Taken a few years ago, somewhere in West Malaysia.
Photographs that speak louder than words
02
Dec
One of the dorm buildings at Brandeis University. Yes, it’s a castle.
The John Harvard statue at Harvard Yard, when the campus was supposedly “going green”
MSLS 2009, where every one dressed up smartly just to take pictures.
I helped her win some pretty nice stuff. But I found out I can’t draw with lipstick in my mouth whilst bending down.
My sister’s wedding night, about half a decade ago. Now…
There’s Dylan,
Amelia, and….
Ryan, who joined the family on 16 November 2009.
Being Obsessesive. Being Compulsive. And Being In Order.
02
Dec
When I was studying psychology in college, I remember the very lengthy chapter and lecture on OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I found that interesting. I think I laughed at the things some people with OCD do.
But, wait. We’re all a bit OCD in some way, right?
If I put on my right shoe before I put on the left, I feel so uncomfortable. After walking a few steps, I need to take off both shoes, and then put on the left shoe first. Then the right. Then I feel at ease.
Before I study, my desk area must be neat and tidy. Because if it isn’t, I end up putting aside all my work to tidy up my desk. Which slowly turns into a massive spring-cleaning session in my room.
When walking along a sidewalk, or on a path, or on any surface for that matter, I don’t like stepping on anything that look like stains, patches of whatevers, fallen leaves, or even tiles that are dirty. It usually looks like I’m dancing.
And oh, I like reading and typing phone text messages in full, with proper punctuation etc. Wastes space, but it’s just more fun that way.
I do other random silly and interesting things. But I don’t bother remembering them well enough to write them here. I just thought of writing this because although I should have been working on my thesis paper, I spent the whole morning cleaning up my room. I also cooked vegetable soup for lunch. Which has nothing to do with OCD. But I like the fact that I actually cooked vegetable soup for lunch.
Now what’s for dinner?
The Blind shall see.. some day.
30
Nov
Last week (or was it the week before?), as I was walking back from Leverett House at Harvard, I saw nearly 15 pairs of students, all male, carrying out some kind of activity. Bear in mind that this was around midnight. They were all dressed up fancily, in their nice dark blue blazers with their iconic crimson Harvard neckties. In each pair, one guy was leading another who was blindfolded, walking slowly around the streets of Harvard University. Yeah, it was one of those games we played in high school, the “Do You Trust Me?” games. They were doing all sorts of silly things, like turning them around 20 times and stopping them and then asking them to walk 10 steps forward, something like that. Silly, but I am sure it was done with a perfectly good purpose. After all, it is Harvard. Try sense my tone if you want.
Instantly I thought of “The Blind Leading The Blind.” Then I started wondering which guy was actually the blind one. The guy blindfolded, or the one helping out the blindfolded guy? Both seemed equally blind to me. Again, sense my tone if you want.
I started thinking about how friends give advice to each other. When one friend goes through some rough times, the other friend would usually be there, giving advice and comfort. Yet I sometimes wonder if we really should listen to the advice our friends give us. Most of the time they are just there to comfort you in your time of misery. Are they actually in a position to give sound advice? Blind leading the blind, again. I usually take advice from my own inner voice. Say what you want.
Then I thought back to my trip to Pattaya in 2007. I was there for half a month, where I volunteered to spend time with many wonderful children. Some of them were homeless, most of them without a family. Some were deaf, some were blind, and some were too old to be in school but could not even write their own names. What touched me tremendously was my time spent with the blind children. We took them out to the seaside. I thought the day would just be me and the children playing on the sand having fun. But they wanted to play in the sea. Blind kids playing in the sea? Instant panic alert for me. What should I do? And how?
But they had so much fun being in the water, feeling the fierce waves crushing into them. They enjoyed it because they couldn’t tell when the waves were coming. I could see the waves coming, and yet I was scared. They were smiling and laughing the whole time. I felt so stupid.
Then we brought them back to the school for blind children. What I saw there was totally unexpected.
You want to talk about the blind leading the blind?
Literally, yes, the blind were leading the blind. All over the school, the blind kids would lead the other newer blind students around the compound. All happy faces, and only one bewildered face. That was my face. I kept saying “wow” over and over again.
Seriously, who would have thought!
Blindly walking through life,
Time For Miracles
30
Nov
I enjoyed the movie, and loved the theme song at the end when the credits were rolling. Adam Lambert, impressive.
One Day More
30
Nov
Today is Monday.
Tomorrow is Tuesday.
Tomorrow is Tuesday, my last day of class for the semester! And then I have until December 11 to pass up my final assignment which is my thesis on Handel. And then I can sleep late, wake up late, and dance in the snow (if it snows).
I have lots of work to do, but I need to wait till the last minute to do it, or else I’d feel guilty starting so early.
Tick tock,
Can you Handel a Messiah?
30
Nov
Handel’s Messiah is one of my favourite works in classical choral music. I don’t really know why I like it. It doesn’t have the catchiest tunes, and neither does it have the best arrangements. Still, it is one of those works in music that has stood the test of time, and passed with flying colours. The famous Hallelujah Chorus comes from this work. And my favourite melismatic motifs come from For Unto Us A Child Is Born, found in Part I of Messiah. If you don’t know what I am talking about, and you are in Kuala Lumpur, then the poster above is for you.
I performed Messiah with the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus recently too. My first time in a real tuxedo. Tuxedos are not very common in Malaysia somehow.
If you are not in Kuala Lumpur, I wouldn’t be surprised if Handel’s Messiah will be performed somewhere near you. It is, after all, something that is presented during the Christmas season every year without fail.
And don’t forget to get up on your feet when you hear the Hallelujah Chorus!
(From wikipedia)
In many parts of the world, it is the accepted practice for the audience to stand for this section of the performance. Tradition has it that King George II rose to his feet at this point. As the first notes of the triumphant Hallelujah Chorus rang out, the king rose. Royal protocol has always demanded that whenever the monarch stands, so does everyone in the monarch’s presence. Thus, the entire audience and orchestra stood too, initiating a tradition that has lasted more than two centuries. It is lost to history the exact reason why the King stood at that point, but the most popular explanations include:
- As was and is the custom, one stands in the presence of royalty as a sign of respect. The Hallelujah chorus clearly places Christ as the King of Kings. In standing, King George II accepts that he too is subject to Lord of Lords.
- He was so moved by the performance that he rose to his feet.
- He arrived late to the performance, and the crowd rose when he finally made an appearance.
- His gout acted up at that precise moment and he rose to relieve the discomfort.
- After an hour of musical performance, he needed to stretch his legs.
All we like sheep,
Tuesdays With Morrie
29
Nov
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
-W.H. Auden
Snooze me, please
22
Nov
So this is what I have been doing lately, at least for the past 4 weeks.
I set my alarm one hour before the actual time I want/need to wake up. Because I like waking up thinking “oh, I still have another hour to sleep”.
Then I snooze every 9 minutes (I use a Sony Ericsson phone), and keep hitting the snooze button until I see that an hour has passed.
The wonderful thing is that I get such wonderful dreams and actually sleep very well in those several 9 minutes across that hour gap. Another wonderful thing is that I somehow already know when an hour has passed without looking at the time. Even more wonderful is that my hands somehow know exactly where the snooze button is, and I don’t even need to open my eyes. What scares me is that one day, I accidentally hit the OFF button. Then, I’m screwed!
I love being a snoozer.
Because I wake up thinking I’ve had an extra hour of sleep.
The things I do.
I bet you I am not the only one.
Finally wide awake and ready to Facebook work,
Inspire me, please.
20
Nov
Papers I need to write and complete in the next two weeks (and yes, over Thanksgiving break!):
1. “Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece: Finding the Muse of Modern Western Music”
2. “Understanding Masculinity in Handel’s Operas”
3. “some random topic I haven’t had the time to think of but it is related to music before 1600… topics 1 and 2 are my priority now”
The joys of wanting to excel in life: priceless.
In need of inspiration,
Falling
10
Nov
It’s fall. Or autumn. Depends which dictionary you use.
The leaves have been diligently doing their part, showing the clear signs that colder days are upon us. Soon. And I don’t know what to make of it.
Should I be happy that the view outside my window will be nothing but shades of white and, white? Actually, I am excited that winter is creeping in slowly. My mind kind of follows the seasons too. I feel like I’m falling most of the time. In a good way. I am getting sleepier more easily thanks to the 4:30pm sunsets. This means I feel like I’m spending the entire night working on assignments and doing what I call work, but other people call it “spending too much time watching TV series online.”
Anyway, what do they know? :P
I’ll be in Atlanta for the Christmas holidays. I have no time to get excited over that yet. On the left side of my desk right now are books that I borrowed from the library. All sorts of books. About 100 books. They make me feel smart. I wonder what I make them feel like. On the other side of my desk, I have my laptop which acts as my life support system. I don’t know what I would do without it. Thank you Apple.
It’s been a happy last few months here. This semester has been keeping me on my toes. Literally. I run from one building on campus, to another building on the other side of campus. A hilly campus, may I add. But that’s only Tuesdays. And Fridays. Other days I work on campus. Need the money to buy groceries. And the occasional new printer when my old one broke down suddenly. It was free; it came when I got the MacBook. Still.
I haven’t blogged much lately. I have my reasons.
No I won’t bother explaining my reasons.
Till we meet again,
Mat Salleh aka Dom
Since I’ve Been Gone…
02
Aug
Since my last post, many things have happened:
1. I flew back to Malaysia for the summer – and surprised a handful of people. I love surprising people, and I love planning surprises even more! So I decided not to announce my return to a few people and ended up giving a few people a wonderful and pleasant surprise. I love making people happy.. so call me if you need help to plan a surprise party! :P
2. I went back to KK to see my wonderful parents and sister and her adorable kids. Got to see the new condo that my parents moved into after I left for Boston. A lovely new place I shall call my home because my mum says my room will always be there for me.
3. The King of Pop left us for a (hopefully) better place.
4. Yasmin Ahmad left us for (I am very sure) a better place. Now Malaysians truly understand the power of her abilities to make us think about our identities. Many of my friends who were unaware of her work are suddenly appreciative of her brilliance.
5. I have started to think about whether I am truly solely a cat lover – or not. I always thought I was nothing else but a cat lover (as opposed to a dog lover). But a few days ago when my housemate brought her dog to the vet, I was forced to look after the dog at the back seat of the car. I was annoyed at first, but my heart melted when the mongrel looked into my eyes and then put her head on my lap. Maybe I could be a dog lover too. Still discovering myself I suppose :)
6. I got to see many friends again – the “US gang”.
7. Managed to catch up with a few long lost friends from many years ago. It is always nice to talk about the good old days when handphones were bigger in size, and color screens were only in sci-fi movies.
8. I have started reading up on behavioral economics – releasing the humble geek in me.
9. Oh, I was in New York for a week before coming back to Malaysia. Will write more about that some day soon.. I love NYC.
10. Love you all more. WIll be updating more frequently now.
Turning the lights off,
Mat Salleh aka Dom
Microwaved Lessons
10
May
Microwaving food over the past few months here in Boston has taught me many important life lessons. For example, foods containing liquid, sugar and fat cook faster. So I should reduce the cooking time by 1/4 of conventional cooking and then gradually increase. Bet you didn’t know that. Or, also, it’s unwise to microwave the dishes covered in aluminum foil or any metallic material because this might generate sparks.
However, I think the most important lesson my microwave has taught me, is that it’s a stupid excuse when we say we don’t have enough time to do our work or to call an old friend or to work on our assignments. We always like to blame time: “there just isn’t enough time!”
But my microwave taught me that there is always enough time.
How did that happen? Here, let me explain.
I put in my spaghetti bolognese into a microwaveable bowl, and heat it up for 3 minutes. I then go from the kitchen to my room, get on my laptop, and reply an email that I should have done earlier. I then clean up my desk because it’s messy from all the pseudostudying studying I’ve been doing. Then I send an SMS to a friend telling him I’ll be meeting him for dinner. I walk back to the kitchen… and wait! There’s still 50 seconds left. What?? It felt like it took me 20 minutes to send that email. clean up my desk, and then send an SMS. I quickly go back to my room to gather the rubbish in my trash bin and put it outside. ‘Beeeeeep’ – the food’s been heated up. 3 minutes. I did all that in 3 minutes?
It made me realize that I can actually get a lot done in just one minute. I always thought one minute was useless and if I had one minute left to do something, I’d just say… never mind, I don’t have enough time.
But the microwave made me think about how precious one minute can actually be. Imagine taking that one minute and multiplying it by 10. You’d get ten minutes! (duh). And that means I could get ten times more things done. (duh!).
I have a deeper resepct for time now. There’s always enough time to do what I need to do. The microwave taught me that. Of all things.
Movie Posters and Weird People
05
May
When bored people gather, weird things happen.
But, we’ve got to do something to keep us alive.
So here’s an attempt that my friend, Emily, and I made to imitate the Twilight movie poster. Of course it is not quite identical, but close enough, don’t you think?
Then Su Ann and I took a friendly innocent picture together. But I had no idea she actually had this movie in mind!?! Su Ann, shame on you!! :P
All in the name of fun,
MatSalleh aka Dom
Thanks Carol for taking the pictures – the weird people pictures, not the movie posters. :)
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