notting hill carnival

The annual Notting Hill Carnival took place from Sunday 24 to Monday 25 August this year. I just heard of it a couple of days before it took place. I didn't know that there was such a carnival even though it's my fourth year here. Well, this is the first time that I'm staying in the UK during the summer, so I forgive myself. Heh.

Wan Aimran was the one who told me about the event and I planned to meet him there on Monday. I also called a couple of friends from high school, Arin (@ Aghain) and Kat, who I haven't seen for a while to meet up there. Adzmel, who was also staying at Ammir's for a while, went with me to the carnival.

Since I'm not bothered to write about the history of the carnival, here's an excerpt from Wikipedia (click the link to read more):

Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which takes place on the streets of Notting Hill, London, UK each August, over two days (Sunday and the following bank holiday), since 1965. It is led by members of the Caribbean population, many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past, making it the second largest street festival in the world, after Rio. It is also often compared to Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin.

The event was heavily policed. There were a lot of people and so we didn't get to meet Wan Aimran there. Sorry ye! But we did find Arin and Kat, who were there with Afif, also a friend of mine. The carnival was quite good and the parades were very colourful. They really enjoyed themselves parading down the streets wearing their costumes. It was fun.

I do pity the residents there though. They have to put up with all the noise the whole day outside their homes. And most of the shops were boarded up. There must have been some riots of some sorts during the previous years to make the shopkeepers be extra careful. Or maybe the council was providing them with the boards for safety reasons. I don't know.

Anyway, it was a good day to go out and see the colourful parades. Maybe I'll go again next year.

assassin's creed

Assassin's Creed is a third-person stealth game by Ubisoft, released near the end of 2007. I didn't buy it then of course. Too expensive. I bought the game second-hand from eBay last month and have already finished it a few weeks ago.

altaïr the assassin

The setting at the start of the game is in a building belonging to Abstergo Industries in September 2012, where scientists Warren Vidic and Lucy Stillman are working on a project. By the way, Lucy was modelled after and voiced by Kristen Bell. You'll play Desmond Miles, whose ancestor was Altaïr ibn La-Ahad, a member of the Hashshashin, an Assassin Brotherhood, during the Third Crusade of the Holy Land.

altaïr in action

According to the game, the memories of one's ancestors are hidden inside one's DNA and that's why Desmond, also called Subject 17 to Abstergo, is being held there. The company, which is actually run by the Knights Templar, wants to extract information from Desmond involving his ancestor Altaïr. They can do this using a machine called the Animus, which enables the user to replay the memories of his/her ancestor(s) if (s)he was there him/herself.

So that is actually the premise of the game. You're Desmond who's being held in the machine called the Animus, replaying the memories of his ancestor, Altaïr. Altaïr's objective in the game is to assassinate nine historical figures in the year 1191. According to the game's developers, these assassination targets did die in 1191 but not necessarily murdered. In the game, some historical changes were justified by Warren saying that the historical records were altered by the Knights Templar to deceive anyone studying the past.

hmm.. where's the shopping centre?

Now Altaïr needs to kill these men because according to his leader, Al Mualim, the men are taking advantage of the crusade for their own benefits. Before assassinating them, he needs to gather information of their whereabouts and activities to plan the kill. To do this, you'll need to find informers who'll ask you to help them for information. You'll either have to kill some guards or collect flags within a period of time. Besides that, you'll also need to eavesdrop on some conversations, interrogate some preachers and pickpocket letters or maps. After you collect enough information, you're ready to perform the assassination.

You can also save citizens being harassed by soldiers. After saving them, there'll either be vigilantes in that area who will help you if you are being chased by soldiers or a group of scholars where you can blend yourself into to go past guards. You also need to map the cities that you go to by climbing up tall view points. You can then perform the leap of faith, which is jumping from a very high place and landing in a bunch of hay.

proving he's not afraid (of heights) by performing the leap of faith

Although it gets a bit repetitive, I still enjoyed the game. Its uniqueness is that you can climb up walls and towers and run on rooftops. The movements are quite smooth when you get used to it. If you've played Prince of Persia, then you'll be familiar with some of the moves in Assassin's Creed, since they're produced by the same company and also developed by the same people if I'm not mistaken. Oh and there'll be a new Prince of Persia game which is coming out soon and I'll be looking forward to that.

Okay back to Assassin's Creed. The graphics are beautiful. Of course, most games have really cool and more realistic graphics now that there are the Xbox 360 and PS3. You can really enjoy the view of the cities at the tall tower. Even Dini and Wan Aimran praised the graphics when they saw me play. What a bad host I am, playing video games when there are guests in the house!

take that you scum

The fight moves are okay, but there isn't much variety. You can use a hidden retractable blade to perform assassinations and also a sword or knife in fights. There are combo moves when fighting, which are cool, but sometimes Altaïr and/or his enemies go through walls or a nearby tree or rock when doing these combo moves. But I do like the counter attack moves. They're really neat.

There is something that I quite don't like about the game. Altaïr is a trained assassin, who can climb walls easily and clever at blending in the crowd to get unnoticed, but he can't swim. If he falls into a river or the sea, he'll just drown. Come on la, a well-trained assassin should know how to swim. I can't swim of course but I'm not an assassin am I? Heh.

All in all, it's a good game. The ending is a bit mysterious and I really hope that there'll be a sequence to the game to explain the mystery. And if there is one, I hope that there'll be more combo fight moves and Altaïr/Desmond has learned to swim.

a reflection

Four years had certainly gone by a bit too fast. One minute I'm stepping into the grounds of Imperial College to start my MEng Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree and the next minute I'm done. Finished. Completed. Another stage has ended in my life and it's time to move on to the next.

Over the years, I have really learned a lot, not just academically. I'm not exactly the same person I was then. I grew up. Matured? Maybe, maybe not. That depends on my mood I suppose. Now I have different perspectives on things. I like to think that my mind is not as narrow as it used to be.

You meet different kinds of people, see different kinds of behaviour, hear different kinds of things that people say regarding the same thing. Everyone has their own opinion, and like Hyree always say (well, maybe not always), there's two sides to a story. Sometimes both sides think they're doing the right thing and it's good if we try to understand both sides' views to solve the problem (if there is one).

I've made many mistakes throughout my life and I do apologize to anyone that I've hurt or offended. These mistakes can make us a better person if we learn from them. We should also learn from other people's mistakes as well. The tricky thing about mistakes is that the person doing them usually doesn't realise that they're doing something wrong. It's so much easier to see the wrong in others and not yourselves. That includes yours truly, and I really hope that if I ever do get out of line, my friends will smack me on the head to bring me back to my senses (not literally of course).

Okay enough blabbering. Alhamdulillah, four years of hard work paid off. Well, maybe not exactly four years. There are lots of chill time as well. Ehe. Anyway, I'm quite happy with what I obtained and I'd like to thank everyone for everything you guys have done; be it the lecturers who taught me, the postgraduate students who shared their knowledge with me, the friends that I studied with, the girlfriend who gave moral support from afar, and lots more. All of you deserve a very big thank you from me.

In October, I'll have a programming refresher course (sponsored by my bakal company), I'm having my graduation ceremony and I'll also be starting work. So until then I have a lot of free time and here are what I'm planning to do:

Work Permit/Visa Application

Since I'm not a UK citizen, I'll need a work permit to work at Symbiosis. The application hasn't yet started because an official document stating that I've finished my degree is needed. This document had just been completed and is on its way to Symbiosis (or maybe has already arrived there). I'll need to wait for further instructions on how to proceed with the application. I hope that all will go well, or else I'll be going back after the convocation and maybe sell ABCs at gerai Seksyen 2, Shah Alam. Heh.

Programming

My job title will be Graduate Software Engineer. What do software engineers do? Programming. Can I do programming? Of course I can. If I can't, I couldn't have got the job, now could I. Am I good at programming? Erm... erm... hmmm. I'll be programming in C/C++. The last time I programmed in that language was in second year, and that's like a million years ago. So even though I'll be going to the refresher course, I still need to revise and remember all the codes, techniques, etc. Berkarat gila ni.

Read Magazines

I've been subscribing to the Time magazine since late last year. A magazine arrives at my house every week and usually I can't finish one before the next one comes. But I normally finish them sooner or later. Well, since my exam period (which was in May), I put the reading on hold. Now I have some catching up to do. I'm currently nearly finishing the July 7 issue. So there's 7 more to go before the next one arrives next week! Oh there are also Reader's Digest magazines lying around the house. Talk about pressure, dude.

Games

Since Pear brought his Xbox 360 home, I can only play games on my laptop, which is still ok. I recently sent my laptop for repairs and they've replaced my LCD cover, so the screen looks new. Best la nak main game. Oh there's still Ammir's Xbox so I can play that as well.

Read Books

Besides the magazines, I have some books that I've bought but just didn't have time to read. Now that I have ample of time, I should be reading these books. Yes, I should.

Watch TV/Series/Movies

Well, no explanations needed here I guess, unless you don't know what a television is. (Hint: It's that black rectangular thing in the picture on the left.)

Football

The new EPL season is finally starting. I can watch Match of the Day every week for the day's highlights. Hurrah! Well I suppose this should be included in the above section since I'll be watching football on TV and not actually playing, but who cares. Anyway, there's no one to play with now.

Part-time Job

Me? Work? Nah, maybe not. Not until the end of October that is. Well, maybe yes. This will depend on my financial situation. Hmm...

Exercise

This is another hard one. Of course you can say that I can obviously do it if I want to. Well, that's what Wan Aimran will say anyway. I can't go to the gym because I'm no longer an Imperial College student. I borrowed a junior's student card but I can't use that because I don't look like him. I can jog around Hyde Park, I can skip, I can workout at home, I can shoot some hoops. Yes, I can do all that, but the question is will I actually do them? And sorry but I won't tell you the answers. Heh.

Cook

It's time to try out new recipes bebeh.

Oh and I also have to repair some damages that I've done. Something I've broken and I'm the only one who can fix it. What am I talking about? Well, that's for me to know and for you to erm... not find out. Heh. Looks like I'll be busy being free then. So, that's all folks. Thanks for reading.