Year Three

Today is September 15th, 2009. I don't really need to tell you this because it shows up next to this post. Contrary to popular belief and urban legends, I am not stupid. I mention the date because it has a meaning. On September 14th, 2007 yours truly flew out of his home country to setup home in a foreign country. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, 2 years and 1 day ago, I officially "moved" to Canada (I can't say I "set foot" here because of the simple reason that I had come here on January 23, 2006 to complete the final formality to be granted immigration to this country).

I realize that it's been 2 years since I arrived here. 4 days ago, I also completed 18 months with my organization. And like every other idiot looking back at the past 2 years, I'd like to say "It's been one hell of a rollercoaster ride!". Apart from the fact that I've grown 2 years older and am now a part of The Rat Race, life has been good and bad. But unlike my previous posts, I'm not going to put up a list this time. Instead, I'll probably make a kind of timeline. I know it's another way of making a list, but I guess that's what I'm good at i.e. listing things out. So, here goes:

28 Jul 2007: Convocation. Finally, an engineer.
14 Sep 2007: Arrive in Toronto, Canada. Stay with cousins.
29 Sep 2007: Move out of cousin's condo, move into a condo shared with 2 guys.
11 Mar 2008: First day at work.
Sometime in Mar 2008: Buy myself an iPod Shuffle. My first ever iPod.
11 Apr 2008: 2-day winter camping trip in Algonquin National Park with roommates and a friend.
Sometime in May 2008: One roommate leaves for India. Get another roommate.
18 Apr 2008: 2-day trip to Montreal with cousins to celebrate the birthday of one of them.
10 Jul 2008: Sister arrives in Toronto. Put her up with cousins.
17 Jul 2008: Sister moves in with me.
31 Jul 2008: Another girl moves in with us. 4 people in a 2-bedroom condo. It's still all good. Couch is my new best friend.
14 Aug 2008: Go to my first rock concert. Eddie Vedder (from Pearl Jam).
16 Aug 2008: Raksha Bandhan with sis after 5 years. Gift her an iPod Shuffle.
5 Sep 2008: Take sister to her first rock concert. Bryan Adams. Take roommates out as well. Celebrating 1 year in Canada.
28 Sep 2008: Get a 10-year multiple entry visa for United States. Very happy!
6 Oct 2008: Roommate leaves. I cut off all relations with him. He is a bastard.
26 Dec 2008: First Boxing Day experience. Buy 2 iPod Classics for myself and sis. Buy a Macbook and gift it to sis for her upcoming birthday.
14 Jan 2009: Sister goes to India to finish her exams.
18 Jan 2009: First and only weekend all alone in this country. Decide to have a blast.
20 Jan 2009: See Cradle of Filth in concert. Dream come true :-)
22 Jan 2009: Parents arrive in Toronto, Canada. They start living with me.
11 Mar 2009: Complete 1 year with my organization.
25 Mar 2009: See Prodigy in concert. Realize that techno concerts aren't my cup of tea/coffee. Concert ticket was a birthday gift for a friend.
29 Mar 2009: Celebrate aforementioned friend's birthday. Best day out with friends after a long time.
21 Apr 2009: Sister comes back to Toronto. Starts living with us. 5 people in a 2-bedroom condo. Nightmare come true. Couch becomes my best friend again.
26 May 2009: Take sister for Disturbed in concert. Last rock concert we've been to till now.
31 May 2009: Move into a bigger new 2-bed condo. Feel happy.
11 Sep 2009: Complete 18 months with my organization.
14 Sep 2009: Complete 2 years in Canada i.e. PR requirements completed. 1 more year before I can apply for citizenship.

I guess that's pretty much everything. Life's not been very interesting really. I've made friends, I've lost most of them. Life's been going on and on. If anything interesting happens, I'll let you guys know. Till then, have fun!

My Power Song

I found my power song. It's called "This is Your Life" from the OST of the movie "Fight Club". Here is the video:



Here are the lyrics:

..And you open the door and you step inside
We're inside our hearts
Now imagine your pain as a white ball of healing light
That's right, your pain, the pain itself is a white ball of healing light
I don't think so

This is your life
Good to the last drop
Doesn't get any better than this
This is your life
And it's ending one minute at a time
This isn't a seminar
This isn't a weekend retreat
Where you are now you can't even imagine what the bottom will be like

Only after disaster can we be resurrected
It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything

Nothing is static
Everything is evolving
Everything is falling apart

You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake
You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else
We are all a part of the same compost heap
We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world

You are not your bank account
You are not the clothes you wear
You are not the contents of your wallet
You are not your bowel cancer
You are not your grande latte
You are not the car you drive
You are not your fucking khakis!

You have to give up
You have to realize that someday you will die
Until you know that, you are useless

I say: "Let me never be complete"
I say: "May I never be content"
I say: "Deliver me from Swedish furniture"
I say: "Deliver me from clever art"
I say: "Deliver me from clear skin and perfect teeth"
I say: "You have to give up"
I say: "Evolve, and let the chips fall where they may"

I want you to hit me as hard as you can!

Welcome to fight club
If this is your first night, you have to fight

:-)

Happy Fuckin' Easter

Once again, it's been a loooooooooong time since I last posted out here. Sorry about that folks! (As if anyone even reads this. Haha) Anyway, I had to make this post because I'm back from my li'l hiatus from metal again :-)

On April 16th 2009, I went for a concert. A 5-hour, 5-band metal concert! Fuck yea! The concert was part of Lamb of God's No Fear Music Tour. The featured bands were:

1. Lamb of God (obviously!)
2. Children of Bodom
3. As I Lay Dying
4. Municipal Waste
5. God Forbid

I had floor tickets for the concert. This means that I could be right under the bands' noses (and I practically was). Personally, I believe it's no use going to a metal concert if you have to stand in the "seating area". It just doesn't feel right!!

Anyway, since I had work till 5pm on that day and the doors were gonna open at 6pm, I managed to reach the concert only by 6:30pm, and so I missed God Forbid :-( But, I was right in front of the stage!! I was soooooo happy!! I stood right below the MASSIVE speakers! :-D Municipal Waste lived upto their name i.e. they sucked!! But As I Lay Dying was pretty AWESOME!! When Children of Bodom got on stage, I was just 10 feet away from Alexi Liaho at times. It was so fuckin' good!! You know the music is real fuckin' loud when the guitars for a song start feeling like they're coming from your head instead of the speakers!! When Lamb of God got on stage, you won't believe how the place erupted!! Every song was fuckin' AWESOME! It felt soooo good!! I had a silly smile on my face :-) I felt like this was it. The best day I've had yet.

Since I landed in Toronto, these are the artists I've seen live:

1. Eddie Vedder
2. Bryan Adams
3. In Flames, All that Remains, Gojira, 36 CrazyFists
4. The Australian Pink Floyd Show
   
5. Cradle of Filth, SepticFlesh, Satyricon
6. The Prodigy
7. Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, As I Lay Dying, Municipal Waste, God Forbid

Out of all these concerts, I thought Prodigy was the loudest as I was in The Pit for that. But the Lamb of God concert just raped The Prodigy repeatedly, killed it and then raped it again! It was soo fuckin' loud!! I could hear the Double Bass drum pound in my chest like it was gonna rip my heart out. I could feel the guitars in my head. I could hear the lead singer scream right in my face. It was insane! When I got outta the concert, my right ear was totally blown coz I was standing next to the speakers and looking left to see the stage i.e. my right ear was facing the speakers throughout. When I put my iPod in my ears and tried listening to Cradle of Filth on full volume, it felt like it was on 30% volume or something. I got home and tried talking to the building concierge and I felt like he was talking to me from across the lobby or something. I got home and went to sleep, texting a friend about how much louder this concert was compared to The Prodigy concer we went to and how great it made me feel. When she sent me a reply, I had the fone next to my right ear and felt like my fone was kept 20 feet away from me. I woke up in the morning, with the alarm on my cellfone sounding like it was still 20 feet away from me. On my way to work, I couldn't hear most of the people talking around me. It got worse at work coz I couldn't hear a thing all day. Only in the evening did I manage to start hearing better. I'm ok now. Though the whole concert gave me such a bad ear problem, I loved every bit of it. :-) It made me feel good, it made me feel alive, it made me feel invincible!!

During the concert (and like all other metal concerts I've been to), I realized once again that metal really is my religion. As a matter of fact, metal is my REAL fuckin' religion!! And this concert was my way of celebrating Easter. Just like Easter is celebrated to acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus, this was my way of celebrating the resurrection of metal. One of the things that the LoG lead singer talked about was how there was a time when Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax had played in the 80s or 90s once and sadly said "Metal is dead now". Then the LoG singer said, "Toronto! You prove to the world that metal is not dead yet. It's coming back! Thank you!" And I believe he was quite right! Metal IS making a comeback. (How else do you explain LoG's latest album debuting at No. 2 in US Billboard and No. 1 in Canada?)

So yea, Fuck you hip-hoppers and rappers! Time to pull up your underwears as high as you can, coz metal is coming back like fuckin' hell and it's gonna make you shit your pants pretty soon!

Fuck yea!! Metal forever!! \m/