You're losing the plot, Sanga

Dear Sanga

We understand that living up to expectations is very hard, especially when they are sky high. We also know that you have a lot going on at your end as well. And it is very true if someone says that you've got a lot to lose if you don't do the things right.

But none of that is a fucking excuse to behave the way you have been behaving of late.

You've turned yourself into pretty much an ass on and off the field ever since you took up the throne which thoroughly disappoints us. When Mahela handed over the reins to you, we thought that things could only get better for Sri Lanka. Many thought that you were the right man for the job even when Mahela was doing a fine job with the team. When you took up the job, we thought that we are now all set to be the force in world cricket that everyone dreams of. How very wrong we were.

What the hell is wrong with you now? You always valued your wicket, and you always got frustrated when you got out. But back then, you always conducted yourself pretty well - why throw the bat away when you get out now playing a silly shot? Go inside the dressing room and kick Mubarak's butt as many times if you want to, but please behave on the field. And it would be nice if you don't look at the umpire like he made the biggest blunder in the world - especially when your are out plumb. By doing that you only make an ass of yourself. And when your team mates bowl a couple of wides there's no need to scream at them from the other end - in case you don't know, they feel pretty bad about it more than you are. It would also be nice if you are graceful enough to admit it if and when you're outplayed, and giving the opposition due credit is considered a good thing really. Oh, and nearly forgot, it's embarrassing for us when commentators say that you'd be the captain if there was an Appealing XI. Seems like the cool dude is not really cool after all.

Seriously, Sanga, get a grip. You've got a lot to learn and Mahela would be a good place to start though you can't really call him a place. He may not have been perfect, but he was million times better at staying cool under pressure and at conducting himself. He was epitome of coolness when compared to the emotional wreck that you are on the field these days. You're the goddamn captain of the team and if you start to behave like that on the field, who would the others look up to? We need a guy who can hold his head high specially when things aren't going your way. We need a guy who can set an example to the others, not a little kid who cries and get pissed off when things aren't going his way.

As Mahela put it once, you don't have to be ugly to be aggressive, but unfortunately, ugly is all you have been of late. As long as you play hard and fair, that's fine with us because that's how sports are - you win some, you lose some. You can't, and don't have to win every time. And, in case you have forgotten, we don't mind you guys losing a game or two unlike fans of some other countries. You don't have to worry about your house being burnt if you lose a game or two, do you? You should be grateful to us for not being such idiots. Remember the welcome you guys got from us when you returned after losing the 2007 World Cup? Yeah, that's right, we always love you guys and as long as you guys play good cricket, we don't mind you losing the odd game. But we do mind when you make an ass of yourself and still end up losing.

Please Sanga give us back the cool dude that we all loved. Give us the guy who sledged the batsmen left right and centre so classically - we don't need you to appeal for every goddamn ball instead. Give us back the gracious fellow who walked every time if he knew he was out. Where is that guy who shrugged it off when Rudi made that blunder, when we really had a chance of beating the Aussies in their own backyard? That was the Sanga we so liked, we so admired - we were so proud of that guy. Not this ass who is the captain of our national team today.

Please bring him back.

Signed,

Your biggest fans.

Back To Work Post

Sri Lankan mothers are a scary breed. RD will tell you all about them if you want to know more, but then again almost all of you do have Sri Lankan mothers, hence no further information is needed, I assume. Thus, you'll agree that her creating a Facebook account and sending you a request is a cause for concern and needs to be addressed with a carefully planned approach. For the time being I've decided to leave it untouched while I consider all the pros and cons and come up with a brilliant plan - as I usually tend to do with these things - to counter this newest problem. Meantime, any valuable suggestion is appreciated though I need to mention that I only need ideas that wouldn't get me killed.

On other things, we had to work on Saturday which is always a bitch, and wasn't doing really well on Sunday either. So had to stay at home instead of going to the match that I was expecting to play. *Sigh*. Anyway, our guys had managed to tie the match, so better than losing I guess. Hope to make it to the next game anyway.

Talking about cricket, Champion's Trophy turned out to be quite awesome didn't it? OK it seems we have only an outside chance of making it to the semi finals, and to be honest we don't deserve to be there after the way we played the last two games. Way too many errors on and off the field, and Sanga's clearly losing the plot. He better get his act together or our cricket will be ruined big time. Seems that the cool dude is not so cool after all. Getting back on track, despite we being almost out, CT is awesome. South Africans are out already (Don't you love it?) and this time they didn't even choke! They didn't get that close enough even to choke. They were outplayed by England and thrashed by Sri Lanka. When are they ever going to make it to the final of a big tournament? They are bound to fuck it up somewhere along the line don't they? It's so fun to watch them do that. And then if India lose today's game they too will be out. I so want the big bullies to go out this time. If they do, three of the favorites for the tournament - SA, SL and India will be out. You gotta love this tournament.

Happy week ahead fellas!

Common Cold and Some More

Catching a cold in a hot summer is worse than catching one in winter. If it was the winter you can cover yourself with all the clothes within reach and stay warm. And drink a LOT of hot coffee. In summer, a cold means you're going to have to stop all the chilled stuff, but drinking hot coffee is not an option either. And it sweats like hell already even without wearing much. So it's bad enough as it is, but imagine catching a cold when you have a pimple inside your nose. Now that is THE nightmare. *Sigh*

If people put one hundredth of effort they put into finding a cure for HIV, we would have had one for common cold by now. Seriously, for such a common and normal bastard, this cold can wreck havoc in our systems. Literally. If it were a decease with a practically un-pronounceable name that sounds important, then at least it's a relief. But when you just say cold it doesn't even sound like a decease in the first place and to add insult to injury, there's an adjective as well; common. Surely the dude who gave it the name was mocking us all. But that's the problem as well; if it were one such grave decease you could at least take a leave or two and duly stay in bed awaiting the inevitable. OK not really, but you could at least just stay in bed, take medicine and be like, well, ill. But who the hell takes medicine for a cold - OK there is none - and who takes leaves? You can't stay at home for a common cold, can you? But having a runny nose is the worst thing ever. It's annoying like hell, you need two boxes of tissues every day, can't speak properly, Mars bars taste like half dried mud palettes and on top of it all you have to breathe through your mouth. Sometimes I feel like shoving the tube of the vacuum cleaner up my nose and pull everything out. A nose cleansing, if you will.

Seriously, what's with all these viruses? BTY4RB. Did you see that? Don't get confused - I was installing MS Visio and was typing the license key but instead on the installation wizard, typed it here. Accidentally, of course. Those are the first six characters - try guessing the remaining 19. Ha! By the way, why have they chosen to use only some of the characters in license keys while others hardly feature in any? In every key, it is guaranteed to have more than one Q, B, Y and T. Other than that F, X, H, G and M too feature very regularly but you hardly ever see a K, L, A, S, D or N. Even I and O are very rare. Wonder why. Anyway, I'm very conveniently getting off the topic. Let me start that para again.

Seriously, what's with all these viruses? The idiot who gave computer viruses the name seriously underestimated the power of real viruses. Those computer viruses are nothing compared to these stuff - they can be cured and if everything goes wrong you can format and reinstall the system. Try formatting a man - although sometimes I do wish we had that option to format and reinstall the system in some people. But, like you have virus guards for computer viruses, how cool would it be if we had real life virus guards? Going by the good business those virus guard people are doing, I'm sure it's gonna be a business you can only have profits. Just imagine, wearing a virus guard at all times and you update it every week or so. No chance for viruses anymore. The moment a virus tries to affect you, plonk! A message of some sort appears and the virus is removed. How cool would that be? On the down side, condom makers are going to run out of business. But you can't have everything can you? Then again, on second thoughts, wearing one if and when you're getting intimate with someone you're not supposed to, is a good idea after all. Imagine, otherwise, how many plonk sounds you're going to get while being busy.

Porn and Facebook

Seems to be an item on the list of things-to-do of The King it seems. Remember, he had such a campaign for preventing drugs as well, called Mathata Thitha (මතට තිත), some time back? Now what would he name this one though? I can come up with half a dozen names, only none of them can be written here. Perhaps language experts should get to work right now.

Anyway, what made me talk about Porn is, well, the lack of people's interest in it - at least on the net. Some years back, "sex" used to be the most searched keyword on internet search engines. Now it hardly features on even the top ten. Back in the day, remember how many porn related emails you got? I just realized that I haven't got one in ages, really. I don't remember the last time I got one, come to think of it. Are people losing interest on sex, or is it that they are getting too much of it that they don't want to go looking for it on the internet? Looking at the population crisis we're facing these days, I'd think it's the latter.

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FB wall is a cool thing, ain't it? I like it. Yes, whenever a friend takes up a stupid quiz or plays a stupid game, them appearing on your wall is a bit of a pain, but there are ways to get rid of them. If you're a Firefox user, here is a very easy way, just check it out. I've been using it, and since then my FB wall is pretty clear and looks nice. Now, once you get rid of all that useless quizzes and stuff, the wall is quite useful in my opinion. It's a great news source, for one. I'm usually quite updated in most of the current affairs and stuff, but still with work and all you don't always get time to read news all the time. But a quick look at the FB wall have proven to be quite useful, time and again. When they changed the look of FB some time back, a lot of people were quite quick (I think that's the first time ever I wrote two consecutive words starting with Q) to bitch about it. I didn't, and I was happy to wait and see. Now I think it's quite cool. Also, I'm not that big on Twitter. For me, it sucks. FB is far cooler. Also, you can post pics, videos, links and messages. All in one, and I love it.

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Have you watched Harry Potter? What a stupid question. Anyway, that disapperating and apperating thing is cool, isn't it? Just imagine the possibilities, what you could do, with that power. What would I not give to have it!

Mesmerizing

Just wanted to share this with you lot.



It's absolutely brilliant.

Time To Be In Sri Lanka?

Yay, it's HAPPY FRIDAY! A five day vacation is coming up. Unfortunately I've got absolutely NO idea so as to what I want to do during those five days. Except sleeping to the heart's content. OK so that's one, but bar that, I've got no idea. Earlier, we planned on going on a trip but had to cancel it because we couldn't find a place to lodge. We started a month in advance and we still couldn't find a place. These Japs, I tell you. Why do they have to plan everything in advance so much? I think they will tell you the name of the second child of their third child if you ask a Jap. I miss Sri Lanka so much - that's the place to be. If you want to go a trip, all you need is just a few guys (or girls, for that matter) who are willing to get wasted with you for a few days and a holiday or two. Just jump on a vehicle and you can decide where to go on the way, and then just go there. Finding a hotel is no problem, only if you can escape the hospitality of eight friends and fourteen relatives you got there - wherever it is that you chose to go.

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That book exhibition that's usually held on September at BMICH starts tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken. I'm 100% sure that I would have been there had I been in Sri Lanka. I always liked being amongst books. I never missed that exhibition ever since it started, and you'd sure to find me roaming around there for several hours - not for chicks though, I promise. But why do they come to these book exhibition trying to look all glamorous, like it's some kind of celebrity contest or something? Maybe they think we go there to dig them? Ha, you wish! Anyway, I miss going there and wasting hours. I always had this irresistible desire to buy books all the time. I remember, back in the day I was always short of clothes - no I didn't go around naked, but I didn't have many either - because every time mom gave me money to buy a shirt or a denim, I'd end up in a bookshop and spending that money on a book I was waiting to buy. Unfortunately there were many books I was waiting to buy.

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That bloggers' gathering is going to happen today, is it not? Damn, that's the third time in this post I wished I was in Sri Lanka right now. Maybe this is a week to be in Paradise. Anyway, have fun people, have a good time!

And a happy weekend everyone!

When I Was A Kid...

• I'm told that I spent many a hour at home, alone, doing absolutely nothing, submerged on a world of my own when I was a little kid. No wonder I'm too lazy to do pretty much anything these days. Old habits die hard, it seems.

• But, apparently, I was also the devil when put in a company of few. At least some times. It is said that when I got pissed, nothing and nobody at a hundred meters' radius was safe from my wrath.

• When I was about five or six, for some time I refused point blank to wear T shirts of any kind. Shirts were my thing.

• Even when I was a kid, I never was afraid of ghosts, darkness and such things. Going outside in the midnight was no big deal, no ghost story could scare me, and all things supernatural were always a bit too overrated for me. Thanks dad for all that.

• Was damn shy. Despite many thinking, and still claiming otherwise.

• Was arrogant to the point of pissing almost everyone around me. I had an opinion about everything, and nobody was allowed to contradict it. Ironically, I've become so tolerant these days practically anybody can force anyone's opinion on me. Maybe not, but you get the point.

• Spoke a language that I alone knew. It was all my creation, and I was proud of it too.

• Couldn't comprehend the idea of adults I knew being babies ones. So I imagined the every family I knew to just emerge from earth in front of their houses before going on about their lives.

• My mom could easily fool me. I believed it when once she said not to eat Rambutan seeds because if I did, it will cause a tree to come out of the top of my head. Or when I was pretending to sleep, mom would say loudly that I'd shake my leg if I were asleep, and I would just do it to fool her.

Being Jobless

I'm utterly, pointlessly, sadly, pathetically, ridiculously - insert any other word that ends with 'ly' here - jobless these days. So much so that I've stooped to such low levels as finding stupid old mails in my inbox and writing replies to them. Yes, I'm also totally forgotten by everyone these days that I have to find old mails because nobody sends me e-mails anymore. Ha!

Anyway, this is a supposed to be smart-ass mail which I found to be utterly stupid. This is how;

1. When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests them?

   If it's new, it can't be improved, and if it's improved, it can't be new. So the question itself is incorrect, hence no need to answer.

   
   

2. If the black box flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn't the whole airplane made out of that stuff?

   Why isn't the whole ring made out of diamonds? Exactly.

   
   

3. Who copyrighted the copyright symbol?

   Does everything need to be copyrighted? Idiot.

   
   
4. Can you cry under water?

   If you can piss, why not cry?

   
   
5. Why do people say, I've been working like a dog when dogs just sit around all day?

   Sitting around doing nothing is not very easy. That's why.
   

   
   
6. Why are the numbers on a calculator and a phone reversed?

   To let idiots like you feel smart by asking stupid questions like this.

   
   
7. Do fish ever get thirsty?

   Yes. When they don't have good enough drinking water.

   
   
8. Can you get cornered in a round room?

   Yes. If there's furniture.

   
   
9. Why do birds not fall out of trees when they sleep?

   Because they stick themselves to the trees with sticky tapes. Seriously.
   

   
   
10. If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oils made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

    Is dog food made of dogs? No? Shut up then.
    

    
    
11. What should one call a male ladybird?

    Exactly that. Male Ladybird.
    

    
    
12. If a person suffered from amnesia and then was cured would they remember that they forgot?

    Go find the definition of cured. And for your information, stupidity can not be cured. Too bad for you.

    
    
13. Can you blow a balloon up under water?

    Why shouldn't I be able to?
    

    
    
14. Why is it called a 'building' when it is already built?

    Because, when the first ever building was being built, they wanted to name it but since it wasn't yet built, they named it building instead of built. People stuck to that since then.
    

    
    
15. If you were traveling at the speed of sound and you turned on your radio would you be able to hear it?

    As long as it is in front of you.

    
    
16. If you're traveling at the speed of light and you turn your headlights on, what happens?

    They will stay on as long as there is power. Or you switch them off.

    
    
17. Why is it called a TV set when there's only one?

    One is also a set.

    
    
18. Why do most cars have speedometers that go up to at least 130 when you legally can't go that fast on any road?

    One, there are roads where you can go at 130. Two, just in case if somebody wants to break the law.

    
    
19. If drink & drive is not allowed why the hell they have parking in Bars?

    Because they have Coca Cola in bars. What did you think?

Laterz people! And to all the lucky bastards who are attending that blogger party, damn you! Still, have a good time guys, and put up some pics for us, if you don't mind revealing yourselves. If you do, at least put a picture of your shadow. We'll get an idea of your shape then. Over and out.

The Best Way of Shopping

I hate shopping. Ever since I remember, I never was a fan of shopping. I know the ladies wouldn't believe this, but I - and I'm sure many other men as well - go to a shop knowing what to buy and end up buying that thing. Unlike you species who go into a shop thinking of buying something - if you ever had any idea of buying anything specific in the first place - and then come out with six or eight completely different items minus what you intended to buy. Even if it is a huge shopping complex with everything you could possibly imagine is for sale, we still know what we want so we go there, buy that and leave. It's a very simple and straightforward process. That is how we men are programmed, and we behave accordingly. I'm no exception.

Except perhaps when I'm in an electronic store.

Then I struggle. I am torn between two, no, two to the power of many options and it takes like forever and a bit more to decide on something. The funny thing is, I don't even like these stuff that much. I can live without my phone perfectly alright. I never use it to browse the net, send a text very rarely and call someone only if necessary. I like the iPod, still it's not like I'm gonna die without it. The computer, well if there is some other way of communicating, I can even live without a computer to be honest. Yet there I was, in an electronic store the other day wanting to buy an ear piece for my iPod because the one I had was broken. Not like broken in half or anything, it just stopped working. Unfortunately, there was a sea of them, in all types and shapes and colors and prices. I just couldn't decide what to buy - I sort of wanted all of them but unfortunately you have to pay for these things before you take them home so, well, I had to choose. After many indecisive minutes, finally I took an approach which had worked very well for me in exams.

You see, never in my life, not once I have sat for an exam with the satisfaction that I'm well prepared for it. I always have large chunks of material I'm supposed to study, but untouched. So, naturally, in exams there are lot of questions that I have no clue to what the answer might be. But if it is an MCQ type question, then what I do is follow this elimination method. I just eliminate all the impossible answers, so usually I'm left with one pretty possible answer. If there are two, at least I have a 50-50 chance noh? Better than one in four. So I took this approach. There were few shelves containing all girly pink, luminous green and flowery ear pieces, so those were eliminated. Then price tags - you don't want to spend five thousand Yen for this do you? Something around two thousand was established as affordable. That cut the selection in half. Too cheap ones were also out. Then, I was still left with at least about twenty different ones to choose from. Crap. Then for some reason I decided I wanted a white one. Unfortunately almost every one of them came in white as well. I was going nowhere. Finally I decided to be bold.

I turned away and picked one within my reach without looking and went home.

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Went for a bowling session after some time on Saturday, but it was crap. Two rounds, barely managed to top 100. Even the others were not so good. Maybe I should go more often. Or perhaps stop it completely. Sunday was good though. There was this Sri Lanka Festival in Japan, where you could have all kinds of Sri Lankan food. Well not really. Last year, there was Indi Aappa and Pittu, so this time too I went hoping to gobble down as much as possible. Not that it will last till next year or anything, but you know what I'm at right. Unfortunately, neither was there. Oh well, you should never have too many expectations on anything. So I settled for some rice and curry and a Kottu and took home some Pani Aappa for dinner. Maybe they should have called it something else - there was hardly any honey in it. I think they add some brown colouring to make it brown. Still, it was better than nothing, and certainly better than Jap food which is worse than nothing. And the day ended after having a wine with some friends in Aussie. Like, they were having their drinks there and I having mine here and a web cam in between.

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And now, here I am on a Monday morning typing a blog post at work. How crap is that?

Happy week ahead people!

Global Warming? So?

I started this as a reply to groundviews' this post, but soon realized that it was going to be a bit too long for a comment. Hence a post of it's own. The said article is credited to Mr. Lalith Gunaratne, whom I have no idea of, or whether he's a member of the groundviews team. Yet, since this was posted on their blog, I thought that I must add my two cents even if they don't take any notice.

First, I'd like to see the source(s) of stats they have provided. Not questioning the integrity of groundviews and/or Mr. Gunaratne, but stats without sources are just numbers - nothing else.

Second, let us assume that they are true, and take them one by one.

1. Emission of CO2 have increased by 70% during the last 20 years.

This statement is very misleading. Very. It says that the emission of CO2 has increased, not the actual amount of CO2 remaining in the atmosphere, but bar the vigilant reader, that fact goes unnoticed by everyone. Impressive way of using stats to prove a point which they might not actually prove. Everyone knows that the plants absorb CO2, and while they may not be able to absorb all the excessively emitted CO2, they would have done some of the excessive CO2 they claim to have been emitted.

2. In fact, we are knocking on the doors of a Climate Catastrophe, if our planet’s temperature rises more than 2 degrees Celsius and the atmospheric carbon levels move towards 400 parts per million (ppm), when it should remain below 350.

How so?

Words like catastrophe adds to weight of the article, and switch on the 'alarming' red light in reader's head, but they doesn't prove anything. These Global Warming pundits like to use so many such words, catastrophe, calamity, disaster, just to name a few.

Let me dissect that sentence again.

In fact, we are knocking on the doors of a Climate Catastrophe, if our planet’s temperature rises more than 2 degrees Celsius.

First, where did this 2 degrees limit came from? How exactly did you know it is 2 degrees, then, what exactly is going to happen. This kind of a sentence reminds the user those horrific scenes from The Day After Tomorrow, but it doesn't say anything. Common reader or listener is left to make up his own assumptions instead of giving real information. Why? Because nobody knows. In reality, nobody knows what really is going to happen if the global temperature is increased by such and such amount, because there is no way of knowing. All the climate models that are created, everywhere in the world, assumes a lot of things and make guesses. Yes, they are all guesses. And when the variables of the system which is going to be guessed are far too many, and when they too varies rapidly the outcome of the guess tends to be far from the truth more often than not. Climate is the most complex and dynamic system on this planet, and that's why weather reports can not usually be made more than one week in advance, irrespective of how sophisticated the equipment are. And you say you can tell what is going to happen in another hundred years if the temperature is increased by some figure you think is critical? An educated guess is still a guess.

In fact, we are knocking on the doors of a Climate Catastrophe, if the atmospheric carbon levels move towards 400 parts per million (ppm), when it should remain below 350.

Really?

Where did those two figures come from?

Again, those are just guesses made and nobody knows for sure what really is gonna happen. Why exactly is it that 350 is OK while 400 is not? Nobody knows how much the atmospheric CO2 levels contribute to the rise of temperature, and how much of that CO2 is a product of human activities.

Secondly, for the sake of argument let's say that 2 degree limit is true. Is it likely for the temperature to increase beyond that limit in near future? Let me pull up some data. I use the official NASA web site data, hence we can be satisfied with the credibility I assume.

Here you can find the climate simulations made using data available from 1880 to 2003.

Here are some valuable information about surface temperature of earth.

Using the first of the two links, here I have created a graph of world surface air temperature from 1880 to 2003. Now, before going LOOK, IT IS INCREASING, stop to analyse the data for a moment. There is no argument that the temperature is in fact increasing since about the start of the previous century. But how much? The temperature increment from the mean for that period is 0.5 degrees! An increment of half a degree for 120 years! Let's take the last twenty or so years where they claim the climate change is heading towards a catastrophe. The increment is a bit over 0.2 degrees, and going by that figure there are about another 200 years to go before the doomsday, which they claim will come when the figure reach 2 degrees! Not so catastrophic now, is it?

It should also be noted that this graph is made taking into consideration all the possible causes of temperature rise such as land use, solar irradiance, volcanic aerosols, tropospheric aerosols and such. This is NOT due to just greenhouse gases, which all these environmentalists scream about. Thus, the effect of greenhouse gases on temperature is definitely smaller than what's shown in the graph though no one can tell for sure how much it is. This graph is more or less the worst case scenario, if you can call it worse in the first place.

Let's move through this article a bit more. The points Playing the Winning Game and Taming the Reptile within us are totally irrelevant. The Winning Game is very good to be taught in 7th grade of school, and the Taming the Reptile is perhaps for a psychology discussion, but neither of those prove anything about Global Warming. They are both inspirational, and food for thought, but among all that mumble jumble the fact that they are all relevant to this discussion only if Global Warming is real, is very cleverly hidden. Yes we need to tame the reptile, yes we need to work together to achieve this common goal, but what if the common goal is just a bit of imagination?

Yes, I agree, solar power is very good if we can put it into good use. But is it enough? Not even remotely. The limitations and drawbacks are far too many. You get it for only half the day, and even then out of that how many hours can you get sufficient light? In tropical counties, you get more rain than sunshine, and solar panels are not just an option. Also they are huge, the surface area needed is too big to supply sufficient power even to a small town, let alone a city or a country.

Having said all that, I do not say that we should not care about our environment a bit and let ourselves loose on mother nature doing what we see fit. My argument is that we should rather identify our priorities and work accordingly. Making plans for what's going to happen in another hundreds, if not thousands years time is not a priority as I see it. But instead, many a thousand environmentalists, philanthropists, NGOs, governments as well as many other organizations put too much emphasis and importance, not to mention billions of dollars, on something at best a theory unproven.

Why not spend all those billions of dollars on far more urgent, immediate needs of our fellow human beings, and even the other species? How many millions of people die every year of hunger? Because not having enough water to drink while we dip ourselves in huge pools just to relax? How many people are there in this world suffering from not having something appropriate to wear? Not having shelter? How many men, women and children die each year of completely treatable deceases because they cannot afford just one vaccine? How many wild species die each year because their natural habitats are being taken by humans?

Why don't we address those problems? Why don't we spend those billions of dollars on those needs. Why can't we feed the hungry, provide them with water to drink, with clothing and shelter? Simply, why don't we make their lives better? Why don't we provide those people with homes to stay and lands for farms so they don't have to take those wild species' homes? Let us preserve the wilderness we have, and make life better for all those animals and our fellow human beings. That is money well spent.

The world has constantly changed ever since it begun it's trip around the sun, it is today and it will in the years to come. Species came and went, some stayed. It will be the case in years to come too and we are only being ridiculously arrogant if we think that we can change that. Mother nature is far bigger and stronger than we think, and it is foolish of us to think that we can affect it, change it and control it, leading it to a catastrophe in near future. Life, and nature, is something far beyond our control and life will not so easily be affected because we made the planet a bit warmer.

As Michael Crichton once put, life, will find a way...

Even If I Could Do Them All Over Again, I Wouldn't Do These Any Differently

Warning; emo post ahead. Feel free to leave if not in the mood.

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Back when I was schooling, I used to play cricket for the college team. All five week days after school, often Saturday mornings as well, were dedicated to practice. This was when I was playing for the U13 team, and there was a bunch of friends in my team who lived in the same neighbourhood as I did. So every day, after practice we'd return home together, on foot since the school wasn't more that 20 minutes away from home. On our way, there was this small 'kadey' where they sold all kinds of stuff which included those 'ice packs'. Not ice cream, just those stuff came in small polythene bags which were priced at fifty cents apiece back then if I remember correctly. Those days, pocket money never exceeded five rupees and we were lucky to see a ten rupee note.

Anyway, everyday, we'd collect all our pocket money on our way back home and buy loads of those ice packs and enjoy them all the way home. But just buying stuff wasn't adventurous enough for us, I think, and one day, one of the guys shoplifted one of those while the unsuspecting good old uncle at the shop was attending to something else - he totally trusted

us for we being kids, schooling at a highly reputed school and knowing most of our parents. Not getting caught was so cool, and this was our proud secret for some time and we continued to steal just for the sake of it. Embarrassing, I know, but thinking back, I don't think we did that for any other reason than just for the sake of it, for wanting to do something rebellious if you call it that, but still it was stealing. And shameful. Luckily - yes, luckily - we got caught eventually. I don't want to go into the details except for the fact that we were caught red handed and that we were shit scared. We were so sure that our parents would be informed, so will be our school and the embarrassment, not to mention the ass whipping, would have been unbearable.

But the old fella at the shop was a wise guy, and he knew better than to complain to our parents or the school. He knew that it would not have helped, so instead he just chose to forgive us. His only words were, "Sons, I trust you fellas not to do that again!"

Stealing I never did again, to this day, and I'm forever grateful to that wise old man for teaching us a lesson a thousand punishments would not have. Respect, sir!

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When I was still a kid, my English sucked big time. I could hardly put a sentence together, a children's book contained far too many words I had never heard, you had to speak sentences containing not more than five words for me to understand and speaking it was just beyond me. Back in the day, I usually got marks over 80 for every subject in term tests, except for English. It was a cause for celebration if I got a 50, come to think of it. Simply, English was not my thing.

But one day something happened that changed all that forever. It was when I was in Grade 7, and I was the class monitor for that term. Keeping the class quiet if there was a free period was one of many responsibilities I had, but hell I myself was never really one to stay very quiet at that age. So this day, there was no teacher in the class and I was happily chatting - no, shouting - with my friends about, well, whatever it is that the 12 year olds used to chat about those days. Suddenly, a prefect appeared out of nowhere and I was summoned to be inquired so as to why the whole class was making such a big noise when it was supposed to be quiet. Of course I did not know that that's what he asked me about, because he spoke to me in English! Me being me, not understanding a thing he was saying, just stared at him probably like a retard until he realized that something was wrong. But instead of switching to Sinhala, probably he thought I should be humiliated further for the crime I committed, he summoned another guy and repeated to him what he said earlier and asked to translate it to me. The embarrassment was just too much to handle. I remember most of the classmates were sniggering behind me, and I do not blame them for that because we were just kids and we didn't know what to laugh at and what not to.

But that one incident made me think. Once I got over the embarrassment, I was thinking that nobody's really going to help me if I wanted to learn it, and that it is all up to me if I wanted to make a change. Learn, I wanted to do, and thus started the long and hard hours of self learning. When I look back, I can fondly recall those long, frustrating hours I spent by myself putting the hard yards. I started with children's books with a dictionary in hand, and started reading them. At first, it was painful. It took well beyond ten fifteen minutes to get through just one page. But I was making progress. Slowly but surely. Also, I made up my mind to speak it whenever the opportunity was presented, ignoring the people who looked down on me when I was speaking such crap English. Luckily I was courageous enough to keep going. I just never gave up, and I just kept learning every day.

And today, it is so satisfactory to see that all those years of hard work had paid off better than I ever imagined. I don't claim that I know everything today, in fact my English is still far from being perfect, but if I stop being modest for a moment, I believe I'm good at it. How far have I come.

As for that prefect dude, while I pity his ignorance and insensitivity, I also thank him for his stupidity. If it wasn't for him, if he didn't humiliate me so much, I would never have been so determined to learn English. He, unknowingly, presented me a challenge that I accepted so seriously, to the point of being insane. But that incident also taught me to put myself in other people's shoes, so to speak, in situations like that. To this day, I have never ever laughed at, or even made a sarcastic comment about anyone's ineptness at English. Not being fluent at it is not something to be ashamed of, I think, while you should be if you can't at least speak your own mother tongue. I have since learned to admire, respect and help all those people who are not so good at it, but who try to learn, who are brave enough to try.

For that, I thank that clueless soul.

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Despite spending almost all my time to not study but for other things while in my Advanced Level classes, I got selected to a local university after my first shot at A/Ls. University of Peradeniya no less. A privilege that only a very little percentage of students who sit for A/Ls get to enjoy. Yet for some stupid reasons that I can't believe today, I did not want to go there! I wanted to pursue a career in IT so I want to study in a more professional institution, a BSc is not a professional qualification but merely a few letters in front of my name and universities are stupid anyway, were few of my reasons. How very wrong I was!

Luckily I loved my mom, and I still do, very very much and after many days of reasoning, threats, pleadings and what not finally I decided to go with it just to satisfy her. Looking back, I dread to think what I would have been had I decided not to go there. That university, the four years I spent there, taught me a lot more than any other place, person or a book has ever taught me and I'm forever grateful to my mom for opening my eyes that day. Bless her, she has some wisdom!

I made a bunch of great friends, we had many great times together, we had our fair share of disputes, and I learned a lot about people - a lot more than I learned about Bernoulli's equations or Fourier transformations. There were all kinds of people, and they behaved in all kinds of ways you can imagine. A true cross section of the society, if there ever was one. I learned how to deal with people, how things doesn't always go the way you want, and how to keep your head held high when all things suggested you shouldn't. It taught me the value of humans, the value of friends, and most of all it taught me not to take what you have for granted. Those four years truly made me a different man, and a better one too, I would like to think.

Thank you mom, for making me the man who I am today!

Sup Boys? Y Hate d Vowels?

Yo wassup bru, hws d thngs goin? I ws nt hm d othr dy whn u cld... ws away wit ma frns. Had maxa fun n party n stuf n missd u bru... nyway wot ws it abt? u k ryt? nythin srys? ill cl u 2nite ok... or txt me lyk nw if u want... laterz maan!

You earned my utmost respect if you read that in one go. Usually it takes me two or three attempts and few minutes to decode such messages and fully comprehend. And all that time I'm usually pissed off at this stupidity, to the point of running up the wall couple of times. Not that I can, but you get the drift. That previous para was taken from one of my friends FB wall, and I was like what the hell for a minute, well longer than that actually and finally managed to decode the message. I think it says something like this:

Yo, what's up bro? How're the things going? I was not at home the other day when you had called... was away with my friends. Had a max fun party and stuff like that and missed you bro. Anyway what's it about? You OK right? Anything serious? I'll call you tonight OK? Or text me like now if you want. Laterz maan!

See, it was only a little longer than the previous, and why can't people really type like that? I can understand if it is a text message, that you have only a limited number of characters. But on FB? On Internet forums? In goddamn emails? Hell you have several GBs of inboxes these days, for god's sake! But still these people have something against vowels they prefer not to write them at all. To the point of what they write are totally unintelligible. These guys should have lived in WW2 days. All those hours wasted on creating new codes to send secret messages would have been saved.

Also, though I'm not sure about it, I think it may take longer to type like this than to type the normal way. At least it does for me - call me old fashioned if you will, but I like to type or write proper English. Even when I chat. How the hell am I supposed to understand when someone type just "f"? Is it if, of or just the f-word shortened? And it gets ridiculous when people write cum instead of come. Once I saw some girl written on one of her guy friends' wall "hi ABC, cn u cum wit me tonite?". I was trying my best not to laugh out loud at work reading that.

Standard prototype is, throw in a Yo and a Sup here and there, take away as many vowels as you can, not type capitals and intentional bad grammar. Maybe it's this new generation's way of being either cool or gangstas!

Duh!

TAGGED LOVE

Our good old LadyD tags me here, and she wants me to tell what love is. Hell I don't think even Shakespeare was able to do that perfectly, but let me try anyway.

For me, love is being insanely happy for no particular reason other than because you're in love.

Does that make any sense?

Oh well, never mind.

And I leave it an open tag, because I'm a bit late now and most of the people are tagged anyway. So if you're not, please feel free to go ahead.

Cheers fellas!

To Make Both Java and RD Happy

So you know the two old fellows Java and RDs dispute right? Over arse wiping and such of course. Java wants a more hygienic approach which he claims also a lot nature friendly, while RD is determined to continue with paper, both dry and wet, mainly because he doesn't want to run the risk of losing his, umm, 'jewels' shall we say, at the expense of using a bidet shower. Even at his age apparently he seems to thinks it is important, and who are we to say otherwise.

So I thought of helping them both so that Java can fight the good fight to save the planet, there are rumours that he's even going to start a campaign titled WASH. DON'T WIPE, and RD can be more hygienic while keeping his stuff intact.

You know these Japs are so tech type right. They like things to be all electronic, and they like

pushing buttons instead of pulling levers and stuff (no, no pun intended) so they had to make even the toilet so tech. So much so that they automated even the bidet spray. Now with RD's liking to this kind of stuff, I'm positive he can't really say no to this.

This is the marvel.

Now, this is how it works. See that little gadget at the back of the toilet seat, which I have marked there? It is actually the bidet shower, and it's hardly visible, but then again while you're busy at work in the toilet obviously you can't have obstacles in the way. So after you're done, all you have to do is push the appropriate button while you're seated. Then the bidet comes out, slowly, and does it's job perfectly and all you have to do is just sit there. Also that prevents the chances of water being splashed everywhere, so, RD's other complaint is also invalid anymore. Of course you can control the pressure before you are ready to go with the process and as an added incentive you get to choose between hot and cold water which indeed is a necessity in winter.

And here is the control panel, which I'm sure will help you clear any other things you might want to know.

There, RD and Java, I did my part. Now it is up to you guys to save the planet and save the neighbours, or their noses, rather.

Sana, Please Go

Seriously, you're past your sell by date and this is not really how we want to remember you. We want to remember you as the man who changed cricket forever. We want to remember you as the man who destroyed many a bowler's career before they even started. The man who injected fear into every bowler's heart even before the game started. All that, but not like this. It is painfull to see you like you are now in the middle, it is heartbreaking. Now you're nothing but a mere shadow of the fearsome player you were, and we don't want to see a generation growing up thinking of you as the old fellow who couldn't put the bat into ball, yet found a spot in the team somehow. You're too good for that, just leave with dignity while you can, Sana. Every good thing must come to an end, and so is your career.



We remember back in the day, in mid '90s, watching you with nothing but awe as to how you could just smash the ball all the time like that, without a care in the world. There was many a great knock, that we were certain a human couldn't have played - yet you played them. A six after another, and the game was won before one quarter of it was finished. You were a treat to watch, and in case you didn't know, the number of people who turned their TVs off when you got out was far greater than the number of people who didn't. Not many people can claim that honour if I'm not mistaken. And I'm not. Not just that, you were adored and praised not only by your fans but by your opponents as well. The ones that whom you will never call friends, too. Remember that guy McGrath? You can hardly call him a friend, can you? Yet, in his autobiography he said;

It is not very often you can claim the honor of saying you changed the game for good, and Sanath can certainly claim that.

Need we say more?

You have done enough Sana, you have done so much that even in hundred years' time people will still be talking about you, and will continue to be inspired and amazed by what you did and how you did it. You are once in a generation - well, once in few generations actually - player and you were invincible when it was still your time. And that is how we want to remember you, so, please, leave while your head held high! You are a legend, and your legacy will live forever!

Tolerance

Went another trip during the weekend. Hell I've got to stop with them for a while, because it's getting a bit too much. One every month or so is a bit too much and I've started n0t enjoying them much as well. Also it was a gloomy day, so couldn't even take many pictures. To be honest I was pretty much bored even for that. Oh well.

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Sometimes I wish earth was flat. This globe thing is stupid at times.

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Seems Fallen has fallen back into place. Good. It's about time Rehani understand she(?) can't have it her way all the time. Keep blogging dude - I mean Fallen.

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With the Fallen saga and all, I was thinking. It's a feat I managed with great difficulty, thinking that is, so maybe you should take notice. Not everyday I manage such feats. OK, here we go.

People need to learn to tolerate much more than they do now. People are different. And perhaps that's what makes this world such an amazing place. Imagine a world where everyone thinks the same. There will be no news, maybe a couple of sports and one kind of music, one language and six point something billion copies of one human kind of human. OK let's say two - you can't really expect a woman to think the same way us men to can you? Better wish for world peace, South Africans to not choke a cricket match or Mervin Silva to do something that makes sense.

Getting back on topic, if people could learn to listen a bit more, talk a bit less and tolerate others, the world will be a better place - be it cyber or real. I've seen this countless times in real life and in internet joints like blogs, forums and other public domains. It's good you have an opinion. But the others too. You should learn that you are entitled to your own opinion but so are others despite it being wrong and they are also entitled to hold onto it even if they know it is wrong. It's very hard to change people's opinions - not impossible, but hard - and I have a great respect for people who are actually willing to change their opinion if they realize that it is wrong, even after holding on to them for a long time. I respect them. But I also know that such people are rare, and that I have to deal with the other kind a lot. And I do deal with them the best I can. It also makes life a lot easier. I think that just laughing it off if someone makes a blog post about your religion which is not in agreement with your opinion is way easier than calling that said person's father. But alas, some people like it differently.

The problem gets worse when such people actually expect others to tolerate, or even not just tolerate but actually agree with them every time. How in the world, really? You say what you have to say, some will agree with you, some will not, some will appreciated and adore you while others might laugh at you, or ever ridicule you. So what, I say. That's the way the world is, and I deal with it. And that makes my life so easy, and help me to actually keep a sane mind if it is ever possible with me.

To finish, I did not intend to change anyone's opinion here - it's good if anyone can, and just meh if they don't. I don't really care. Just wrote this because, well, for the sake of it.

Happy week ahead to you tolerant bunch and to the not so tolerant ones as well. OK let's make it everyone - far easier. Let me try again.

Happy week ahead everyone!