of exchanging pleasantries followed by minutes of hanged silence. It just felt too awkward to query wether i could join them for dinner.

Now i just dont bother.Neither do them.

Which i would helplessly point out that it wasnt healthy at all if you live in the same house.One should remind each other to switch off the lights, to lock the door, to keep the house tidy and it would not work if contact was non-existent.

To think that living under one roof would generate a lot of late-night gossip sessions in the living room between fixes of caffeine.

Therein lies the tyranny of development. Pursuits of material progression overstripped even the essentials of a conducive living environment. What kind of a creature have we become ?

My advice? Go back to the basics. Hectic globalization tend to make people confused. Whatever our elders instructed us to embrace, observe them. After all, there is every ounce of truth in what they said.   

P/s :The writer knows that this might be out of topic but she was apalled why noone ever complained about the ridiculous high price of Crocs when it was just a stupid piece of coloured rubber.

Especially when she badly wants to be the proud owner of one.

  I sufferred a considerable amount of bruises, slashes of cuts, blisters, had wood splinters embedded in my flesh,and my muscle joints were bloody tight; bending my leg would shoot tremendous pain along my now feeble legs.( analogy:pain felt upon waking up the next morning after a 10 km cross country race the day before)

But so what.

Blasting fun was the word of the day when i went trekking up to Gunung Bujang Melaka, *scratch that,Bukit Kutu, *oops, wrong again! Sungai Chilling in Kuala Kubu Bharu. Impeccably, such change of plans are fine example of what they say, " You can only plan, but only God determines".

Put simply by Mr Tan as "sheer stroke of luck, unforeseeble incidents that occurred, and reasonable decisions ", the original plan to hike up the ardurous trek of Bukit Kutu in frasers Hill were changed to a relaxing stroll up the Chilling waterfalls instead. Worthily noted that unforeseeable incident were delays at a mamak stall in KKB with its super slow service.An embarassment to the mamak francise’, i might add.

KKB. Ah, it brought back very fond memories.It was utmost unsurprising my sense of direction was triggered by a familiar alert, The Stanta Supermarket, i struggled extremely hard in containing my excitement.You can conclude that it was a mission that i failed miserably.You know  what happens when a person lapse into a nostalgic mode,she begans to blabber oh-so-eagerly, pointing out landmarks, showing directions, telling Joe( the driver) what to expect.I hope Joe, Farish and Nisita will forgive me for picking that time as one of those inexcusable moments.Blame it all on me for being a kampong girl through and through.

In essence, it felt really good to be back.

Granted,trekking is no stranger to me, i’ve done it in a couple of occasion beforehand.But this one was different.First, its a whole new circle of friends. Once ,i went with fully clad, long sleeved, trek-suits adorning bunch of people,but here i went with people with sleeveless and shorts.Aptly said, i was the only one with a long pants and a tudong. The hallmark of my fascination of this trip was the diversity of the people going. On one part we had city boys and city girls who had never seen a river before in real life,and then we have two very loud Iranian lads, a Canadian couple looking very much a tourist, a couple of chinese girls who’s capabilities of trekking at a fast pace will fool their demure ,  girly looks, my new found Indonesian friend,and of course,the one and only Mr TMC and Co.Interesting as it is,i remembered only going to a very organised trekking camps complete with a certifiable guide, but this one was full of last minute callings.There was a point where we were not even sure wether we’re going or not that morning of the trip as we were one short of a car.

Like most waterfalls, this one was as spectacular as the others, the water was freezing as ever, the current was extremely strong , and huge boulders of rock litter the area. A stop for a picnic was inevitable.The boys went for a dip and did some pretty passsable aerial somersaults jumping from 3m high into the chilling waters.Not wanting to be left out, i did one jump too, being encouraged by Nisita. So exhilarating the sensation i felt, i went for another jump.Just that nobody ever bother to remind me that the water was so cold, i shivered throughout the whole picnic.

On the way back, Don mah lead the trail with me behind him followed by Joe, Judith, Gaby and Carolina.Suddenly, God felt it was convenient to let rain pouring down.Alhamdulillah, its  rahmat i know, but i ended up soaking wet. At first, Don broke into a run. " Maybe if we’re fast enough we can beat the rain, " he suggested.

It sounded very smart then so we ran too, bagpack and all but in the middle of it , "Brushhh",it poured heavily akin to have a pail of water poured onto our heads.Oh well.I might as well walk.My tudong was sticking to my head while i am seriously convinced my shoe was collecting enough water for a goldfish to swim alive in it. Heck, we arrived first to the car and that was all that matters.As for others, they came out alive and dandy apart fom poor Kelly who sprained an ankle having to trip from a rock.I reckoned her smart choice of footwear ( flip-flops ) also contributes some percentage to the damage done.

You bet i am certainly looking foward for the next one.

Click these links for pictures ; images of sg chilling

P?S Special thanks to Neone,Adrian ,Mr TMC, Mr Leon Varga and gf,Ameer, Kourush,Farish, Joe,Kelly, Wai Chen, Judith, Carolina, Gaby, Kamini, Nisita,and Mr Don mah,for making this memorable moment possible.

To date,  latest happenings are a mish-mash of sweets and sours. The latter succesfully secured a place in my history books as the   looooooo
                                                      oooooooo0
                                                                      ooooooooooooooowwwwwwww
                                                                                                              wwweeeeeeesss
                                                                                                                                    sss
                                                                                                                                             st
point of my life. i’m not telling even you insist. Bribing does not put that much effect on me either. My swift reaction was gorging in two packets of cheesy chacos between swigs of 100 plus. So much for stress management. Should give more attention to aijud’s blog.

But i’m over it now. Nevertheless, ignorance is not bliss in this case or else it can be highly detrimental for my future well-being. (Now , hanani3x, since when you re beating around  the bush while writing). Fine, i’ll tease you with a hint. The word is Flunk

Trivial as it might seem, my circle of friends now are my supply of happy moments. Graciously they took up the  act as my mobile stress reliever, in spite that the intensity of my stress level is not yet mounting high. I suspiciously thought i’ve mellowed after 7 months of doing nothing, as i dont remember complaining this much to study 10 subjects in the past .Recently, i whined considerably over three subjects. I want myself back!! I want Mizz Nick back!! . Mr Gillich did a very good job confusing everyone in physics  including himself. We dunno whos’ teaching who anymore.

Strange, i  seriously thought my main motivator to keep on going here is i get to learn new stuff, new wonders; experiencing your hands in things you never did.Being deprived from outside world for 5 years contributes greatly to the forming of this condition.A condition that i have to Stop.Right. Now.

I can sense that my priorities are not right.Like now, for example, i should be doing geometry’s homework but i end up in the Com Lab blabbling in this blog. My concerns are purely for the ineccessants as opposed to studying.A bad habit here i picked up in sunway. Damn.

To put words in my mouth,strictly its a good idea that i should stop now.
Till then,

P/s  i am officially broke. TNB , where art thou?

Since it is still fresh in my memory, Xandria Oi( Hitz.TV VJ) came and gave a talk to my college today ( yeah, yeah, the one who emerge as a winner when people was the least expecting it in the Hitz.TV UVJ search), as well as Niki Cheong, ( Editor of the Star). I admit feeling quite excited meeting Niki Cheong as i can finally come in contact with him beyond his writings.Quite a young lad he is, plus cute too.

Aside, i thought it was worthy to note how sunway do funny things to your senses. They say that as you venture far away from home, you started to adopt defensive posture of your heritage, of your roots.I suspiciously think that such occurence did take place in me.

Okay, sunway is not THAT far, ( semashur is farther), but metaphorically speaking ,  when the  environment within your parameters is a bit off from what you are used to, you start to apreciate more about who you are and what you have.

All the signs were evident.Suddenly wearing baju kurung swells you with pride, and your pulses flipped when it is made to be known to  you that theres malay dance performance around. You find yourself proudly explaining to your lecturers why the young " salam " the elders, even remarking that they should come to your ‘ open house ‘ this hari raya.You couldnt wait to show off that you’re  fasting, just because you could grab the chance to tell more about it to people who enquires ( isy, isy , isy, hanani, habis pahala puasa). Pardon me if i sound like i’ve taken these stuff that mould us into who we are for granted. Maybe i did, once upon a time.But definitely not now.

Basically, this is the message i’m trying to convey, i ‘m positive oya can reflect with me right now, aite? Sorry to burst the bubble, but contray to the popular belief, i do not agree with accusers whom nonsensically assume that we’ll be baptised in foreign culture may we go abroad.Cant blame them really, by logic, they do make sense as humans naturally adapt with their surroundings, mainly for survival purposes. And adapting means immersing the foreign elements itself right?

Well, well, well, look what we’ve got here. It seems logic does not imply in the game of human behaviour. Defying common sense,what happened instead is the other way around,we turn out transforming into a protective lot of our culture. At least i am.And a vehement one while at it.

To ramble on, best things about college is you learn new things. I’m picking up climbing and trekking and i figured i will take up Life Saving Course sometime soon.I’m also learning to be tech-savvy as my english course calls for it. The fact that i am surrounded by computer literate people also contributes.To those whose already masters of HTML and IT media, please spare me the blushes on the pretext i am a hopeless computer-blind before this, just for now. My computer skills are limited to Google, and Microsoft Word, nothing else.
Recently, i was introduced to use Pinnacle for my radio play  ( not exactly using, but watching my friend using it, ) and as you guess it, it is for english.
Just for this once i’m allowing  you guys to thought lame of me but still, the least i can say is,its a start.

P/s  Poor Mr Tan is having a fever today. Kesian pulak.

Ever heard of it? Its my english teacher’s trademark phrase. Creating difficulties to his students is his forte. He made me diminish by every passing day when i ‘m still in the middle of a struggle to swallow the fact that english here is freakingly tough.

Fast facts about Mr Tan:

He likes trekking, climbing, and mountaineering = difficult
He reads history = mind-wrecking
He can talk about the same thing for 90 minutes = redundant up to annoying
He has high expectations. He wants essays to be of those in the ubiquitous readers digest.= mad
He wears ties of walt disney cartoon characters everyday = eyebrow-raised look
He stands on tables, on chairs,on legs of the blackboard, whack students heads with rolled cardboard( me a victim of several times)= bloody mad.

Mix all the ingredients well, and you have the the perfect recipe of a disastrous daily dose of english classes.
                   " I will throw you out into the sea and make you swim to the shore.I will make sure myself you are half-drowning."

One perfect analogy to commensurate his aforementioned remarks was to issue  out William Butler Yeats poems and make us figure out the meaning ourselves. And then he would say,

             " Hand in the analysis essay of this poem on August 3rd"

Thats it. No clues, no guidelines,not even a single hint. And he would add,

" If you have any questions, come climbing with me at 4.30" — just for good measure.

I must admit i allow a little element of vengeance in this post as i got a Level 1 ( level 4 is the highest) from my last essay. As i came in to class, he whined,

" Hananiiii~~~( sing song like), your essay is so bad, i marked urs alone for one hour and then i give up marking. Go back and do it again.

Do it again. You have no idea how many times i rewrite an essay. He insist on self-editing,hence we form among ourselves editing teams, where we check and recheck peers work, made us rewrite for many times before handing in the perfect masterpiece.He warned,

" Its okay if ur friend catch your mistake, but if i catch it, it will affect your marks . So dont be afraid to colour your friends paper"

How very clever Mr Tan.

Dont get me wrong, I really like this method of teaching. It prevents complacency and opened your eyes at how very small you measured up to the standards.Spoonfeeding is never encouraged, as before discussing an article or a story , our views is what he’s going first. Research had to be carried out on your own and you have to be aware of that( that research is required).Basically my whole programme is all about reserach and critical thinking. Lectures will give out questions about a topic we never studied before and say " Figure this out, talk to your friends. Its good for you". Meaning– no1- study before you come to class. n0 2- dont be such asnobbish person.share your knowlefge.help each other out.

Discusssion play a starring role in my course. Presumably , these canadian teachers brought their traits benefited from american education system and decided to practice it here.Not-so-bright people here are very lucky, as they will always be helped out through discussions or aiding peers.
One thing i notice about the lectures is that they dont bother to look pretty in front of students. I’m implying the fact that there’s no brooding ego involved or  air of snobbishness which sometimes in previous encounters of such irritating existence, you seem to be afraid of making them look bad,to bruise their alter ego in  pointing out that " hey, you’re wrong right there,admit it, dont undermine me." .
But not here. They even make a fool of themselves.

       " My hearing is going, my eyesight is going, my hair is already gone. And let me add this negative sign before you get mad at me." 

Haha.You go Mr Anton Gillich.

P/s- Got a couple of friends now.