m mega corporation

--- (“Look inside, the future, you”) ---

Hi.

Welcome to 11th issue of the M Mega Corporation Arts Newsletter (MMCAN). For what seems like centuries you have turned to MMCAN for solace, for inspiration, for a mirror into your soul, and we thank you for subscribing. Inside, you will find information from WAN/ Micro fiction/ the gallery section/ e-mail thread with Sysco from 2012/ Snevel the Snail coloring book activity by Leann Webb/ brain teasing chess puzzle/ and TMOS special gallery.

Enjoy!

Editors: Mohsin Saleem & TMS Associates Contributors: Bom Trown, Leann Webb, C.J. Connor, Kate Gillespie

WAN SECTION

Cold weather is synonym with busy here at WAN. This year we will be participating of over 15 events bringing art to people and hoping to inspire the next generation of artists.

October also means planning for the new school year, to continue our workshops in schools. We are excited to report a growth of 400% in that area. If you follow education in general, you may know that Srinagar has the medium income and educational gaps in the country. We are looking hard with the kids in Shopian to help provide them with opportunities they lack, by bringing inter-disciplinary workshops.

If you are interested in starting a similar program in your area, we have gotten to that crucial point where we can provide structure, training and guidance. We would be happy to open up the doors to kids that lack opportunities in their communities.

In other news, we have a space for WAN under wraps, where everyone that is part of our little community is welcome to show their artwork and extend their participation into the real world. We look forward to an exciting winter, and invite you to join us in our journey. And don’t forget to check the newly updated WAN community on our website:

www.worldartistsnetwork.blogspot.com

See you soon!

MOHSINSALEEM6 on

MICRO FICTION SECTION 1. . Anything I could do in this life, someone else can do or already has done and probably better than I can. It is all meaningless. Me, when asked about studying. 2. X, why? Me, whist solving Mathematical equations. 3. It is my small space in a crowdy place. 4. Without a single virtue in my deed-book, how would this Mohsin be saved, ‘oh what a pity’ 5. My mother never found irony in calling me son of a bitch. 6. Zohsin Zaleem of Zerth. 7. A girl’s history depends on her geography. 8. You shiver me timbers. 9. TIBI. IN OMNE TEMPUS 10. Why does toast always land butter side down? 11. “Ruin your reputation,” the wise man whispered in my ear. “Then you will live quite freely.” 12. Oh I see, said the blind to the deaf. 13. If I deaf person has to go to court, is it still called hearing? 14. When you forgive, you love, and when you love, God’s light shines upon you.

©2013, Mohsin Saleem

Snacking Sneak Author: Mohsin S., 2012

“I have fallen for her, I caught her last glance and there it begins”

I eased myself on the wooden bed overlooking the first day of university school. It was just before dawn, but already pink fingers of light had begun to illuminate the vale. I, dug through my morning search drawers to get my Paul Mitchell lime shampoo (with negligible sodium lauryl sulphate) and soap and jumped into the shower. Reaching university I began a meticulous scan of the whole area. Every nerve in my body told me I was not alone.

Days passed and I saw a girl in the school who made my jaw go down but somewhere deep down in my heart I had a vibe that I can never have her and/or get to talk with her. I figured out that her name is Dure Nayab. Tsk tsk… Not a day passed when I didn’t think about her. My heart beats skipped whenever she was around. I did not like her very much the very first time I saw her, I used to have that morose comedown look on my face all the time at school, I felt alone. I used to see other girls at school but whenever I saw her, I used to get adrenaline in my nerves which caused hyper excitement every time I saw her. Needless to say, I could never tell her what was in my heart for her. I just want to hug her till eternity and BEYOND. She is the reason I want to live for every day. I feel every other girl is fake and pretentious and she is the only person who wears the best, looks the best and seems the best.

The Sophomoric (Smells Stinks like a teen spirit) Author: Mohsin S.

Illustration: ©2013, Mohsin Saleem in collaboration with Marc.

I always wanted a narrow escape from tests. Some years ago, I got below 20 in every subject, based on presumption, I was in 7th grade, when I received my report card, I put it in deep freezer in fridge, when my mother asked about the report card, I used to lie to her every day that I didn't get it yet. My mother got suspicious and came to school. Matter of fact, I was punished and humiliated in front of school that day. Then one day my mother opened fridge and found it in freezer. My sister, and cousins laughed very much after seeing that I had hid my report card in fridge. I'm reinforcing the idea that I was very clever at that point of time. I was an excellency, now I'm just an ex. Har har. I used to sit behind motorcycle of a then friend Zubayr. I really loved motorcycles back then, I used to get intrigued whenever I looked at motorcycles. Zubayr. Apparently had a Yamaha model with a crystal clear, medium sparse metal engine. Whilst he was riding his motorcycle once, I was at the back sitting like a brat ass kid with no helmet on my head, we ran out of gas and we moseyed a mile to reach gas station, when we got there, I looked at a girl (she was bit younger than me) driving her own black top, I was little upset with parents thinking about a girl younger than me driving a car and I'm like in "Bum f*## Egypt," so I asked my parents for a car and my father said that there are two classes of people in this world, those who're poor and those who're not, if it weren't like that then nobody would work or do anything, that got me thinking. Ruh roh! I still don’t have a car. Invariably, those who are poor will stay poor and those who are rich will someday become poor.

Matriarch – remembrance week I've been thinking about my grandma. Especially, since she really loved me. I have a mental image of my father's mother, on her knees in the snow, praying for me when we had a house fire when I was 15, I think. I ran back into the house to get my toy, and I passed out on the stairs because of smoke. My uncle Basheer (my dad's brother) and a neighbor ran back into the house to try and find me. And grandma was wailing, and praying to God that they would find me. And of course, they did. I had a special relationship with Grandma after that. She fell sick in 2007, she was taken into the hospital. I learned that she wouldn't make it out, and the family told me that Grandma was waiting to see me before she died. She wasn't able to communicate, but I talked to her, and held her hand. Then later that day she died of multi organ failure. I hope she is in God’s embrace. I am thinking of her very much today. It is a day for reflection. I'm crying, thinking about grandma. She was a great person. I looked at her photograph today and was reduced to tears. When the matriarch of the family dies, so much is lost.

GALLERY SECTION

Midnight Lace

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“75 piece Mona with one piece missing” © C.J. Conner 2013

The planet Zerth, a planet similar to, yet different from the planet Earth, boasts an advanced civilization where the media is the playground of artists and philosophers. Here we see a scene from a movie called "Zorrest Gompf". The protagonist, Zorrest Gompf, is explaining to his mate how life is like a box of zorks, the common eating utensil. -M Mega Zorporation Š2013

Moon Collision

Retrospective e-mail chat with Sysco from August 2012 Sysco: First of all, you have separated yourself (a good thing) from a lot of people because of the extent of your education so far. You also past a hurdle–meaning that you did not marry during your college years and have kids. If you were to have done this, you would be complaining about how you do not have the time or money to pursue your graduate studies. The general population divorce rate in the U.S. is about 50% and this does not count the other marrieds that stay together due to economics or guilt, etc. You are really ahead of the game. Why are you underestimating what you have accomplished? You may have a college loan. Most graduates would have one. Pay if off little by little. Remain productive by getting back in school if your loans are not too great to handle. You can work a job and attend grad study in the evening. You have a degree that noone can take away from you. Get the other one as long as you do not go broke. You need to be able to sell the degree and make enough salary. So choose one that is marketable. You also bring up issues about girls. You get a grad degree and they will come around for sure partly because of the income you are generating. You need to be cautious and find out what debts this other person has. If a woman has $50,000 in debt that is not part of a mortgage then do not get involved. Why get married and be in over your head? Do not be fooled and find all this out after you are married. That would be a disaster. You have other issues but my time is up. What do you think?

Mohsin Saleem: These words from you are the real eye opener. Thank you so much. I’ll think about that again and again.

Sysco: How about this for your situation–in the U.S. most graduate degrees take one year full-time but most people work jobs, so the 1 year becomes 2-3 years on a part-time basis. It is really tough to know what major to choose that you will enjoy for the years to come. There are dentists who say they always hated their jobs even when their father was one. So, the grad degree must be something that your gut tells you the answer. If you still cannot figure it out, then choose one that has flexibility so that you can move within a particular industry. Do not get so specialized that it is too hard to get a job. Now, about the women thing again. I believe that it is kind of true that when you are not looking for someone one comes around out of nowhere. I guess that a person is not trying too hard in this situation and it just sort of happens. By the way, it is really impossible to dress up in clothing that will impress everyone. One person sees clothes in a different way than another person. Look at how often women cannot easily decide how to dress for a night out. They guess and guess how other people will react. They just do not know most of the time. I do think, however, that most/all people agree that a casual neat appearance is very acceptable. As a guy, stay away from Ralph Lauren–too traditional for your age. Tommy Hilfiger puts out some good stuff. Marc Ecko I personally like. Via Europa and Calvin Klein are great looks. So, stay away from the U.S. equivalent of Sears and JC Penny’s quality since a lot of people know that there stuff may be a good price but fall way behind in fashion. Hair–never grow it long and comb it to one side. It is best to keep it short and layered. But, you need to get a haircutter who can do a good job. Do not go to someone who charges alot. They are overrated most of the time. Get a magazine and select a good photo of some model whose hair is like yours. Then find that haircutter that can imitate it for you. Bring the photo for the person to see and listen to his/her answer. Focus is on education. Grad school definitely is the time to be in a class that has a woman that catches your eye. It could be a similar feeling on her part. I’m writing too long again. Later.

Mohsin Saleem: Oh wow. I’m really astounded by you. I’ve never worn any branded clothes though. Here in Srinagar we do not have any good cloth brands and speaking of haircuts, I kept my hair short by your suggestion. I know little something about U.S. though like brands you mentioned restaurants and some such things. My first language is not English and teachers during school didn’t teach English well (though all of our tests/books were in English) but I learned most of it online and I consider it one of my strengths. I went for group discussion and personal interview of master’s of business administration some days ago at Kashmir University and the result would be announced soon whether I’m selected or not. There’s a girl I’m interested in and she walks past my house every day at around 6 p.m. but I do not have balls to tell her that I like her, she walks with two other friends and I don’t know her name yet. I hope I’ve not yakked your ears off.

Sysco: I want to vent. I am flossing between 2 teeth this morning and the floss gets caught at the margin of one tooth (where the crown and tooth root are cemented). This tooth is connected to a bridge and is one of the end supporting teeth. This happened once before and I went back to my general dentist and he broke off the 3 unit bridge and recemented it back on using a special epoxy for the tooth in question. I suppose epoxy cement is stronger than the regular cement they use. Now, I have an appointment tomorrow morning for a consultation. I hope that he does not say that the tooth needs to be pulled out because it is the 2nd time and that the tooth root just will not hold the crown properly. If he says this, then I got a bigger problem–the missing tooth next to it. So, the possibility of 2 implants. In the U.S., ONE implant generally costs $3,000. I will not fly out of the country to get it done elsewhere because of the aftercare and the unknown involved. Ugh. Give me your BEST thoughts. I’m remaining too angry about the thing. On top of this, I just had the LANAP procedure done on the other side of my mouth in a different quadrant. So, for the past month I’ve been eating very soft foods.

Mohsin Saleem: Oh, I’m sorry to learn about your troubles. I can understand that the tooth situation could be pretty devastating. I pray that EVERYTHING goes well whilst you go to the dentist and that you do not have to pay much. I have silver filling in one of my molars; I got it done three years ago but last year the filling came out from one side (I’m not sure whether it broke or what) and I’ve not cared to go to the dentist since because it has not given me any trouble. Everything will be fine, you’re the BEST! Oh and there’s a quote that I like which may make you smile “If God be for us, who can be against us”

Sysco: Very appreciated. In a few hours I’ll know my fate in this. But, wait, I have another that has been brewing for the past week. I have to directly involve myself to put on the first mayoral campaign debate for the city I live in, tomorrow. General election voting happens every 4 years. We expect a small gathering of about 80 people and in preparation I offered to do the research to put the ground rules together for the 3 candidates. Last week, I started my website search for info since I never did this debate thing before and knew I needed to be very organized. There is only one person above me who shut down all my work saying that she wanted it to happen informally and not in an organized and thought out manner like I wanted to. Now I have to decide–since I have to show up I was planning on sitting in the first row with the audience and just listen or to sit next to this disgusting jerk at a table nearby to the candidates (in front of candidates) and when everyone sees there is no plan to anything they will also look at me as being totally unprepared. The event is 90 minutes long! Do you have any idea what it is like to be in front of an audience with no plan when the candidates start to disagree and challenge each other? There will not be any timekeeper, the jerk who has no clue how to be a moderator (a critical job), no plans for closing statments (or not),do candidates have the right to rebuttal,no length of time determined for opening statements,etc. The audience themselves will ask their questions after the boards 5 questions and it can get aggressive. Again, there is no plan on how to handle audience outbursts. The candidates have the reputation for going at each other. So, where do I sit? The first row in the audience would save me a lot of embarrassment for 90 minutes but then it shows to everyone that something is wrong by my not sitting next to the idiot since I am on the board of directors. The response by the jerk is always not to be concerned–it’ll work out. If it were a much smaller audience and the candidates did not have the reputation for hating each others guts then I’d agree the event can be informal and controlled. Emails are so different than actual conversations but that is the way it is on websites. Later.

Mohsin Saleem: Hello again. Well er, I just read your missive. I’m not sure about the official debate thing but I’ve been through group discussion where I got pretty nervous but I still didn’t let my fears or shyness overcome what I wanted to enunciate and I enunciated my points clearly. It was the group discussion about whether privatization will help eradicating corruption and I jot down the points on paper swiftly in 2 minutes time which was given and then discussed my points. I remember this thing from a movie, “Imagine for a second you are carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff you have in your life and start with the little things the shelves, the drawers, the nicknacks: then start adding larger stuff, clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV – backpack should be getting pretty heavy now – and you go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home – I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office, and then you move to the people that you trust with your most intimate secrets, your brothers and sisters, your children, parents, and finally your husband, wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend – and get ‘em into that backpack – feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake; your relationships are your heaviest components in your life. all those negotiations and arguments and secrets are compromising. The slower we move, the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live, symbiotically over a lifetime, star-crossed lovers, monogamous swans – We are not swans, we are sharks.” Though I can say that without any plan it could be quite difficult to be in front of audience as I’ve learned that planning is the basic managerial function —thinking in advance; what to do and how to do et cetra. About the guy (jerk), God will be looking for you and I’ll pray that everything goes well. There’s emotion in everything I presume. Some things are based on relationships, like in business and/or offices etc. which build over time. They provide the passionate connection so often needed when major issues are at stake. Okay, I guess I’m meandering from the topic a little.

Sysco: That is some of the best writing that I’ve come across in quite some time. By the way, you had an earlier question about how to attract a woman’s attention. What is the age group? This should be fairly easy for me to solve. [Editors note : Things come up. Plans change. I wanted to include this e-mail on the blog at the time called From The Island of Srinagar, but the blog went the way of dodo. Thankfully, I was able to locate the emails from almost three years ago.]

Snevel’s Color Page Whip out your favourite crayons and have fun.

Snevel meets El Niño and La Niña from Down Under.

MMC © 2013

CHESS PUZZLE SECTION

Mate in one, black to move

TMOS SPECIAL GALLERY random picture section

And the God said, may there be May.

How Shiek of you.

tmos - short paragraph section I went to The United Colors of Benetton to buy a pair of jeans. I tend to wear my jeans until they’re falling apart on my body, so it had been quite a while since my last purchase. A nice young salesperson walked up to me and asked if she could help. “I want a pair of jeans—32-28,” I said. “Do you want them slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit, baggy, or extra baggy?” She replied. “Do you want them stone-washed, acidwashed, or distressed? Do you want them button-fly or zipper-fly? Do you want them faded or regular?” I was stunned. A moment or two later I sputtered out something like; “I just want regular jeans. You know the kind that used to be the only kind.” It turned out she didn’t know, but after consulting one of her older colleagues, she was able to figure out what “regular” jeans used to be, and she pointed me in the right direction. The trouble was that with all these options available to me now, I was no longer sure that “regular” jeans were what I wanted. Perhaps the easy fit or the relaxed fit would be more comfortable. Having already demonstrated how out of touch I was with modern fashion, I persisted. I went back to her and asked what difference there was between regular jeans, relaxed fit and easy fit. She referred me to a diagram that showed how the different cuts varied. It didn’t help narrow the choice, so I decided to try them all. With a pair of jeans of each type under my arm, I entered the dressing room. I tried on all the pants and scrutinized myself in a mirror. I asked once again for further clarification. Whereas very little was riding on my decision, I was now convinced that one of these options had to be right for me, and I was determined to figure it out. But I couldn’t. Finally, I chose the easy fit, because “relaxed fit” implied that I was getting soft in the middle and needed to cover it up. When people have no choice, life is almost unbearable ....But as the number of choices keeps growing, negative aspects of having a multitude of options begin to appear.

October (December) 2013

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