The Raven

Here's a poem called The Raven. It was written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1845. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Enjoy.

I have included two video's of this poem being read, at the bottom of the post. One is James Earl Jones, and the other is Christopher Walken. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you......

THE RAVEN

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.' Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Nameless here for evermore. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door - Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; - This it is, and nothing more,' Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, `Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; - Darkness there, and nothing more. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!' This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!' Merely this and nothing more. Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. `Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore - Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; - 'Tis the wind and nothing more!' Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore. Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door - Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door - Perched, and sat, and nothing more. Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, `Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven. Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore - Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door - Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as `Nevermore.' But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered - Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before - On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.' Then the bird said, `Nevermore.' Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, `Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store, Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore - Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore Of "Never-nevermore."' But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore - What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore Meant in croaking `Nevermore.' This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore! Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. `Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! - Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted - On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore - Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore - Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting - `Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted - nevermore!

A picture clip from one of The Simpsons, Treehouse Of Horror episodes entitled "The Raven"

I did not expect to see an orangutan on a Saturday morning

What I did on Saturday

It started like any other normal day.

A Friday. The 13th of May. Another average day. Tutorial day. Classes, back nap, the normal stuff.

I woke up from my nap at 6pm. Which was late compared to the times that i usually wake up.
But it what really happened, is that my day REALLY got interesting after midnight.
We (Triven, and I ) were bored as hell that night and we had no idea what to do. We spent close to 30 minutes just THINKING of something interesting to do that night. Either something to do or somewhere to go. Which was when we planned to go hang out at his new place over in Tasbi 2.

Then got a call from Esmeth saying that he's coming over and that we'd all just meet in Pa'Im (name of an old dude who has an AWESOME roadside lepak stall in Medan). It was after a teh tarik kurang manis and an hour later that we decided to go to Bukit Lawang.
So we met back at my place and talked the plans out. We'd have to take a small trip to Triven's new place to get a motorcycle helmet for myself, but before we could leave my place, it started to rain. HEAVILY. So we waited. For an hour or so before the rain finally let up. Then we got the helmet, and took off.

We started our journey around 3 a.m. and got there around 5.30 a.m. taking only two stops on the way there. The journey to Bukit Lawang was a little crappy because of the holes in the road and the lack or any proper lighting. Also, unlike Brastagi, where one can predict where the road is going to go, you can't for the roads to B.Lawang. It was a cold journey. The cold chilly air and fog made the night riding really challenging but fun. It felt like my face was gonna freeze and fall off my head. It was still dark when we arrived so we parked the bikes and headed for a stall for some breakfast.

After breakfast, we started to explore the area. Me for the second time, because I had already been there. We walked and walked till we found the cable bridge over the river. The three of us went up to the highest possible point of the bridge and watched the sunrise. It was amazing.

The time now was 6 something a.m. We went exploring the area further. Then about 15 minutes of walking later, we came to a river crossing that could only be made my a boat. It wasn't a huge crossing, just one about 5 meters wide, but you needed the boat because the river current was pretty strong. That crossing lead to the orangutan conservation area. We didn't cross it just yet, because feeding times were from 9-10 a.m. So we just checked out the river first.

The waters were so clear and the sounds of the water crashing upon the rocks was very calming. When the time got to 8.30, the rangers opened the crossing into the conservation. It was more of a hollowed out log than it was a boat.
We got to the other side, and there was a video briefing about the area. Before the video could finished, the rangers called us (Triven, Esmeth, and me, and a couple of other western tourists) to follow them because it was time for the orangutan feeding. I dunno about the guys, but I was pretty damn exited. There was a small hike through some jungle before we got to a little clearing, which was fenced up with some bamboo, and behind that fence was a platform between two trees. We all waited behind the fencing to see how it was going to be done.

Of the 4 rangers that were with us, 2 of them went to the top of the platform (which was level with the viewing area) and sat down. There was one carrying a backpack, and the other ranger was carrying a pail. Then sat down, and one ranger started knocking the platform with a rock that was already there at a steady pace. It was slow and continuous, for about 5 seconds. A few loud knocks every 10 seconds or so. I presumed that was the "breakfast call". Then, after about 15 minutes of waiting, there was a disturbance of branches from the trees behind us. We could hear it but see nothing, and so we waited. The rusting of the branches got louder and louder and finally, I saw something orange up in the trees. It was a real live orangutan! What was more surprising is that this one, had a little baby orangutan holding on to it!

It was such an awesome sight to see. The mother orangutan crawled down from the trees and made it way to the feeding platform through the bamboo fence (which was about 1M high). It was balancing on the top of the fence walking slowly towards the clearing where the feeding platform was. The orangutan passed less than 2 meters in front of me! It was sort of a rush seeing something like that, that close to you. Then the orangutan climbed up the feeding platform to where to 2 rangers were and were fed bananas and milk. Yes milk. That was the contents of the pail. The funny thing was, they fed it the milk with a metal cup and it drank the milk properly! Which was amazing to see of course. The little one then slowly left its mother and went swinging from a tree like, well like an orangutan would. Then the mother and the baby left but there was still more food.

Then the ranger did what he was doing before. Took the rock and started knocking the platform again. This time we waited 10 minutes for another one to come. But in those 10 minutes, we all watched the first one slowly, climb tree after tree and slowly disappear into the jungle. Then another one came shortly. This one was a little aggressive because it was making a lot of noise with the twigs before we saw it. It was breaking twigs and rattled the branches before we saw it. The rangers told all of us to back off a little from the viewing area. So we did, and the other orangutan came down from the trees. This ons was much bigger, and it had another baby too! Even the baby was a little bigger than the previous one. This one while climbing down kept looking at us after taking a few steps. It looked kinda "tak puas hati" with the rest of us there. This one was a little more entertaining to look at. Then after eating, it climbed the nearest tree and was eating the remaining bananas. The funny part was then the mother orangutan slapped the kid and it gave a short whelp. hahaha...

⁃ After the feeding we climbed back down the trail and back across the river and went for breakfast.
⁃ Nothing really interesting happened here. Just some regular old nasi goreng. Then we decided to go for a little walk. Esmeth went back after 15 mins of walking. So it was just me and Triven. We went for a hike to see just how far the trail would go. It ended at a flying fox platform. Or so I'm guessing thats what it was. So then we walked and discovered some awesome spots on the river that would awesome on photo. Sadly, none of us brought a camera with us.

I was so desperate to take a dip in the river that i bought myself a pair of camouflage shorts just to save my jeans from getting wet. We then went for a swim in the river. Believe it or not, there was a spot that was deep enough to dive from a rock ledge. I attempted some flips but were unsuccsessful. Perhaps I need more practice. Haha. After the swim, it was lunch time, and after that we began the tiresome journey back to Medan.

The return journey was much MUCH worse compared to when getting there. The potholes, the cracks in the road, the holes, the sand the dust, the diesel smoke, the grit, it was a NIGHTMARE. On top of that, it began to drizzle and rain a little, which meant that everything that was suspended in the air, now mixed with water was hitting us in the face, and being breathed in, and the best part was, I was the one riding the bike back. I had to endure that nightmare till we got to Binjai. Then Triven took over and rode the bike till we got back to my place. We got back at exactly 5.30p.m on Sunday. After talking a bit and washing off the "contaminants" on our faces, I took a nap. A LONG one. It was about 6.15 when my head hit the pillow, which was also the exact time I loss all consciousness.

I went for more than 24 hours without sleep on an almost massively epic journey that took less than 30 seconds to go from bored idea in the head to reality.


This is the crap that we get up to in Medan. Welcome to Indonesia everybody....




Joel out....

Friday, 13th May, 2011... Just another day...

I typed this WAYYY earlier than what this post may suggest. But because of some issue with Blogger, it has caused me to post this one day late. So here it is....



This has taken a while, but i feel that i should get back on the blogging wagon. Some people have told me to just write down whatever comes to mind. They say it'll take some of the stress off. I'm hoping this does, otherwise, it'll be another pointless update at 3 something a.m.

Just write. Get started and let whatever topic come to you naturally they said. I'm doing that, and the only topic so far I can come up with is reasons to delay getting to the point because I haven't found one yet. Is attempting to be pointless really a point? or is it pointless? If you strive to fail, and you fail, does that mean you succeed? or did you fail? which one happened? Kinda like that.

I'm just typing out random nonsense to keep myself from staring into the abyss. I've been having a horrible case of insomnia for about a week or so now. This is me getting "creative" at lets see here... 3.17 am. I bet a lot of great things were done by many many great men somewhat around this time. Many new inventions, radical new ideas that changed the world, real life inspiring shit. But not for me. Oh no. This is just a medical student banging away at the keyboard trying to find the difference between acute and chronic bronchitis.

Which brings me to my next paragraph. Its going to be really short.

See? what did I tell you. < I typed this line twice. I don't know why. Really, i'm a troubled individual. Some of my friends will vouch for me. Why else would I be blogging at this UNGODLY hour, 5 paragraphs in and STILL no point of discussion!?! I need help. I do. Even my sister told me that on skype today when I introduced the "NYAN CAT" to her.

It was hilarious watching her freak out as the candy coated cat flew through space and pooped a never ending rainbow while going "NYAN" over a billion times in a wonderfully catchy but annoying pop-ish kinda song. It is now one of my favorite things. Along with a list of my many other favorite things, which include:

1. Pointing out to other road users to STFU with their damn car/bike horn
2. Waking up and seeing that its still dark out.
3. Thinking that there's no more credit in my phone then discovering that i've got loads left.
4. Letting a sundae melt so that it becomes a milkshake. (Which i like to call a Sunshake)
5. LIstening to Daft punk with the lights all dimmed down and pretending that I'm in some super exclusive lounge that only allows me as a member....

... and many MANY other things. I will update em from time to time. Just you be patient. There will come a time when all my random shit will be accessible to the world as an "archive of rubbish of randomness" on this blog. Honestly, i cannot see myself using this blog to post anything useful in the near future. Thats what i use Facebook for. Oh, that and Twitter. I love my twitter account. Every little pointless useless update i put out there on the internet makes me feel just a little more important. Like I'm some sort of undiscovered celebrity.

And there you have it. The regurgitated contents of my brain on a early Friday morning.
Maybe later today I will think of something more interesting to post. All my posts seem to be about not being able to post something. Weird. I'm starting to annoy myself with this. haha....

Have a great Friday everyone. I know I will. Saturday's a holiday for me! FINALLY.

Joel OUT!