Saturday, September 24, 2005

The Locking of Amod, Teaser Trailer


Yeah, that's Superman - the mother of all roller-coasters...

Some of us are still wondering, why the fuck do people enjoy sitting on a cart that's going to be tossed about at 2Gs on a flimsy metallic track.

But it was one heck of a ride!

To top the evening off... Amod was locked in the bathroom for half an hour!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

2 Parts Hypnotic + 1 Part Absolut

There are times when I feel really pissed off with Hamilton College and the U.S. of A in general. Yesterday was one of those times. One of my friends here threw an awesome party last night - a la Stephanian format - complete with contraband and UV lights et al.

The party peaked two hours into binging and after a round of ol' Jane in the bathroom, things were nice and mellow, which explains why the extremely loud, smashing asteroids kind of loud, music totally evaded my senses.

Campus Police came knocking on the door. We asked them to join us - they decided they were better off hosting their own party with our confiscated booze. Why? We ask. 'Cause it's an unauthorised party you schmucks they reply. If that wasn't bad enough, they wrote up everyone who was under-21 and drinking. Seriously sometimes I really wish I was anywhere, even China, anywhere except for this god-forsaken country.

This morning is like one of those where you wake up and you walk around and you feel that you've committed some horrible crime and everyone except for you knows about it. It's not helping. So here I am sitting at my desk job on a bright Sunday afternoon feeling like shit. Such is the irony.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Tenma Warau [1]

After much deliberation, the name for my Bearded Desert Dragon was put to vote to my fellow dorm members. Incidentally he has been accepted as the dorm mascot and is also the symbol for our unofficial fraternity (which is funny since we have women as part of our troupe!) Chi Lambda Omega. The names up for vote were Notiggy, Fafner, Tonton and Quincy (by popular demand!). The public voted for Tonton (I dare say we have too many Star Wars and Naruto fans around...)

For me, with stories true and apocryphal the semester has begun with a rather overwhelming force. Training workshops, jobs, classes, and the usual crestfall of the mundane college life. At the rate at I'm going L.S.E. looks like a distant dream.

The new freshman batch has come in bringing with itself, the usual, the good and the bad. Perhaps as compensation for being in America, this year the international crop was very interesting. Among others there are a few nice freshman girls and Nelson Mandela's grandson . While the girls have attitudes that say "I desperately wanna be white", Mandela Jr. is well he's like Naseruddin Shah's son back in School. Ah well I guess people said the same things about us when we were freshmen.

Sometimes I get the feeling that I am like a crazy ball who doesn't really identify with any group on campus. For instance, I have many Asian (read: Chinese, Koreans, Japanese et al) friends and I am a part of the Asian Cultural Society and often "chill" with the Asian kids. But somehow, everytime, these Asians break into their vernacular diatribe, I don't feel that sense of belonging, or lack of it thereof. Then there are the rich white kids, my buddies, like James... I spend a lot of time with them. Maybe drink on weekends, smoke, or just play chess and listen to the Grateful Dead, but here too my sense of belonging is lost, for obvious reasons. For the black people, I ain't black enough. Then there are the geeks; movie watching, anime loving, book reading, trivia loving, "I never touch alcohol or any other bad things" geeks. I spend time with those types too, I enjoy their sense of humour - witty and referential and aren't always related to sex or drugs. But since I drink and smoke and party once a while I don't get enough credibility to join their ranks either. As for the Indians, well there are more Nepalis on campus than Indians at the moment. So where does that leave me in this compartmentalized mixed fruit jam? The International Students Union - the group of people caught in no-man's land? Honestly, I don't know, I think I'll just let it pass and not think about it too much. Is it really that important to have a concrete identity?

[1] Japanese Buddha's Laughing.