Not that my journalistic tendencies are starting to be superseded by unoriginal self-storytelling, but it's been a long day, and I'm really exhausted. Uni's a real drag on Mondays, starting at 8am and ending at 4pm, with only a couple hours in between for rest, and even that is normally dedicated to work or settling important affairs. At least it's better than Monday last semester, which was 8 to 5, without a single hour free in between.

Where is this leading? Well alright, today was my lab practical for Ecology and Environment. I've been in uni two weeks and already this is developing into my favourite subject. Whilst many rookies are groaning at the workload and assessment propotioning, I have been basking in the warm afterglow of the Announcement. The announcement which says 50% of our assessment will be comprised of two field assignments! Finally, field research! Something that I can really dig my digits into.

In case you, the reader, haven't yet read my first post, I am a nature and ecology fanatic. Not a tree-hugger or a vegan or anything radically extremist like that, just a real scientific aficionado. I have been a naturalist at heart since I was three. My other friends were into whatever trend hit the mainstream market at the time. I just told myself I didn't need that shit [in better terms, of course, I was only four] and for the very most part I stuck to birdwatching, observing insects and tending to the aquarium and the myriad things I kept around the house that did nothing good apart from make the maid scream. And those were just the plastic ones. [The scorpion in the coal bucket and the snake in the neighbour's driveway are priceless memories]. Even when I succumbed to the mainstream and bought Power Rangers figurines it was really more for the sake of seeing the killer and blue whale toys I had drown them in the bathtub [though my Dad would really have you believe otherwise. He still likes to cling to the vestiges of the notion that for that brief fleeting moment I actually behaved like a normal kid. Let's humour him, poor man]. I often immersed myself in little projects which, if you look at them, were actually rather scientific. I used to, for instance, count the population of snails in the garden when the garden was wet or dry. And as I grew, so my understanding of scientific method contined to expand, and I devised more complex experiments, such as counting the relative abundance of different birds in the neighbourhood according to habitat viability.

It was somewhere around the age of 10 that I first discovered the meaning of the term 'marine biologist'. I was instantly hooked, and it has been my ambition to graduate as one ever since. It seems my interest and ties to the natural kingdom know no bounds, and it is just as apt that the scheme of things has managed to put many a bothersome obstruction in my way. Despite my apparent passion for Science I could never study it. I'll admit I was at best a mediocre student, who fit like a square peg in a round hole in most education systems. I even very nearly failed altogether to enter the preliminary Bachelor of Science in UQ, having failed one of the assessment requirements in Foundation Year. It seemed such that even when I aimed for excellence I'd never achieve it. Nevertheless my passion contined unabated. I managed to remedy my past misfortunes the previous semester, and now I'm finally where I always wanted to be.

Now I have my first opportunity to put all that I used to do for fun into an academic subject and use it in a really practical context for the first time. We have two projects, one standard project done by everyone who takes the subject, and another chosen from a list of four, which I am doing with my friend Alex as partners and will make up the bulk of the assessment for the subject. This latter project leaves me with a sense of deja vu: analysing the relative abundance of fruit flies according to habitat; I had conducted a most similar experiment in my own little garden involving snails. This is by no means an assurance I will ace the subject, much as I would like to. There are many mitigating circumstances involved, any one of which could prove potentially detrimental to the entire scheme. Still, we've planned our layout and our strategy, and with the knowledge and expertise behind me, I think we're well prepared. And most poignant of all, this project will stand as a proud monument of emotion in my heart. I am finally, living the dream.

Seeing as it's early days yet, I figure I'd elaborate on a couple of my general interests a bit more. And since the World Cup has just drawn to a close, I guess I'll write this post about one of my true passions, football.

It must seem rather unusual that someone as nerdy as myself would even consider taking up a contact sport like football. After all it does involve a great deal of physicality, technical skill and tactical awareness. I must admit I came into the sport very recently, only about three years ago in fact. Before then I was pretty much the archetypal nerd-ish sort: gangly, physically uncoordinated and a total bookworm. I'll also admit that not much has changed since then, but ever since I got captivated by the sport I've been able to achieve a sort of balance.

My Dad had always tried to get me interested in the sport. Even when I was three, I remember he used to sit me in front of the TV with him and say :"Look son, that's football." The World Cup was on that year, and I vaguely remember a couple of names, Maradona, Milla, Lineker. Considering how involved I am with the sport now, it's hard to think my Dad failed to get me interested for sixteen years. So it was an irony that it was the World Cup in 2002 that sparked it all off. Having done much of the pushing Dad seemed to try a more passive approach. He left an official guide on the car seat a couple of weeks before the tournament began. I picked it up and read it, and I was hooked. Even so it was still another two years before I got convinced to join the playground gang.

It's almost a law that footballers always start from the top of the field and work their way down, and I followed accordingly. I started off as a striker, and the initial signs were actually good. I scored twice in my very first game, and nearly did in my second. It actually seemed easy, wait in the middle and stick a foot out when the ball came. But then came a 4 month long goal drought, during which time I worked my way down to become a very poor midfielder, to a fair left winger, to a good defender. I'm still trying to overcome my physical shortcomings as a person and a player, but I think I'm getting better. The best thing about football is physical excersise apart, there's many valuable life lessons to be learnt: how to work and contribute to a team effort, determination to better oneself, how to lose well, and above all, to have fun doing it.

This semester my housemates and I have enrolled ourselves and some friends in the UQ seven-a-side league. This means that for the first time I will be able to genuinely contribute to an actual team. Till now we have spent the last two months playing amongst the local playground groups, learning and improving. There is now a sort of cohesion within the immediate group which I feel will prove pivotal. As is in all great teams, team chemistry is vital. I know that I have a long way to go to be able to call myself truly worthy of this level, but I'm sure as hell determined to try. Injuries aside, and I've had a fair few, I can expect to be able to find much inspiration in this endeavour, and better myself as a player.


*There will be updates on the games we play and I shall highlight our progress as a team in due course.

My first photo post. Where do I come from, some might ask? Ah, a clue, Sherlock! Well alright, I come from Malaysia, born in bonny fine Kuala Lumpur, and have lived there all my life, excluding of course the preceding year and a half I've spent in Brisbane.

OK, seeing as most of the people who will view this 'blog' are born or living in KL anyway I'll admit this photo post is a little pointless, but rest assured I'll be putting some other nice ones up in dues course. I'll reiterate that I won't be putting any crap images up on this site nor any camwhoring images, seeing as I don't even take
those. Only good photos here, people!

Seeing as this is my second post, I would have liked to have used this as an opportunity to relate more about myself. However contemporary turn of events mean I feel compelled to write about an issue which has clearly captivated the world over the past few weeks

What is an occasion on the grand scheme of things but a fleeting moment? Yet there are so many which are well nigh catastrophic and seem to beckon humanity toward the brink of despair. Case in point: the war between Lebanon and Israel. Or to be exact, Israel's grudge match against everyone and everything. This is the political equivalent of a gangfight in a dark alley, an event where the thing one rival gang member said to the other is being avenged. Worst of all the mudslinging from both sides has caught up thousands of people who did nothing more wrong than live in the wrong apartment building.

This is one of those events which everyone loves to pontificate about, which side is in the more wrong, who's supporting whom; conspiracy theorists abound like sweat on a pig's back in midsummer, and of course everyone is quick to express their outrage over a real storm in a teacup situation. Many realise, but few consider, however, the absolute humanity of the situation. This is no doubt a senseless war, unleashed by an arrogant nation under a cowboy leader who rages over a lost penny under the slightest of provocations while perhaps maintaining a hidden agenda or two. It is all too easy to take sides with Lebanon at this point, or indeed with Israel, wherever your sentiments lie. It is astounding then that while we focus our attentions on the side we favour, we forget that on the other side are equal human beings, dragged into a conflict they knew nothing of, did not desire and could not prepare for. Even the soldiers, it is apparent, seem very reluctant and confused about the whole situation. This was clearly a war which nobody wanted, and as always is under situations of war, it is always the civilian population that sustains the hardest blows.

Today I was moved to tears seeing more news of Israeli soldiers dying, Lebanese people mutilated and cities being reduced to panic at the mere sight of overhead aircraft, while young men chanted support for Hizbollah in the streets. So much anger, so much hatred. One side against the other. Today reports confirmed the first death of an Australian in the conflict, a young Jewish soldier who left Sydney to enlist with the Israeli army. The news interviewed one of the rabbis of the Sydney synagogue, and he talked about the loss of a young man known throughout the Jewish community-famous for being a tight-knit and internally familiar one- as a quiet student and a star basketball player. I had never cried watching the news before, but as image after image of exploding buildings, fragmentised lives and angry youth it all became too much to bear. It just impacted me that in the torrent of the travailous news we hear every day we have become desensitised to the humanity that is individually lost. Here was a boy, a human being who but for his deeds was no less a human being than any other.

Cynics would say we are fated by the choices we make and we deserve the outcome of the situations we make for ourselves. The bare truth is no human life has ever deserved being lost in the circumstances of battle. There is no dignity in losing one's life, only in living it, and it is our deeds and actions that determine the loss of our dignity. As long as man fights man there will always be lives lost without fulfilled purpose. That in its sense is the proof that man will never stand beyond or over the standards of other common animals. We err out of our delusions, and it is our biggest delusion that we are in any way above and beyond the fundamental behavioural principles of nature, which will continue to lead us on the path to our downfall.

O-kay. Hello. Welcome. I'll admit this is about the most techy thing I've ever done, and I'm substantially more astounded and mildly amused than proud of it at the moment. It'll sink in. But okay, on to formal matters. Seeing as this is my first and introductory post, I understand it's a bit long, but if you, the reader, can bear with this for a while you can understand the framework within which my mind operates, and it will be my pleasure to see you repeat your visits on many occasions.

I'm just one of the multitudes of bloggers I have ironically ranted against on several occasions. Not wanting to seem too hypocritous, I'll try my best to provide as intellectual and objective an opinion as anyone can hope to provide.

My manifesto: 1) I am a grammar Nazi. So don't expect too many short form words or shite articles. I pride myself on a rich vocabulary [the phrontistery is my friend] and an elite English education, so for those perfectionists out there, well. I mean, if I'm going to put something up where potentially billions of people can readily access and peruse its material contents I figure I may as well do a good job. And for those conscious people out there, yes I do swear on my posts, but as a born diplomat I do believe in keeping this to a minimum, so it doesn't distort the quality of my posts.

2) I write. A lot. I tend not so much to briefly opine as to rant in thousand-word essays and theses. Being the considerate anthropomorph that I am I will try to cut down on the length of posts, but be prepared to make some of my posts your nightly pre-bedtime read. This is not to mean the worth of the opinions I provide are diluted however. As I said I will try to provide an opinion that is worth your, the reader's, while to read. Nevertheless some of the boring details of my everyday existentiality are key subplots to a great many of the posts I will author, and it is my hope that you, the reader, will understand that the intermezzos are as integral as the climacticos, crescendoes and finales. In the best of moods my wit is unrivalled by anyone in my bedroom, so no guarantees, but hope for the best.

3)My interests. In order to understand this 'blog' it is imperative you, the reader realise my passions in life, so you'll know to get out quickly if this site bores you. First, trivia. Basically all forms of knowledge. I read like a library probably does after hours, and while I don't claim to know everything, I was always brought up to know a lot. So, unlike many 18 year old Malaysians I try to read up on many things which wouldn't ordinarily interest most people in the same age group. Religion, philosophy, nature, it blows through my mind like a gale, and yes, I will use a fair amount if the time is right.

Second, classical music. I am NOT, a modern music fan. Do NOT, ever ask for anything more than a negative opinion [and a thousand word rant] about the great largesse of modern music. My passion is Respighi, Bach and Mascagni. While I'm no great musical theorist [I quit in Grade 3 eight years ago] I will provide opiniated layman's reviews of selected pieces from time to time. Classical and instrumental [and no, Bond does NOT count!] form 99% of the music I listen to. Now you know.

Third, nature. I am, and always have been, a passionate naturalist and praise, I am now undertaking an opportunity to carry on in serious academic fashion, and am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Marine Biology in the University of Queensland, Australia. While nature may not figure much in most of my posts, you, the reader may understand why I will seem to discuss it so whole-heartedly if it does.

Fourth, public speaking. I did it a fair amount, was average, but I like the feel of being able to put forth an opinion, though there's a cynical side that says no one cares, whatever. It takes some skill and ability to carry forth an opinion, and while I may not do it the best I try, and it rubs off in many aspects of my writing. Because of that I love enhancing my vocabulary, and I LOVE Scrabble. My only board game. My children will play Scrabble.

Fifth, football. I watch, and I play. Hah, and you thought this was the website of your average weak pasty-faced nerd! And no, I will NOT call it soccer, I don't play soccer, I play football. And yes, I am elitist that way. I took it up about 3 years ago, and I was never really athletic, so I'm still not very good, but I don't think I'm half bad either. I'm blessed by being two-footed, and I can play most positions, indeed I often go through the lot of them in a single game. I don't support a single team, but more on all that later.

Sixth, gourmet. I have very, very learned taste. I was brought up to dine with kings and eat with vagabonds, to quote my grandfather, so I'll eat just about anything that isn't spicy [my only weakness]. I consider myself a sort of amateur sommelier, so a good drink will make me happy. And no, I did not pick that up from watching Sideways. I haven't watched Sideways.

Lastly, photography. Mostly nature, indeed I have logged nearly 20,000 photos since I got the family's first digital camera 4 years ago. I know I'm no expert, and I will not try to embiggen myself by posting all my crap here like so many bloggers do. I am no camwhore either, so don't expect to see any cheesy pics of myself in stupid positions anytime soon.

Well that's about it for now. If you're terrified of the prospect of ever returning to this webpage feel free to leave and never patronise it again. My main motto in life is "Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind" so productive or otherwise your opinion will be respected, but it won't affect me [love confessions of a mutual nature and declarations of open praise excepted of course]. It is my wish that I open out my heart to you, the readers, and that we all take away a little something that may inspire us in some unknown moment in our lives. This is a site of opinion, and I wish to share some parts of my life that connects us all to the matrix that is the Universe. So, here's to my blog, and I hope, a good experience.