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Of Influences Growing Up - MacGuyver

If you don't know who's MacGuyver, go drown yourself in the nearest naala you can find

Now that you've tried to drown yourself and your self-preservation skills have kicked in.

I'm watching MacGuyver these days. The series was a marvel during my childhood and still manages to amaze me. Angus MacGuyver, the titular character of the series is pitted against amazing odds each episode and has to overcome them. He might have to recover stolen papers from a secure facility in Germany. Infiltrate and stop a group of terrorists from assassinating some government personnel.

Now the reason why it's amazing is because he relies on his brains rather than brawn. He hates guns, and all he carries with him is his trusty Swiss Army Knife and a roll of duct tape.

I just saw this episode where due to some confusion, these Mafia hitmen are after an elderly couple (who just happen to have given Macguyver a lift earlier.) Majority of the episode took place on the road with the Mafia car chasing the elderly couple's car. MacGuyver harvested parts from the car to make makeshift weapons/obstacles to slow the bad guys down, like using the car's soft-top to cover the bad-guy's windshield, or making a bazooka using the car's silencer, some fuel, seat padding, and one of those steering wheel knobs people with arthritis use. He even fixed a broken fuel line with a ballpoint pen case.

Watching the show brings back memories. MacGuyver pwns James Bond. Screw fancy Aston Martins and wristwatch lasers when you can get the job accomplished using nothing more than a paperclip, some rope, and nasal spray.

Speaking of which, I need to clean my Swiss Army Knife. The rain left mineral deposits in it's crevices.

Of The Smell of Greenery

Why is it that you can't enjoy the smell that lingers in the air after it's rained? Especially if you're in Karachi?

I mean, it's all too familiar with everyone right? The rain stopped, you stick your head out of the window and take in deep breaths of fresh cool air, and just like that, the wind will change it's course and you'll be inhaling deep breaths of wet-garbage air.

Karachi isn't built for rain, or excessive amounts of water. It rains, the electricity goes out.

The storm-water drains that the CBC lovingly built (during which a lot of people had to park their cars in shady alleys) are below sea-level. So, in actuality, they're nothing more than covered up moats. Maybe we should introduce some alligators into the moats. And as for their food, we can feed them those stray dogs roaming around.

Wouldn't it be cool? You could turn entire blocks into secure areas. I propose that naala-moats be built in front of every Political something or the other. This will free up the police and the rangers to do more important stuff, like catching mobile thieves. Also, the Political somebodies can have cool draw-bridges instead of gates.

- -

Ignore me. I have a fevah! Again.

Of Decisions Made in Desperation

I'm in a dilemma.

I've got a perfectly functional phone with me.

However, dad struck a deal with a friend of his, and managed to acquire a Nokia 7610. Now, since it's too high-tech for his basic needs, he decides to give it to his techno-geek of a son. But that's not the half of it.

Firstly let me explain how this new cell-phone was acquired. Dad's friend wanted a new cell. Friend's brother living in the U.K. wants to send new cell to friend. Dad offers to get it for friend via one of his other friends coming back from the U.K. So in a nutshell, he gets a new phone, with it's software disc, data cable, battery, charger, a memory card, and a wireless handsfree. What he gave us was the phone, it's battery, and a charger. Heck even that tiny little tray that holds the SIM down was missing.

Now, if I chose to take that phone, I relinquish my rights to my current one.

Lets make a list of Pros and Cons to see whether I should trade in, or shouldn't
+ It's got expandable memory.
+ I can use it to bludgeon people once I attach the neck strap on it.
- The camera lens is foggy
- The camera has one 1MP
+ The camera gives a 4x digital zoom on 1MP
- The battery lasts barely a day
+ I'll get the expandable memory for free
+ I'll get the data cable for free
- It's interface is the slowest I've encounterd
- The keypad is fucked up. Why couldn't they keep it in rows and columns.
+ I can type out SMSes on my laptop and send them via the phone.
- I can only type out SMSes on my laptop and send them via the phone without screwing up, or pressing the wrong button or canceling the entire thing.
- And I don't know how how much or how little the last guy used it.
- There are no decent applications for it.
-- I can't reuse the pink bear sticker I have on my current cell.


So. Final Tally:

Pros: 6 Cons: 10

Verdict:

Sister gets the phone. I keep my precious.

P.S. The Pink Bear is important. Not only does it serve as a conversation started, it was given to me by a dear friend.
P.S.2. Yes, I'm aware of the fact that I'm a guy who owns a phone with a pink bear sticker on it.
P.S.3. The title is an homage to another friend of mine.

Of a Blooming Business

Get it? Blooming! :P

Of 5 Awesome People

This summer vacation, I've been somewhat blue.

This wasn't what I had planned for my summers. So... it's thanks to these folk that my vacations have been going smoothly. .

Eiichiro Oda :-
The brilliant Oda-san has one of the strangest creative streaks I've ever come across. He's the brilliant mastermind behind the pirate-saga One Piece. Dunno about all you guys, but running a manga since 1997 is quite a big accomplishment. And it's going on strong with good reason too. The storyline's captivating, with some of the most memorable characters, like a captain who's made of rubber, a cola powered cyborg as the shipwright, a reindeer with the ability to transform into a human as the crew's doctor, an animated skeleton as the crew's musician. Not to mention Oda-san's solutions to various dead-ends. Like, recently, the crew was split up by one the evil guys. Now, since the story after that incident focused mainly on the captain of the crew, naturally readers wondered where the rest of the crew went. His solution was brilliantly simple, he made cover-art for the upcoming issues depicting where each of the crew members ended up. Over all, every week he brings something outrageously new for my reading pleasure.

Nagaru Tanigawa
Now, this guy's one of my favorites. Abeer introduced me to his work back in May of 2006. The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi is a zany absolutely insane 14 episode series based on the novel by Tanigawa-san. Suzumiya Haruhi is an eccentric high-schooler who has the ability to reshape the entire universe if she so wishes it. She's the main character for 9 novels written by Tanigawa-san. Apart from her latent god-like abilities she has a never-ending desire to meet aliens, espers, time-travellers etc. For this reason, she recruits Kyon, a fellow classmate to help her in forming a club for this very purpose. Surprisingly, the other three recruits that Haruhi chooses are an alien, an esper, and a time-traveller (she obviously doesn't know this!) Usually these three give Kyon the responsibility of fixing whatever mess Haruhi's subconscious has created (One time, she erased the entire universe, except for Kyon and herself.) The part I like best about these novels is that they are presented from Kyon's perspective, so it's quite cynical and you just love the comments he makes about everyone.

Hiroya Oku
Another manga-ka. He's the brains behind Gantz. Gantz is another awesome read. It focuses around a lot of mature themes. Oku-san's also got a fetish for drawing tastefully nude characters. Other than that, the storyline's gripping enough to keep one reading. Sadly it's on standby at the moment because he wants to work on his killer finale. So till October I guess I'll have to wait.

Hideo Kojima
Dude! He is the one who created Metal Gear Solid, and Boktai. Both which I've been playing over the course of this summer. Do you need another reason to like him?

Gainax
So this isn't a person but a group that's produced some of the best anime series around. Still. And for more info scroll down to the Robots post.

Of Mission Accomplished. . . Sort Of.

The painters left today.

Yay. Now all that's left is the backbreaking shoving of furniture back in it's place.

The fever isn't really helping things along. Pfft.

Today was the Thousand Crane Folding thingy at the Japanese Consulate. Thanks to my own undoing, I was unable to go. Not like it was going to be much fun if i went there. . . stupid wrists.

* sigh *

Of Crankylocks and the Three Painters

Day two of the Painter Special.

You honestly don't think that the gray cement plugs in 5 of our rooms were going to be left alone? I, well, hoped that was the case. Because then Sunday and Monday would not have been spent on back-breaking pulling, shoving, lifting, rolling and dusting of various items so as to make room for the painters to move around.

Cocoa seems to be enjoying this activity. She's already made the sheet covering the two sofas into a hammock, not to mention the rearrangement's given her new nooks and crannies to explore

Now, about the painters. (And yes, I am Crankylocks since they won't let me sleep in late.)

Two guys appeared yesterday. Both were labeled crazy within 10 minutes of their arrival.

They, for some strange reason, don't follow the Day Light Savings Time, which has been active for more than 3 months. So, they made their timetable very clear before opening the first bucket of wall sealant.

They will come at 9:00 AM. (Which is 10:00 AM for the rest of Pakistan)
They will have lunch at 1:00 PM. (Which is 2:00 PM)
They will have tea at 4:00 PM. (Which is 5:00 PM)
They will leave at 8:00 PM. (Which is 9:00 PM)

Since I couldn't remember their names, I nicknamed them Chatty and Emo.

Chatty, talks alot... gives me a headache. He is also teaching me the basics of painting. Which mum insisted on since she wants me to patch up odds and ends when they leave.

Emo, doesn't talk. He works like a ninja. You blink and he'll be painting away on the opposite wall. (okay, 5 minutes instead of blink) He enjoys his tea time by listening to old desi songs on his radio-phone and mournfully singing along with them (this includes hand gestures)

--

Today, they brought a third person to help them. I call him Robot. He's put on this Earth to do one thing and one thing alone. PAINT! He doesn't go for lunch, or have tea, He's the first one to start working and the last one to finish. I like him.

So, my room's finally done. I'm about to go make a paint-run for my sister's room. It's supposed to be aphid-green. For some reason, I feel suffocated when I enter that room, the green wall burns my eyes.

Of . . . Umm?

I feel really nauseous if i accidentally switch my left and right earphones and listen to music. Usually within the next 15 minutes. Strange?

On another note. I finished the latest season of Supernatural. The story's fucked up. Demons want to raise the devil from hell, Angels don't. Yet some angels revolt against God. Sam Winchester gets l33t Jedi powers, which he uses for exorcism, catch is, he needs demon-blood to power up his attacks. Oh well. They did manage to release the devil in the finale.

Now on to Stargate: Atlantis

Of Killing Ghosts and Promoting Salt

So it's been a week and the dull throbbing just keeps getting worse.

"Go away damn you!" said Me to the throbbing wrists

This prevents me from typing, hence my days are severely mundane. Little to no texting, no typing, no playing games, no origami.

Thankfully my ISP has a healthy dose of shows. After a go with the Random Letter Generator (which according to the site uses atmospheric noise to generate results and hence is accurately... random) I landed with Supernatural (hey, it was a tie between Supernatural and Stargate: Atlantis)

I've been watching it since my last post. It's mind-numbingly awesome. I mean, the mother of these two guys is killed by some yellow-eyed demon, which turns their dad into what can aptly be put as "Buffy with a Pot-Belly" and then he trains them into Xander and Willow and then vanishes. So Xander and Willow. . . sorry, Sam and Dean Winchester hunt ghosts with salt loaded shotguns. I bet French Fries Poltergeist and Tandoori Chicken Ghost would taste awesome after an encounter with them brothers.

Thanks to Supernatural I now know the perfect ways to combat demons, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, etc. EDWARD CULLEN! I AM COMING FOR YOU.

On a side note, today the workers put the final touches on the cement plug in my wall where once Dusty McSpewy hung.

I should remember to squirt that area with water after I wake up.

Night, people.