How to tell whether you are a Fanatic

First of all a quick definition of the word fanatic I’ve taken from an online dictionary:

Fanatic:
[Noun] - A person motivated by irrational enthusiasm (as for a cause)
[Adjective] - Marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea
Well…I personally don’t really have a concrete answer to tell if one is a fanatic.




So, I’m just going to take my case. There are a couple of artists & artistes I really admire...but now let me just limit my study to the world of football [soccer] and the Manchester United [The Red Devils] supporter in me for this brief case study.

The following are some random points:

1. Taking a photo of one’s 2 year old daughter
and putting in text which says “Little Red Devil” when one should probably be calling her “my little angel” or some other sweet appropriate word + making it appear as if she is wearing a ManUtd kit

2. Thinking realistically and knowing that one will never be able to play for ManUtd. in this lifetime but having recurring dreams where my little daughter becomes the star player of this very club I support.

3. Carrying an authentic Manchester United back pack to my workplace everyday even though all I put inside it is a bottle of water. [I’m saving money to buy the latest original jersey]

4. Asking my wife to give me live commentary over the phone [long distance call] while ManUtd is playing when I’m not in a position to watch the match. Okay a little exaggeration here but I don’t own a TV or have connection to the internet where I live alone currently so I do ask her to give me frequent updates over the phone when I dont make it to someplace where I can watch important matches.

Alright, shall not bore you more with my case. Probably mine is just a mild case compared to any of you fanatics out there … what/who-ever you are fanatics for. Maybe you don’t even think of yourself as a mere fanatic....maybe you are even more than a mere lunatic fanatic.

Oh, by the way Manchester United 2 – 1 Arsenal. Last night's match result. Really, Arsenal.. thanks for the charity shown. :-)

Quote I’d seen on some page on the internet in the recent past went something like:
“I don’t have problems with god. It’s his fan club that I hate…”
It brought a silent smile but it also made me think a little bit…..then I closed the web page and turned back to the latest news section of ManUtd.com.

Shot in the Dark

...Patience please if the image below is slow to load….

Clicked this photo last Saturday evening after a light rainfall. No idea whether it is male or female but since it kind of stopped to “pose” I think it’s a sheSnail.

I’d seen one of it’s kind on a previous evening but I had no batteries in hand. This time I whipped out my ready camera, set it to macro, got down on my knees, crept up close and took a snap...then a second snap...but I stopped clicking more since I felt the creature would not appreciate the bright flash of my camera. I was worried that other pedestrians wouldn’t see it in the dark and squash it to death but after a few long hesitant seconds I left it on its way….

Another reason I stopped staying with the creature was because I was afraid that people would think I was surveying it up close to decide whether it would make a good side dish for dinner. Snail Soup anyone?

___________________________________________

The above photo of the main road going / coming from the airport I took last Tuesday evening. After having shot the slow moving snail it struck my mind that I should capture something opposite to it in a way – fast moving traffic on the highway. The busy main road is just a jump away from the quiet residential block that I reside in so off I went to shoot the road from a footbridge over it.

There are loads of beautiful shots of this nature one can find on the internet and I also always wanted to at least try shooting one. The easiest way I know is to lower one’s camera shutter speed below the auto or normal settings. Hold the camera really steady or get a tripod and click. Even just a very slight shake will cause undesired results. But if you do want an abstract effect one can intentionally move the camera a bit while clicking. Experiment. I also soon found out that if the stream of traffic is thin then the photo doesn’t come out that cool...
Okay, enough of my tutorial...loads of good resources up online….

One can get decent digital cameras at cheap prices these days or you can always use the inbuilt cameras in your mobile phones or rather use cameras with phones. I own an outdated entry level digital camera by today’s standards but it has all the basic features in it.

Its great fun and with due respect to professional photographers out there I believe photography is a field where the learning curve is not too steep if you enjoy shooting & experimenting with your camera - both technical + artistic aspects. So, start shooting … [Becoming a professional paparazzo is optional.]

In League with Devils

Yes, a lot of people hate us….but I think it’s the price one has to pay for being in league with a force so united and powerful. I feel truly honored to count myself as one of those who stoke the flames of the empire…
Can the church or other established faiths stop us?

Yes and no…. yes because depending upon their location the church might succeed in stopping some of our fellow brothers and sisters from seeing the battles we fight. But actually some of our congregations pray in the very churches / temples / mosques… that others worship in... praying for the very force we support to achieve more.

No, because many of us choose not to enter customary places of worship but rather watch or be in the very premises where our devils practice their mastery. And yes, many give huge offerings to be able to do so every year. They might not appear to be … but there are many who are in league with the devils that I align with amongst church leaders. I personally know one such person. In fact his whole family approve of the devils and their deeds.

My own family members are yet to believe. I’ve got a wife who is too weak to have any more faith. When she sees me during times of devilish celebrations she shivers and breaks down. It hurts to see her suffer…mentally and the liver problem she has doesn’t make things easier.
My brother went astray many years ago following an army of failures. I truly feel sorry for him and his adopted sect. They have goals but it’s like they always end up firing blanks.

My parents? They just don’t care. Only hope remains for my daughter…but I leave it up to her to make a choice…though a little direction from my side wouldn’t hurt…

I must admit that a couple of strong adversaries do exist to bring us down. Much was accomplished in the past year except for an important battle that was lost at the end of one epic war. But a new period has come again. Glory is what we the supporters of Manchester United F.C. also known as The Red Devils wish for again from the team.
The English Premier League season is in. Whom do you support?

Notes:
> My wife does not have liver problems. She supports Liverpool F.C. who had problems in winning any major trophy last year.

> My brother belongs to the Christian Presbyterian sect. He supports Arsenal F.C. They really do fail to live up to their chosen name when it really matters.

> My mother supports Michael Chang the now retired tennis player. My little daughter and father enjoy watching Mr. Bean.

Image: Silhouette of Sir Alex Ferguson with a pitchfork.
Next time I’ll add him chewing gum. I’d forgotten to add this important attribute.
Source: In-house blinddayze Art.

Ready, Get Set, Read!!!

An uneventful week has gone by again as far as external activities are concerned [as usual]. Living alone I pretty much stay indoors after I get off from office and in the weekends too I’m mostly confined inside the four walls of my little rented room. Of course on Sundays I TRY to make it to church in the mornings…..but even on those occasions of failure to do so, I do end up at a good Reverend’s place and get to enjoy a tasty Mizo meal which they always generously offer…although I always politely weakly refuse.. saying I’ve already taken breakfast…etc..

Since I don’t own a TV I spend a good amount of time sitting in front of my computer. And this ancient machine of mine has served me well. It belonged to my brother who bought it while he was supposedly studying some computer course many many years ago in the same institute with
Bill Gates. Sadly today I’m not the brother of a billionaire. Okay sorry for the exaggeration….but the monitor and the 2.1 set of speakers are at least 9 and a half years old [passed on from my brother] and the main computer assembled about 4 years ago. The hard disk being the latest part to be replaced. Still, my machine is a far cry from the one I enjoy working on in office with a slick TFT monitor and Core2duo processor + loads of RAM.

My home computer is not connected to the World [wide web] so sitting in front of it does not include surfing the internet. However it serves well for watching movies – three of Jim Jarmusch’s films being the latest that I’ve enjoyed thoroughly. I would highly recommend Down by Law, Broken Flowers and Coffee & Cigarettes for those new to this independent film maker’s work.

Besides films and music… since four days ago my hard disk also happily contains the contents of a Gutenberg project cd [’03 edition] which I dug out while clearing up my cd/dvd suitcase. I’d long forgotten about this collection of [eBooks] literature which contains approximately 8000 titles in it. [HTML and text file format].


So, unless it’s only Sidney Sheldon books you’re interested in, just surf over online to Project Gutenberg and get free access to 25,000 and counting works of literature!!! It would also be a nice thing to contribute your own works or in the form of monetary help and various other means.

Alrighty then, this post is getting long rather quickly….going to get back to my Gutenberg treasure -- reading The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne …just completed Edgar Rice Burroughs – The Return of Tarzan….[I’ve always wanted to be like Tarzan in the comic books—sadly having long hair is the only thing I’ve accomplished]. Okay so once again…from Aristotle to Emile Zola’s writings.. it’s all in there!!!! Feel free to read the available literature…..pun intended.
Go Gutenberg!!!