Friday, May 21, 2010

I'm a youth and proud of it


Now here are a few things you may want to know about me before you continue reading any further. I came into this world 16 years ago. I'm currently in Form 4 and studying in SMK Sultan Abdul Samad. Before I begin I'd just like to mention I tend to have a political view on things. One of passions is photography and NOT being photographed (of the 10 000 pictures on my comp there are 5 with me in them). So the best photo to describe me is this one
 I'm the awesome guy in the background preparing to rule the world. Nobody sees my face and I'd like to keep it that way. That way there's no proof.





To be quite frank, I never really expected to be selected for this project. I mean I never really saw myself as a voice for my generation. You see I've never really been in the 'in' crowd. I don't like to call myself a nerd but I've always liked knowledge, in my dad's words "You have a brain full of pointless facts" to which my response is " One man's trash is another man's treasure". I'm also interested in the performing arts and theatre (not the movie kind). To me a good gauge of a person is the kind of music on his or her computer/iPod/music player etc. A person with a computer full of Top 40 hits (that's the overplayed stuff you get on the radio) is probably the kind of person who likes to fit in. They are also probably suffering from Bieber Fever (H1N1's musical cousin) at the moment. Then you've got the kind of people who have hodge-podge of songs that most people probably haven't heard of. These are the kind of people who aren't really bothered about fitting 'in'. I am proud to be a member of the latter. According to the National Registration Department, I’m different which makes me part of the 1% of Malaysia’s population. If you have a look at my computer you will music ranging from classical music to acapella to acoustica to punk rock to The Beatles to Australian comedy-rock bands. I knowa lot of people who are interested in some of the things I'm in to but it's  hard to find someone interested in photography, politics, global affairs, music, performing arts, writing, public speaking, history, debating and more. Now enough about me and back to task at hand.
What is the best thing about a youth today?
Facebook, Myspace, blogs and the Internet. Admit it you all have at least one social network account be it Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Friendster etc. Youths of my generation have a vast number of outlets to express ourselves. In the past, there has always been a tendency for parents to mold their children into what they wanted their offspring to be. And back then there wasn't much influence towards youths. And youths were never really given a way to express themselves or develop their individuality. So the best thing about being a youth today has got to the freedom to be who we are. I see a very bright future for my generation. In the past there has always been this sense of fight 'The Man' mainly because youths of that era were never really allowed to discover and be themselves. But in the rise the online personae we take on be it through social networking, blogging or even chatting online we are given opportunities to be ourselves. I often hear my friends saying stuff like "That person is so different online than in real life". Like in The Matrix by day Neo is a suit wearing worker by night he is an underground computer hacker. Youths today are able to be the alter egos they were never allowed to be. We also are on the most part very accepting of each other no matter what race, religion, gender or socio-economic background we come from. Plus we aren’t susceptible to propaganda ‘cause youths have brains too.
Does that make us rebellious?
Well yes and no. I find that youth are rebellious in thought and action but not in physical action. We say a lot of things on facebook, blogs etc to rebel but we don't throw molotov cocktails in public squares and stuff like. Although it does sound pretty cool. Obviously we're no angels but we weren't put on this Earth to rebel. An angel is what you call the person who tells his parents that all he wants for Christmas is for the whole world to be happy and that they should donate the money they were going to spend on a his Christmas present to Afghan refugee children. That is just sick.
Are our lives easier than our parents' generation?
Definite Yes! As my dad always says "A child's job is to outdo his parents". Seems to be working so far.
What is my biggest fear?
Hmm… No one really like to admit they’re fears. I know of thugs in my school who are afraid of butterflies and ladybugs. These are the same people who bring parangs and bronze knuckles to school. For me though my biggest fear would probably the unknown. That’s why I’m terrible afraid of dark rooms. I’m not afraid of being outdoors at night though probably ‘cause it’s not pitch  black. But yeah, I’m afraid of not knowing things which why believe people are afraid about death because no one really knows what happens after you go six feet under. I’m feeling depressed L. Next question!
Happiness
Did you know that Bhutan is the 7th happiest nation in the world (See what I mean by useless facts)? Well it is. Apparently people there are really happy. But there is still a lot of petty crime and poverty. The country is tiny and has next to no resources. So how do you measure happiness? With one of these. Duh?!?!
This as you can see by the words at the bottom is an ad. And what drives ads MONEY of course. Money makes people happy, but people with money are not necessarily happy. So what makes me happy? I don’t know really. I would say I’m a generally happy person but I don’t think there is anything that really makes me happy. The closest thing to happy juice brewer for me would probably be my friends, family and Astro. I am a huge tv addict. I still can’t believe how people can live without Astro. If I became Prime Minister for even one day (Fat chance of that happening), the first thing I would do is equip every house in Malaysia with Astro.






Hurdles?
People always say stuff like oh PMR coming up must be really tough. I don’t think so. PMR seemed like a breeze. I’m still in Form 4 so I can’t really say anything about SPM yet. But I like how when you’re in Form 3 your parents and teachers always say oh this is a big exam, a big year so you better study hard. Then after you get your results they say PMR was nothing the real test is SPM which is probably true but then why all the hype about PMR? So obviously exams have never really been a hurdle for me. The biggest is probably something I’m facing with now which is major lack of time. You see of the 525 600 minutes in a year, 215 000 minutes is spent sleeping which leaves 310 600 minutes for school, tuition, co curricular activities, friends, family and the works. For me the biggest problem I have is being involved in too many things to the extent that I’m having trouble coping. Take for example this week I’ve been involved in CitraWarna rehearsals from 8am to 8pm every day, during that same time I’m busy chasing people from my Leo Club of which I’m the incoming president, and at the same time studying for my exams which start next week. Then there is also 4 other clubs of which I’m a director. I seriously I think I’ve got myself way over my head with this.
To friends or to family. That is the question
Friends are always the people you joke around and have fun. There is no real seniority or protocol with friends. No friendship honour or stuff. But when your with family you always have to watch what you say. You can joke around with your parents but some other relatives may not really like it. And then there is always family honour to maintain. But then you can only tell your friends the silly stuff going on in your family cause telling a relative will spread it like wildfire. So for me family is more important because your family will always be there while your friends may not necessarily be. Ever heard of a frenemy? Of course there times when you have to choose between friends and family and my parents are really open and give me the choice to do what I want. But there’s always the ‘Do what you want but we’d rather you do this’ line which always works on me.
More about me
I like photography but I’m still a noob. I love reading. I love facts. I’m a semi-nerd. I love facebook but not making friends on it. I’m very shy around new people. But once I get to know person I can very funny, charming, amusing and talkative. I love going to new places and travel. I’ve been to 14 countries across 5 continents. I love to hate the Government. I love reading newspapers cause they’re my daily source of humour. And I love school. Not the learning part though. I can't live without my iPhone. And I can't live without the internet. If there was a no internet day like how there is no plastic Saturdays, I would seriously jump of a building.

1 comment:

  1. It's good to be different. That's cause same old same old is just ah,well - boring! I am also part of that particular 1%, anddddd am proud of it! Some people just don't know what they're missing ;) Btw Dr S, when writing prescriptions, stick to one handwriting style ;)Good luck with the next posts, I like reading them, gives me a break from the usual Bio and Sejarah -_-. :D

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