Touchdown.

Here I am, in a Subang Cyber Cafe. Who would have thought there would be a necesssity to step foot into one since I have always been provided with the luxuries of almost everything I asked for.
The stupid computer doesn't have Microsoft Word! Hate this place!


After years of expensive education
A car full of books and anticipation
I'm an expert on Shakespeare and knows a hell a lot
But the world don't need scholars as much as I thought.

My feelings about being a freshman in college has not been too different from entering the kindergarten and primary school. First day of school has never been quite auspicious for me. I have a reasonably equal mixture of feelings about college: fear and excitement just like the drink us Malaysians call 'cham' - a mixture of half coffee and half tea. For those of you who have not been to college, it really isn't too different from high school. There is no escape from homework, datelines, examinations and time tables. There aren't any uniforms which made it increasingly hard for anyone like me to think of what to wear the following day. Student IDs are always around the neck just like our nametags when we were in high school.

My orientation starts tomorrow. So, i do not exactly know what awaits me behind the doors of the college but I am not looking forward to it.

Until then mates, ...
Happy New Year.

Cheers.

A college degree is not a sign that one is a finished product but an indication a person is prepared for life.
Reverend Edward A. Malloy, Monk's Reflections

[[ music ]] Twenty Somthing - Jamie Cullum
[[ mood ]] cynical

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Thistles

Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men
Thistles spike the summer air
And crackle open under a blue-black pressure.

Every one a revengeful burst
Of resurrection, a grasped fistful
Of splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up

From the underground stain of a decayed Viking.
They are like pale hair and the gutturals of dialects.
Every one manages a plume of blood.

Then they grow grey like men.
Mown down, it is a feud. Their sons appear
Stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground.

-- Ted Hughes

Ah...
Life, they say is not a bed of roses. Then, life I say is a bed of weeds.

‘Thistles’ is one of the very first poems I have studied very carefully in class and it’s one of my favorites. Beautiful … just simply beautiful.

English Literature is not my strength; it’s an interest at first, and now, it’s an obsession. There is just so much energy in literature that I just couldn’t get my mind off it.

Cheers.

[[ music ]] Goodbye, Farewell - The Von Trapp Children
[[ book ]] Touched With Fiere compiled by Jack Hydes
[[ mood ]] sleepy

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There I was in Literature class today with my discussion group. The poem for the day was 'The Telephone' by Robert Frost. Then, my name was called by the lecturer (AM).

I walked and stood in front of her.

AM: Hmm... Foo. Sit.
I sat down. She was flipping through my essays and then looked up.
AM: So, how's everything?
Me: Alright.
AM: Everything is alright. Your language is ok.Your essays are ok. I think you are getting it.
I smiled.
AM: Have you done literature before?
Me: No.
AM: You are not a very verbal person, are you?
Me: That is one way of putting it.
AM: Because, I noticed how quiet you were in the groups. I guess quieter people are more observant.
I smirked.
AM: But, there are thoughts going on up there.
I grinned.
AM: Are you taking four or three subjects?
Me: Four.
AM: How are the other subjects? Alright?
Me: So far so good.
AM: It's all about consistency. I guess you can just keep it up. You're getting there.
Me: Thank you.

Sighs of relief! Just a day a go, I was contemplating that she just might reject my essays. She didn't!

Things just don't change, do they mates? I'm still giving the mono word replies to questions. Still not very 'verbal'. Always appear to be in a contemplative state. Silent.

For me, literature is a completely new thing for me. I have never read a Shakespeare play, read a Gray poem and never knew what Ozymandias is. It's a who by the way.

I guess, that is why classes seem to be so exciting. Everyday, it offers me a look at a different angle at a poem. How poets approach a certain theme, what methods are used and what the message is. It's just more abstract to me than to other people in the class.
I can spend hours looking at the poem trying to figure it out.

There is so much in a poem that I do not see. I guess that's what make it so exciting.

Literature is just like any other science subject. How a poet writes a poem is exactly like how a scientist would conduct an experiment. How you dissect a frog is how you try to understand a poem. How you find the conclusion is how the message of a poem is found.

Pick up a poem mates. However boring it may appears, you'd be surprise to find what it means and how beautifully it is constructed.


p/s :I got The Sound Of Music tickets already.

Cheers.


"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Thomas Gray.

[[ music ]] Think Of Me
[[ mood ]] contemplative

1 comments

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned in life: It goes on."
-Robert Frost


Cheers mates!

[[ music ]] Shall We Dance - Jamie Cullum
[[ book ]] Touched By Fire - Jack Hydes
[[ mood ]] sleepy

1 comments