Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Nazran's Tuesday: Getting The Pieces Back Together

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Pergh, emo seyh ko Nazran.
Well, ignore the emo-ish post title. Today is actually kinda positive...although I hate to admit it was not as productive as the past Tuesday. *sigh* Really, home is THE PLACE where productivity went to die.

So, I start off the day by waking up from my well-earned 12 hours sleep. Why? Because last night, I read through several long economics and psychology article that piqued my interest (See? I told you I'm quite nerdish) But even with a 12 hours sleep, I can't really see the benefits of it; it is exactly the same as my 6 hours sleep. Oh well.

So, today's theme is GETTING BACK MY SHIZZZZZZZ~~!

Wait, what?
I realized that these past months, I lost my touch in a lot of things. So today is the day where I identify and hopefully find out a solution to get back my touch.

1. Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO)

How does GTO have to do with getting back my touch? To answer that, you need to know what GTO is all about. Basically, it's an anime where Onizuka, an ex-gang member strives to become the greatest teacher ever. One thing to highlight is his unique teaching methods and ideology. Like how he acknowledge the skill of a student who photoshopped pictures of Onizuka doing indecent acts. This acknowledge is something that student wants and that said student became his friend. He inspired people while...well becoming his self. He did care of anything BUT his students and people that he cares.

Reflecting back, I once am like Onizuka. I went to each person striving to understand them better and somehow inspire them. But lately ever since I graduated from high school, I find myself becoming a little more self-centered. Everything is about me where as it's supposed to be 'we'. My 'friends' are 'friends' and nothing more where as before, friends are FRIENDS; special and meaningful.

Wow, such moment of epiphany. *shudders*

2. Health and Wellness

Yes, I gained weight. Like 15 kg of weight since highschool. Really, how can one guy gained that much of weight just by eating normally at home? Okay fine, I do eat supper...wait no, suppers...like 1 kg of nuggets worth of supper...okay fine, I indulge sometimes...like....twice a week? or maybe thrice?....er....

I'm screwed

And it is something I lost. No longer I can jog for 30 minutes without ending up half dead at the end. No longer I can sprint that my slimmer counterparts actually intimidated by me. No longer I can brag "I'm once fat, now I'm slimmer than before!". No longer will my mak cik and pak cik at kampung will praise "Eh Nazran, dah kurus!" No longer will the girls flaunt me saying "Nazran, share ar tips camne nak kurus"

TIME TO GET IT BACK

So, I went out for a jog :)
With the girls
...
Like 8 girls...
And I'm the only guy
...
Awesome right?
But damn weyh! It's freaking embarrassing!
Why?
Because logically, assuming you're a well informed samaritan and you saw a lone plumpy guy with the looks of a 5 on the Handsomeness scale walking down the road surrounded by 8 girls, what are your thoughts? It is either
1) He is babysitting his sister and her friends
2) He's gay
3) He's a hired bodyguard
4) He's gay
5) He's lost and venture too far out into the girl's territory
6) He's gay

EXACTLY!
I'M FREAKING STRAIGHT, AS STRAIGHT AS SELAT MELAKA! (Get it? Straits of Melaka? No? heh)
But the looks, weyh! The judgmental looks I received along the road gave me shivers down my spine and pierce my maniless...somehow.

Ehem, anyways~

I went for a jog..yeah...

Oh and Eli, Ee Wern and I invented a new way to play badminton. But we sucked so in the end, we look more like a few headless chickens running around with rackets (ef u British english) in our hand.

Wait, so the point of this subsection is telling how awesome you went to the park as a lone guy with 8 girls?

Of course...oh, and to get back my health too.

It's something, right?

Oh yeah, PICTURE TIME!
The consequences of not turning off your swag when you go to the park

Wait, just two?
Sheesh kan dah cakap, hari ni tak produktif!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Nazran's Thursday: Repaying Debts

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Yes, nazranvision signature Google images opening picture

It's time for....

Nazran's Thursday!!!
Theme: Debts

I'm famous for my plans. Really. I made a lot of plan. Like A LOTS OF PLANS. (yeah, it deserved to be bold and caps-ed) For example, that avant garde plan to remap SMSS or that plan to go busking with Jasmine or that plan to finish writing ReGenesis or that plan to update nazranvision everyday other day. And most of the times, these plans either remain dormant in the vast space of my incredible mind or gathers dust as it remains incomplete. Hence, the theme of this Thursday: DEBTS, as in repaying those 'debts' or 'plans I made but never seen the lights of completion'.

So, what debts did I repay today?

1. Sleep Debts
I always planned to repay my sleep debts and recalibrate my sleep cycle (aka circadian cycle for you bio-freaks out there). Attempts to recalibrate it has failed due to ineffective sleep. So, to start off the day, I slept in. Yes, people. I slept in.

Wait, won't it mess up your circadian cycle even further?
Well, logically, yeah.
But I read an article saying 'sleeping in during day offs can recalibrate your sleep cycle and increase your energy level' so, let's test that out.

The results: I officially started at 12pm

Oh yeahhhhhhhh

2. Have Lunch with the Pets
Since last semester, I always promised the Petronas dudes to have lunch together with them. Like most of my plans, it didn't get to be projected into reality. So today, I shall have lunch with them!

At 12 -something, I went down to the bus stand and waited for bus/taxi to go to Casa Subang. A taxi was there when I arrived. Thanking my good luck for today, I opened the taxi door with a smile.

N: Uncle, Summit boleh?
TD: Summit hah?.....RM10.
N: Eh, meter tak boleh uncle?
TD: Sekarang ni jam lah, adik. RM10
N: (Oi, kol 12 mana jam. Aku tau ar aku pernah dok sana dulu) Tak pe ar uncle. 

Hence, I said YOLO and walk allllllllll the way to Summit from SS15. In the hot noon sun. With a crappy shoe. 

And I reached Summit and had lunch with the Pets and a few more A-levels dudes.

PS: The KFC at Summit sucks. Like really. They do. Crappy quality. Slow service. Insufficient staff. I'd recommend eating at Subway. Better.

3. Spending Time with Kyou

For ages, I've been promising myself that I shall spend a lot of time with Kyou but day after day, I didn't really spend time with her. Okay, I do fantasize about spending time with her but that is also just a figment of my imagination, right? So today, I MUST spend time with her. I cleared up my 2-6pm just for her. I rejected invitations to go out (sorry guys!) because it is now or never to spend time with her.

I picked her up at Casa Subang and walked with her all the way to Summit. I swear many people just stare at the both of us, but I don't really care. I finally met Kyou and I'm gonna spend time with her.

When I reached First, I placed Kyou on my bed and just marvel at her beauty. But she is not as beautiful as before. Blemishes on her skin. Her croaky voice. Her misaligned joints.

I must do something.

I undressed her completely. Every piece of her, off. It was hard due to my inexperience and my lack of tools but I manage. From there, I fixed her up. I oiled her. Rubbed her with silicon cloth to make her shine. I tested out her every hole. I even wash her up to remove those blemishes.

After hours of tedious work, finally, Kyou is as beautiful as ever.

Kyou, in all her glory 

Among the holes I had tested. It was a little leaky so I fix it with a bit of plasticine
Her brand, although crappy, but I still love her
 So, that's Kyou, my saxophone for 6 (or was it 7?) years.

Wait, you're not thinking perverted stuff....are you?

4. UMich App


"Mentang-mentang deadline lambat, ko procrastinate ar?"

For ages, I've been holding off UMich application because I can't decide to send it which supplement. From 8-9pm, I went through everything and settled everything for this app.

And FINALLY!

DONE!



And with that, Nazran's Thursday is done!
Tune in for next week's Nazran's Tuesday.
Maybe I'm gonna learn Fruity Loops.
Hell yeah!
Then I put all my dubsteps here

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Nazran's Tuesdays: Prepare and Get Healthy...(yeah,right)

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I ran out of images to search at Google Images...sooooo yeah.

As promised, today will mark the first of Nazran's Tuesdays Special Project~

Yeyyy!
Wooohooo!!
Wee!!!
Haaaa...
Haa...
Ha......

Ehem
So, what's Nazran's Tuesday anyway? Well, it's my self initiated project where I'll do something every Tuesday. This will go hand in hand with Nazran's Thursdays; its partner project. Why did I initiate this project? Well, I was bored...and I want to find more in life. Yes, that's the sole reason of this whole project.

Anyways, let's move on to the actual content!

Today's Theme:
Preparations

As you may or may not know, I haven't really started my third semester yet. Today was supposed to be the first day of class but since yours truly has configure his own timetable to free up his Tuesdays and Thursday hence the existence of this very project. Therefore, thinking along this line, I should dedicate today as a day for me to prepare for college.

On Monday night, with a fired up spirit, I went to bed...
....
...
....
....
And I freaking overslept -.-

Great way to start my Tuesdays project eh?

Anyways, I did overslept resulting a lost of a full four hours of productive moments. But nevermind that, first up:

College Stuffs
Yes, college stuffs. I had TOO much fun at home that I forgot to reconfigure my stationaries and filing system. Perfect. So, around 11am, I decided to go to Subang Parade which is ten minutes away. As I arrived there, for some reason, I went to the cinema first. -.-

Oh god, Nazran. Priorities, man...priorities...

After a loooooooooooong detour, I arrived at MPH. And again, for some more obvious reason, I went straight to the self help section. I guess my priorities are really shaky, huh? So again, after a loooooong detour, (you know, there's a digital automatic labeling machine. It's SO FREAKING COOL) I bought exactly what I needed: various colored pens, testpads, open files, and most important of all: POST IT NOTES

And yet again, I took a loooooooong detour to the exit....only to realize my stomach churned in hunger. And thus, began Nazran's loooooooooong journey to find the perfect place to eat via economic analysis (No joke, I actually did think a loooooooooong time to analyse each options)

The reason why I need a girlfriend...*sigh*
Btw, every Tuesday, KFC's Snack Plate is 25% off. So, you know where to find me on Tuesdays.

Next up,
Work Station

Yes, my personal workstation is very important to me. There is where the most awesome-st ideas are created and nurtured to maturity from the mind of a genius (pfft)

With the help of the POST IT NOTES recently bought from MPH, I say my workstation looks neater.

And it's time for...
PICTURES~~~

Le me workstation from a far. (Nazranvision on the laptop)
The space beside my laptop to stick To-Do stuffs

Important daily notice to make my life more meaningful

The view of the glass-thingy filled with pictures, a SCANDAL concert ticket and Yuuki Asuna, expertly hand drawn
Last, but not least:
Health
Research had shown that a healthy body helps in reducing stress and boost intelligence (yes!), seeing myself in the mirror made me think, HOW THE HECK DID I GAINED 15kg????

I'm sadden that my body is not as healthy as it used to be. So, I need to change this. My strategy?

1. Diet
I opt for this health program from Herbalife. It did wonders to me in 2011 so, let us see if it will work again.
They didn't pay me a cent to advertise this
It's easy enough. Replace breakfast and dinner with their famous "Shake". Breakfast I think I can stick with it....Dinner....errrrr.....

Well, let us wait and see

2. Walk More

They said you need 10 000 steps daily to maintain your health. As mentioned above, those detours in Subang Parade could easily exceed that 10 000 steps (Come on, I lepak there from 11-2) Hence, the suggestion of walking from First Subang to Taylor's Lakeside Campus.

Supported wholly by my mother who took away my car privileges. 

3. Sports

There's a park situated strategically across my apartment. It's like the gods are telling me "Hey fat kid, go and exercise ar!" Today, I want to go and jog or something there....but I left my sports shoes at home. 

Too bad right?

Not until the girls invited me to the park...
...
...
...
You guys know my next course of action, right?
OFF TO THE PARK I GO~~~

It was fun. Played basketball with the girls (90% of them are basketball potatoes....including me) It was weird to be the single guy playing basketball (rather horribly) with a bunch of girls. Some guys may envy me. Some other guys will bahan me. *shrugs*

And I had an badminton match with Eli right after that. The results? 21-6...I'm the 6...
Hence the newly founded resolution: Beat Eli in badminton before sem finishes

Andddddd that's all for this time's Nazran's Tuesdays! Support me in my cause to find the happy side of life and maybe inspire people to reflect and improve their own lives as well (And making sure this project doesn't gather dust)

Tune in for Nazran's Thursdays!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

New Sem Resolution

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Anddddddddd it's

WINTER SEM


Which is kinda ironic considering there's no winter here in Malaysia. (It's summer 24/7)

Close eyes, open eyes (bad attempt of translating pejam, celik, pejam, celik) it has already been three semesters in Taylor's ADP. Can't believe this will be my last semester here. After that hectic and hellish Fall semester, Winter sem is the time of me to ENJOY. I mean, come on. I survived college apps, so I need to celebrate...right?

So, when my Winter timetable was released, my heart jumped in joy to see all three of my crucial subjects grouped together on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, leaving the lone Interpersonal Communications to fill up my Tuesday and Thursday. Great enough because I have more free time this sem.

But a crazy idea popped inside my mind. A moment of epiphany when (you guessed it) I took a 3 hours public transport ride back home. (It's KTM, self explanatory).

What if I drop IPC?
I will get my Tuesday and Thursday free

And it spiraled out of control from there. Imagine the possibilities if I had free time in the middle of a productive week? I can go see the world and stuff like that. I can leverage on 'passive learning' or learning via interactions with the world itself. I can continue writing my novel. I can go to the gym for the whole day. I can go to various malls and strike a conversation with a random chick. I can go volunteer at the zoo. I can go my school and do some tutoring session. I can go cook myself a homemade meal. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

Though my academic advisor was against it at first by saying "No, Nazran. You won't do it in the end." But I insist and so, with a sigh, she signed my Add/Drop form. "Fine, fine, do what you want. I believe in you"

SO!
I need your help and support to make sure my Tuesdays and Thursdays are filled with activities of any sorts.
Maybe it's something minor or some big event
I don't know. But I want to make it work.
I know
I'm bad at keep things going
But at least I try
Right?

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Social Links and Its Implications

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"The Bonds of People is the true power"

I spent a huge chunk of my sem break playing Persona 3 Portable and re-watching Persona 4: Animation (aside from the hair-tearing college apps) It was a huge bout of nostalgia because these two games changed my life's paradigm permanently.

Games changed my life?
Of course.
Childish?
Maybe, but the implications are too huge for me to ignore it.

You see, I hate humans before. 

I repeat, I HATE HUMANS. I got easily annoyed by humans in general except a several few of my close friends. The idea of making new friends and talking to stranger is a big No for me. No wonder I was a huge dork at that time. Socially awkward, unattractive and fat.

But playing Persona 3 in 2007 somehow changed me. In this game, there are two main parts: The Midnight Dungeon Crawler where you play just like normal RPGs and a dating sim-like game in the morning and afternoon. 

At first, I like the dungeon crawler part more than the dating sim part. I mean, come on. Killing demons and shadows with cool looking psychological manifestation of your inner desires is wayyyyyy cooler than interacting with humans (2D, but still) It was a chore. I need to do the dating sim part of the game because by forging 'SOCIAL LINKS', you can get more powerful and cooler attacks. Well, just skipping through the text will do.

But I didn't...
In fact, I stop and read through everything the character said. From that kid who ran away from human to that guy who has chronic illness at the shrine, I read their stories and interact promptly when the option came up. And I had my heart touched several times.
Before I knew it, I got attached to the characters in my screen. They were so real. They were lively. They were humans.
When I finished Persona 3 at one October night, I felt empty...No more characters to interact with...
I did attempted to replay it but hearing the same story again is not as good as hearing it for the first time...

But you see, people around me are SOCIAL LINKS. And I came to realize that. 

"Hey Naz, why don't you forge social links with people around you. Who knows, you might gain power." said my heart.

So, I did. As horribly as it went for the first time but it turns out well in the end. I remember when I became a part of the "Form Two DotA group" back in 2008, I feel so happy. My first big social link. And I took care of it. Just being in that group made my life somehow...meaningful...

For the first time, I love humans :)

And the rest is history...

I believe that who am I today is the result of cumulative influence by people around me aka the bonds that I have. I'm sure, if my friends and family changed even by one person, the Nazran today would be different.

So, I thank those who directly or indirectly influence me, whether you realize it or not.

And a shout out to those to read this.

See the world, the people around you. They have their story to tell. Listen to them, converse with them, be a part of their life. Because they will be a part of yours too. That will give you strength and power for you to face life's toughest adversity

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Shout Your Convictions To The Heavens! Come At Me, 2013!

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2013 has arrived!
Although a little late, by there's still time to get down my resolutions for 2013.

Before that, I found something interesting in Twittersphere recently. It was this statement that is circulating around Twitter:

"2013 Resolution? Beach please, I'm happy with myself right now. I'm perfect."

Right, this might even be a joke. But you see, fellow readers, I want to make a point here.

"Complacency is the true bane of humanity"

Never be satisfied by where you are now. There are changes that could be made. Hence, this resolution.

Khairul Nazran/ Railzan Kurhna's 2013 Resolution (Not By Order of Importance)
1. Be healthier
2. Love more
3. Ponder about the world more
4. Expand intellectual breadth
5. Feel the joys of music
6. Go volunteering...lots of them
7. Complete writing half (yes, half) a novel
8. Kinder to strangers
9. Save souls
10. Be awesome


What? Not specific enough? Well, it is...just I'm lazy to write all down. If I did, it will bore you to death.