highway star

well, i've never felt like jumping on the bandwagon by wanting to drive one of these beauties. i've never felt like trying to prove anything either. also, i can only hope that someone my age being seen driving a BMW won't be mistaken as a crown prince or whatever from that pyramid/MLM thingy. all i ever wanted is to drive a coupe from the fleet of these ultimate driving machines. tried an E36 once, great car! then, an E46, got a ticket. it was absolutely fantastic. (drooling..).

on a tuesday

o love
won't ever let me down
won't ever give me up

if it's love, why am i so sad?
without love, will i be afraid?

when she's long gone, i'm alone
alone but not lonely

for all the twists and turns
just let me crash and burn
in love

family first. no second thought.

me and mom were talking vividly about our hari raya trip to perak when we heard screams from two doors away. when we realised that it was our indian neighbour, we continued with the topic of freshwater fish and some eatable green plants from the jungle. not that we were being ignorant or a bad neighbour, it was just not the first time.

so the jungle is within spitting distance from my sister's backyard. boil some water, throw some weird looking plants, eat it with a pinch of sambal. 1000 times better than medium-well steak from TGI. err, maybe just 100 times.

mom don't really like fish. me, i'd prefer that barely-showered-and-bearded creature. however, the freshwater fish served for lunch that day was exceptional. i can't remember the name though we were made to understand that the fish is only seasonally-available and the only place to find it is sg perak. price? myr30 per kilo. no salt, no oil, no seasoning. straight to the grill. taste? 4 stars from a non-freshwater fish eater.

the whole 3 days was fantastic. i've never been to a real kampung, let alone having one to call my own, for hari raya. one funny incident, i was watching a kung fu movie when i felt something cold and wet between my toes. reality check, cold and wet are reptiles. that was when i saw a leech (leech, right?) bloated with blood, sucking on my toe. "just let it be. it'll fall by itself once it decided it had enough". had enough? of my blood, dammit!! and i had to wrap my feet with kleenex as it won't stop bleeding till morning. thanks buddy.

mom was so happy to finally be in perak for this hari raya. and all of us were genuinely happy too. i guess all of us made her happy throughout the trip. our own idea of an ideal mother's day.

last but on a leash

emmy awards, september 21st. an award presenter, one british character made fun of steve carrell (evan almighty) for not getting an emmy of his own. mr steve was so embarassed and could not even smile, especially with the lights and camera pointed directly towards him. he even said, "what are you doing? stop it". and when everyone thought the host had crossed some serious lines, he walked off the stage, went to mr steve asking for a stolen emmy. and when mr steve returned the trophy, you'll notice that it was no longer funny although everything was clearly staged. because the man himself haven't got an emmy in his actual career.

i thought i saw something that would make my day. channel 5 will be airing the hilariously funny, "i survived a japanese game show". seriously, the japs are crazy dude!

back in 2001 or 02, when everything was melodramatic and all us rejects were very much occupied with the finding of a sherpa, we heard dave matthews bands' the space between us and we thought dave was an avid fan of mary jane, just like us.

went to singapore last saturday. final preparation was being made for that nite race. great track i must say. marina bay street circuit. brought along my nephew and niece. and the organiser of some nearby arts show were giving away ice cream and cotton candy for free. and i had to wait for them kids, gulping.

ping-pong thongs

initial incidents in the morning would shape up the way how my day is going to be. as always, but not all the time, music will come to the rescue. i know this might sound cheesy and all like, "can't we all live in peace? we don't need money, just love". just too good to be true. but that's the way it is.

i'm not a morning person. i'll answer your call half-heartedly, if i answer at all. i'll reply with a minimum yet meaningful usage of words, if you send me an sms before 12. there you go, model citizen. and yet i'm in the meeting-people-and-please-them business.

it's the 17th day of Ramadan. i've realised the fact that meetings are inappropriate in this holy month. we should all be given the liberty to decide of how to spend the time.

our so-called sports room is at Level 7. and some of us including myself made our decisions. we decided to play ping-pong.

p/s : narcolepsy struck again last friday. i fell asleep out of nowhere, like a baby for approximately 30 minutes, waking up just to find that the prayer is about to begin.

guess the weather?

it is the 4th day of Ramadan. was a bit busy attending to the preparation of a religious programme at our mosque. and people would invite me to that event when actually i'm the one who's ensuring everything was ready and perfect for the past two weeks.

they say during the first 3 or 4 days of Ramadan, you will experience something around the region of your head and lower abdomen. lower abdomen - hungry, of course and the lack of interest in doing no2. head - you'll lose your temper easily. that's the challenge though.

first two weeks, your body is adjusting, adapting to the change. typical indications- bad breath, whitey tongue, fatigueness.

final two weeks - cleaner tongue, fresher breath, rejuvenated as your glucose level is back on track. you are reborn, with a cleaner stomach and mightier faith.

the best detoxification session ever. and this year, i'm helping the amil (authorised person to collect the zakat). i have to finish 200 pages of the book. it's myr6.50 per person this year. anyone?

pleasures all mine

i have always envied those who can really express their feelings, views and thoughts. either via words, arts or music, which i discovered being the best form of expression ever. i have always wanted to write my own scripts, my own music and movie. i want to be articulate. like alanis, mr vedder and many more. i want to be smart and prolific, not appear to be one.

and now i found out that i'm trying to sing journey's open arms every friday night.

a girl i once dated re-emerged from the shadows of my happiness. she was devastated by the previous relationship. my answer, when asked, was that i'm getting married soon. as anyone else would, she congratulated me. and we went on exchanging sms until this afternoon. until she got bored (or tired of being pretentious), she stopped replying.

"well, we were not meant for each other perhaps.."...

i'll walk a mile for my camels

to kill time, there are times when i read other people's blog. many topics or subjects or bluntly-written day-to-day diary. sometimes amusing, sometimes annoying. sometimes i think some of us need some help. sometimes i think i need it more than anyone else. sometimes i just listen to REM's everybody hurts.

a friend wrote about his emptiness. blaming his career for the amount of prozac and valium and all that mind-altering chemicals consumed. is it true that being a writer, you will have to let yourself wandering around in some imaginary worlds? so that you could produce out-of-this-world results. so that you will receive a big round of applause for your masterpiece but internally you are battling with the demon who just wouldn't go away.

everybody hurts.

palma non sine pulvere

course paper, examination, interview and presentation. due date : august 6th 2008. i have been dedicating many hours recently in producing my perfect version of "tenant mix and its critical success factors". the subject might appear easy but since the industry itself couldn't find any explanation academically, i'm having a hard time coming up with my own.

i remembered having a discussion with two consultants from the land down under two years ago. they came, presented a paper and left us all in the boardroom that afternoon in awe. as for myself, i couldn't help but think that for the past 30 minutes all they ever taught was simply nothing. can you ask someone from a different country to teach you of how to wear a sarong when they have only been in contact with the sarong a mere two years ago, and yet you are going to pay them my-one-year salary?

they mentioned about our shopping behavior, impulsive vs planned, catchment area and all that textbook shit.

quaecumque vera

drunk chipmunks

The human species now has drinking partners.

German scientists have discovered that seven species of small mammals in the rain forests of western Malaysia drink fermented palm nectar on a regular basis. For several of the species, including the pen-tailed tree shrew, the nectar, which can have an alcohol content approaching that of beer, is the major food source — meaning they are chronic drinkers.

Frank Wiens and Annette Zitzmann of the University of Bayreuth were separately studying two of the species, including their eating habits. They discovered that the nectar of the bertam palm becomes fermented by yeast carried on the flower buds.

The pen-tailed tree shrew, in particular, takes advantage of it. By watching the animal and analyzing fur samples, the researchers estimated that the tree shrews consumed enough alcohol that they had about a 36 percent chance of being intoxicated (by human standards). But the researchers never saw any signs of inebriation, and from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes no sense to be drunk anyway. With predators all around, Dr. Wiens said, “it’s just too risky for an animal.”

The findings, reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the tree shrews and other animals have some efficient means of metabolizing the alcohol. The findings also suggest there must be benefits to having chronic low levels of alcohol in the bloodstream — otherwise the behavior would not have evolved.

Those benefits may be psychological, Dr. Wiens said, perhaps enabling the animals to cope with stress of some sort. Further studies to determine the benefits may help in understanding humans’ relationship to alcohol, he said. And since tree shrews are similar to species that were precursors of primates more than 50 million years ago, studying their alcohol use might also provide some evolutionary background for human drinking, he added.

It's Always Happy Hour For Several Species in Malaysian Rainforest
By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Published: July 29, 2008

black coffee is an aphrodisiac

1. a friend got so horny after being scolded. and i thought to myself, is the world getting weirder or have i been abducted by some jellyfish alien in my 4th stage sleep, lost my motor skills thus experiencing amnesia, no longer approve that the world is always a weird place?

2. this feels like experiencing premature ejaculation on a first date, how frustrating can that be? don't give me that look. no raising eyebrows or mouth-gaping moment please. this is the best i could think of right now to convey the shit in my head. i'm bored.

3. sent my car for a quick shower just to brave the heavy rain that late afternoon. and from that shiny rearviewmirror, i can clearly say the guy behind me is having the time of his life. stop picking your nose like you've just lost your wedding ring in it, you idiot!

and yes, boredom is the key to the lock in your mind. crazy shit, rite?

territorial pissings

what do all the following movies have in common?

i. singles
ii. slackers
iii. reality bites
iv. sleep with me
v. kicking and screaming
vi. before sunrise & before sunset?

all of them revolve around the lives of twentysomethings. the struggle to find a place within the community only to feel like turning up like a bad penny. the misfits of their generation. the appreciation of arts and music, when getting involve in arts and music means you're either lazy or stupid. circa 1990's.

i do have a unique bunch of friends. will share the evolution and the poetic nature of my friends. after all, you are the company that you keep.

who wants to be an early bird?

enveloped in a pop-culture on weekdays, i'm behaving like someone who would really appreciate those videos of booty-shaking and fake rains. a business-handshake believer, i nod like some characters on acid trip in that "fear and loathing in vegas". more like an entertaining parrot. wish i could live my life like it is saturday, every day. hate sundays because it feels like shit knowing that tomorrow is a day called monday. don't feel cheesy blues songs is for me but they just love me. can't not value the emotional swing it carries. wish to wake up with no worries, not a single care of what is going to happen to me, my job, this world or anything. get a cup of coffee, good movies and some munchies so that i don't have to step out of the house.

can't do that, can i? would love to go people-watching whenever i'm free. whenever the setting of a july sun seem to fly me back, to the meaningful silence. to the days when silence speaks louder than words. to the days when ugly truth is not an oxymoron.

my wishlist is getting taller. but i'm one of those who hates to plan. to work on it. not sad, nor am i anything. it's like ping-pong.

i wonder, is starting a band one of employment opportunities available to us?

she's good and better than ezra

two weeks ago, i decided to get myself a whole new experience in car entertainment. front> 2 sets of 5-inch mohawk speakers, rear> 3-inch+13-inch hunter speakers, 1 lanzar 500 watt amp, 1 dynasound amp of the same capacity and 2 superb crossovers. tweeters were complimentary. and now i could only hear the good things.

opera

"It's all coming in from all these other sources... stuff that you see. Real life is so much more intense than any movie, any song, any book -- if you join up and see the right performance. It's not something you could buy tickets for. Two nights ago I'm staying in the basement of this art gallery where we rehearse, and I was using the restroom at about three in the morning. I heard these drunks in the back alley. I went to listen through the crack in the door, because I thought I could hear them better. I could actually see through the half-inch clearing. It was more intense than any movie. It was all so real. There was a beginning, middle and end. It was like drugs, violence, all within less than 20 minutes. It was fascinating."

Somehow I related to that. I think that happens more than we know. It's a modern way of dealing with a bad life.

You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets
Or you can come to terms and realize
You're the only one who cannot forgive yourself

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

the day i tried to live

i haven't been writing for quite sometime. which means i haven't been able to share my views and thoughts. which means i have been keeping stuffs in, all to myself. which is not healthy at all.

i can see the change. people change. i change. i'm changing into another person. i lose my temper easily these days. especially when i'm hungry. and lately, i'm always hungry cause i'm losing my appetite again.

a friend from KL came yesterday since they're having that stupid tour again in danga bay. so we were talking about work and the accompanying bla-blas. i saw his photo while on holiday in anfield and sighed . "i haven't got the time to jerk off. let alone pamper myself for a holiday".

he said,"this is crazy. however passionate we are about the job, still, we need to get some time off from it. and you're working like seven days a week?!. bet you saved like a quarter million by now".

"mm, last time i checked which was a few hours ago, that ugly stupid machine said something about insufficient fund".

says it all

"Wide Awake" (audioslave/chris cornell)

You can a look a hurricane right in the eye.
1200 people dead or left to die.
Follow the leaders, were it an eye for an eye we'd all be blind.
Deaf or murdered, and this I'm sure in this uncertain time.

So come pull the sheet over my eyes
So I can sleep tonight
Despite what I've seen today.
I found you guilty of a crime, of sleeping at a time
When you should have been wide awake.

Down on the road the world is floating by.
The poor and undefended left behind.
While you're somewhere trading lives for oil,
As if the whole world were blind, hey
Wide awake! Wide awake! Wide awake! Wide awake!

i wanna be bob dylan, someone a little more funky

when everybody loves me, just about as happy as i can be.

state of love and trust

wish me well on a wishing well. she sells sea shells at the sea shore. what the f**k?!

God is Great!

i received an email attached with a 3GP file. it was about a flying dome in one remote island in indonesia. the people built a mosque, and like all other mosques, the dome is the last thing they would attach. long story short, they couldn't find a crane that day.

so they assembled 3, 000 kiai (muslim scholars or something like that) and all of them started chanting praises to Allah in unison. and the dome started to lift up and flew to the designated location on the newly-built mosque.

it was reported that many spectators went hysterical and fainted upon seeing the extraordinary incident. and do you remember seeing those images of mosques in all aftermath of natural disasters?

they say jump, you say how high?

this is for you...

click on the image. smile with me.

puh...leeezzz

on a tuesday. i thought yesterday i have finally realised that something is happening around the world. natural disasters, food crisis, starvation, kato's killing spree, exploration of mars and etc.

at home, it is difficult not to speak about the current political climate. it is even harder to be ignorant. i hope it won't get to the extent that it is hard to be a malaysian.

maybe, people will become kiasu as our neighbour. maybe, we will no longer find the true meaning of life. we'll be busy finding ways. and love is, secondary.

it's the 11th hour.

p/s : he just want her to want to understand. he wanted to be understood. well, who doesn't?, he thought.

no surprises for me

thom yorke of radiohead sang, "bring down the government cause they don't, they don't speak for us". he might be that radical. we can't do that, can we? but now i have a lot of questions.

what good is an elected spokesman if he could not speak on our behalf?
what is the purpose of an election if the outcome is for the worse?
what is the significance of having our own political party if it is only for the selected few?
is it that necessary, that fuel price hike?
do we look like that stupid to just believe and consequently queueing up in a PO for a rebate?

for all i care, we have been denied and then silenced.

so what's the matter with you?
sing me something new, would you?

a colleague said, "is this the best that our government could come up with?. don't the government have all the smartest brains in the world and i couldn't help but wonder what is happening to them?".

"read between the lines", i said to all of them.

cause you and i both...

she is a witch. she can make you feel like vomitting whilst listening to her words. she can make you kill someone, or her. she possesses the ability to convert what's left of those good things in your sick, sad life into misery. she's definitely a witch.

he can tolerate any behaviour, at all, provided he is given sufficient time to enveloped himself in john mayer's music. is that a fact?

migration. i had fluctuating considerations on the subject. i've made up my mind earlier and voila, reconsider. again. f**k me. even politician can't be consistent.

and tomorrow is going the best day of the week. i'm taking a day off. yes, i am selfish.

welcome to my fortress of solitude, may you find solace

i saw someone singing loudly this morning. but i feel bad. that someone is the guy i met in the elevator the other day. he was walking lazily and i can't help but asked, "why are you looking so miserably disturbed?". "i didn't have any money", he replied.

"and why is that", i asked knowing that he's working with a company on the 14th floor.

"someone lost a walkie-talkie. they made us pay for it. f**k, don't they have any idea how we've worked like a dog?".

poor guy.

forever in debt to your priceless advice

i hate that institution. i hate the fact that the outstanding balance now stood more at myr1800. i hate the fact it was only myr800+ a year ago. i hate them. i hate them who managed to make this system appear kind of stylish. i hate them. they will rot in hell.

that yellow tiger will face extinction.

but i haven't eaten today

some people want it all
some would be pleased to see them fall

some people thought it was two minutes too late
some just thought it was all fate

some people walk the pavement and sing
some just wait for what tomorrow might bring

some people drink and breathe lies
some were blessed and stay disguised

some taught themselves to let go
some just wouldn't know

but i don't know, let alone care
cause i haven't eaten today

behold. the world is a vampire.

they would always argue. it was weird. it was always because she had a mood swing and he thought that all those nonsense can wait. they don't seem compatible. but love as usual, came to the rescue. and they survived another day.

but still it was more weirder though. he can still tolerate. he would still think that it was all his fault. then he apologized. then things went back to normal. not general but his idea of normal.

but the cancer would turn black someday, he thought. there will come one fine day that he is afraid things might turn out different. he would treat each passing day differently. he would treat her differently. he would treat their relationship differently. their turbulent relationship.

change. is the only thing constant and the only thing that people like him is afraid of. he is afraid of changing. he despised change. he despised people who would want or make him change.

now she is the one who desperately need to change, he told himself. but why would she treat him as wanting him to change. now he is confused. when confusion is the last thing on earth that he would ever want, at the moment. great, he exhaled.

he is now singing, "she's going to change the world but she can't change me".

end credit.

let me sing you a waltz

i had a shitty week. i had the tendency to kick somebody's ass for kissing somebody else's ass. i was so sure that someone would learn his lesson if i were to hang him upside down, head firm inside the toilet bowl. now i'm letting him to live. to continue destroying my life.

accidents are accidental (although some are premeditated). but that's not the point. the point is why the hell are we so interested in watching accidents. not helping, simply watching. you'll have to wait until the first person in front is satisfied with the watching, then he'll eventually accelerate again.

thursday, may 29, 2008. 1745hrs. flood. almost drown my car.

work. (o patience, thou shalt not step over the ledge).

kiss and tell and lose

reluctantly, i wrote a simple explanation of what was i doing by making public my views and opinions on premarital sex. i have posted many entries on the subject previously. being your average unorthodox, insensitive yet sarcastic, i must've crossed some lines.

this morning, i was a bit surprised to have not-entirely-anonymously-written advice in my mailbox. i am grateful. thanks dear. but still, there are things that perhaps not all of us would decipher like the others would.

the purported assumption was that, i was practicing premarital sex on a regular basis. as far as i can remember, i did not scream from any rooftops announcing proudly my being able to get between their legs with no strings attached.

i'm in my all-work-and-no-play mode. so, don't play-play.

the man, mary jane and december 1999

i heard eddie vedder said this during one of pearl jam's many great performances, "this one goes out to a friend who's currently serving a jail term. for abusing his own, inner child". now that's brilliant. mr vedder is one arrogant bastard. and he is also genius. (genius+arrogance=brilliance).

speaking of which, there was this friend from the east coast. all of us called him "stone" or maybe "stoned". the latter would suit him best as he was always, stoned. so this stone character, put his stoned-ness aside, is an accomplished guitarist. he would play richard ashcroft's the drugs don't work for me to sing. sometimes nutshell by alice in chains and those 90's tunes.

so what makes this pothead so significant that i'm actually writing a tribute to him?

well, the man himself impacted so much on my life then. and now still. at times, after a few joints, we would sit in my tiny, little room writing poems. yes, you read it right. poems and lyrics to songs we never had the chance to complete. now why the hell would someone write poems and have a serious discussion about it when he/she should enjoy the wonders of THC? i don't know but it felt good.

it was freedom that i'm experiencing. freedom of space and time. funny though to imagine that we actually had arguments about the air, color and those unthinkable stuffs. i made a collage from those old kerrang and hung it on my bedroom wall. then together we produced a lyric out of it. with a rhyming stanzas. obviously, we're so there.

i wonder where he is now. bro, if you're reading, we're planning a trip to amsterdam.

a proud johorean on the day mahathir left

one should make a draft of whatever to be posted in a blog. one should be granted the permission of taking one's own sweet time in delivering something in bloggerville. but not me. i just write anything. think for like 2 minutes and pour it all out in writing. sometimes, there are things you thought could be well received. some weird ideas maybe.

so i did a lot of my thinkings (or daydreaming) while behind the wheels. today, on my way to plaza kotaraya, i thought of the difference between living in JB and KL. in many ways.

i. there's hardly any traffic jam in JB. even if there is, it would not be as severe as in KL.
ii. friendliness. i think people are friendlier here. in KL, "go f**k yourself" is not a foul language. it is to make your presence felt.
iii. food. you can find food anywhere in KL. but not good food. no complaints.
iv. in KL, you are always in a constant search of a good life. you live by other's definition of GOOD. we don't search here in JB. we expect.
v. pollution is no longer an issue in KL. they don't talk about it anymore. they think chernobyl is the point of reference so they are still doing fine.
vi. even though it'll cost you more to live in JB (thanks to them singaporeans), why can't i save any moolah every month? that's a mystery.

no offense ya. let's have some real defining moments of F&B in JB. i'll do the introducing and you do the buying. savvy?

ritual #2

i don't know about the others but sure it felt creepy. honestly, i wasn't scared. i was so eager to witness the whole process. so coming back to the "session".

suddenly the baby stopped crying. he uttered words. words understandable only if you're from the other side. the man wiped the air right above the patient. then he raised his right hand and showed to the door. (to me the act was more like throwing something out of the door, from the body).

then the son ran, holding a torchlight to the main door which was left ajar, earlier (where the bottle was). actually, he was guiding THE thing out of the room and ushered it towards the bottle. then he came back into the room and put his father's hand down firmly on the yellow cloth.

i was a bit puzzled when i heard the sound from the man. it was like a young girl crying and reciting Quran verses between breaths. then after like 10 minutes, he asked for the bottle. the color is now thick blood red. full of blood. then he took a quran whilst turning the bottle upside down. he pointed something on the bottom of the bottle. something like a monkey's nail.

i just couldn't understand the reason why people would resort to such behavior in this era. you will never understand, i suppose.

to some, revenge is sweet.

ritual #1

i had my first ever experience to actually witness a ritual. a witchdoctor with all the necessary arrangements in yellow and strange little things sat within two feet away from me. in pitch dark.

it was 10+pm. we drove for almost an hour to a place famous for mystical creatures and stuffs. greeted by the wife, we sat outside and chatted whilst waiting for the man. he arrived with his younger son carrying a plastic bag.

he went in for a while. "communicating" i was told. then i heard someone said, the "friend" requested the ritual to be done at 11pm. so we had about half an hour.

i was so sleepy when the son came to us and signaled, "it's time". we went in and sat around him in a little room. i just couldn't stand the smell of burning incenses. laid upon him, a medium-sized yellow cloth written with characters and verses ( i think). and various weapons, all wrapped tightly with yellow cloth, were arranged neatly before him.

he handed to the son a wooden stick and said, "put this in the kitchen". then he continued to show us an empty bottle filled with plain tap water. i want all of you to be sure so take a good look at it. and please "empty" your minds, i'm about to begin.

please make sure the "path" is clear. (he instructed that the path between the main door and the room that we're in must be clear from any obstructions.) drank like two gallons of water, switched the light off and he began to mumble something.

in less than 10 minutes, he began to act differently. i can see that he was trying to keep it steady whilst allowing something to get into him. swinging left and right. funny and scary sounds. he held onto a dagger firmly. (the dagger was being stood upright on the yellow cloth).

all of a sudden, the baby in the cradle cried. so loud that you know, she sure did see something.

to be continued....(ritual #2).

lost in translation

we were talking about recent movies with a friend. so i said that i haven't been blessed with the luxury of spending my weekends on movies for quite sometime. this friend of mine stopped me halfway and said something like, "yeah man, if not working, you'll be spending your precious time with amoi".

and the "subject" thought i was hitting on her.

she said, "bro, he was about to say something just now". as if suggesting that i was hinting to ask her out. she went on to say this to my friend, "he's not like you. he just wouldn't make it that obvious. like you always do". then she stood up and left. and i got a stick out, lit up and smoke it all away.

btw, my mom is now officially a good friend of amoi. put away that chopping board cause i'm not gonna put my head on it. happy mother's day mom!

used to love her but i have to kill her

i was once interested in her. she was somehow resemble the old flame. we exchange looks and i'm sure she definitely saw my jaw dropped and i was drooling profusely. she's got one bloody fine ass.

after sometime, we managed to sit together courtesy of a friend. but it was strictly business. she's working at a law firm, a good friend of an auctioneer. and i was looking for a house.

then, we went out together. accompanied by my karaoke buddies. last week, we met late in the afternoon. she gave a few addresses of the soon-to-be-auctioned houses. thanked her, gave my phone number, chatted a bit and i left her for the mosque.

that night, she sent me an sms. said she couldn't sleep. unsuspectingly, i told her to grab some good movies or music. and then the surprise arrived>>>"i couldn't sleep. just thinking about you".

so i said after a few msgs, "maybe we could be friends. there's no need to rush things. after all, u just got my number this afternoon. now i really need to get some sleep, sure u do too. we'll talk about this over lunch tomorrow ya. nite! ".

the reply was.
"i know your name and i know what i want. u know what to do. nite!"

i'm not confused. i'm happy with amoi. this is just a test. and don't tell amoi, she'll send someone to kill me.

is this it?

life has a funny way of telling you about something.
whether you'd be able to get a good laugh out of it is what matters.

come shine down on me

am i the only one?

all in a week's work

stevo, wherever you are at this moment, you're in deep shit man!

i've just completed my exec cert in event management from sydney university of technology. there were two lecturers. mr johnny allen, author of the textbook in event management as well as the advisor of that discipline at UTS was the father figure. i recalled seeing a friend remained asleep like 20 minutes and he just went on lecturing, expressionless.

warwick hamilton was the total opposite. running around, flat on the floor and sat motionless simultaneously. freaking enthusiastic. i just thought he forgot his dosage of ritalin, or maybe prozac.

met kudin, shiz (man, haven't met you like three lightyears) and a friend. jas, on the other hand, remained dedicated to his job. i hope your boss is equally dedicated in revising your paycheck bro. and met eddy, less than two hours before i left.

luck was on my side.
1st-quick leak. went down and the door closes the moment i stepped into the car of ERL.
2nd-arrived like 10min late at KLIA. walking around looking for my gate. 100 metres away from the gate, i heard my name being announced.
3rd-everyone was already in a queue, in that boarding tunnel. the staff saw me, asked something and started running. they have removed my bag from the aircraft. shite!

luckily, she managed to have it returned. god, was i lucky?..hehe..

stupidumbdumb

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Or maybe just happy

My heart is broke
But I have some glue
Help me inhale
And mend it with you
We'll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we'll come down
And have a hangover

Skin the sun
Fall asleep
Wish away
The soul is cheap
Lesson learned
Wish me luck
Soothe the burn

Wake me up

when hannibal met clarice

my birthday's eve was spent at finding my favorite dvds. i managed to get a set of the dr hannibal lecter trilogy. silence of the lambs (sotl) is one of my fav movies, other than shawshank redemption, reality bites and many more.

frankly, i'm yet to finish reading hannibal . that book i bought for myr2.00 at a flea market in ipoh. the author, thomas harris is very narrative. just like dan brown.

i don't really read books. they just serve the purpose of sending me to sleep. so i'll read like four to five pages before losing consciousness everyday.

back to the hannibal story, there are silence of the lambs, hannibal and red dragon. i have seen sotl and read hannibal (not entirely though). the fictional character of dr hannibal lecter is just awesome. smart, slick and dangerous and unique. mr norahman said something phenomenal about the red dragon movie. i'll figure that out soon.

so i'm officially 27, though "age is just a number". i like seven (near-whisper). reminds me of seven deadly sins.

do you HAVE TO let it linger?

man sent me plenty of these ads sometime ago. just found out it was saved in a template.

when the dogs define her.

a lot of things happened recently. and when i stopped in between, it just disappeared. now what was it actually that made me feel really occupied?. i don't know.

jas and i went to have some ayam penyet at banafe. now that's something that i just can't figure out until today. that's him and his fondness of nasi ayam penyet. after sending some toblerone for the lady, we went to dataran. i haven't been there before. the place is a small open room partitioned by a folding glass doors. next is the room for avid fans of pool. or room for beginners in playing pool. after 6 rounds and equal winnings, we headed back home. i was stopped at a roadblock. for jumping red lights. swear to god, it was amber the moment i passed by. lucky night though, no tickets!

went to segamat at 6 plus. on a sunday morning. i think that was like the 11th school. so yesterday's session revolved mainly around the importance of self-confidence. it felt good doing something for the community.

drove to kluang afterwards. free lunch of lamb shank, grilled beef slices, deep-fried dory and some whatever-the-name-is pasta. mr barnabas, the owner of kluang rail coffee is a great host. and his menu at his own barney's is perfect!

"be yourself, IF it's all that you can do".

where the masks are found.

familia outing in temasek

black swan

falling apart, you tell yourself you are.

and when you thought you are matured enough
that you can cushion every pressure
that you won't lose yourself
that you can swallow it down

all of a sudden, you just don't know
you just don't care
you just couldn't be bothered
you just changed into someone you are afraid of

you are now the monster
the monster you were once thought of killing
the monster so fucked up it couldn't last any longer than a night

the thick black fog enveloped the angelic feathers of the swan.
the once white bird.
hence, a black swan.

it is wrong to think that you are always right. and it is ok to stay on the left for a while.

johor bahru #2

home is where the heart is

studio apartment

there's a place in tampoi indah quoting below myr200k for a townhouse. i've been searching around for a landed house for quite some time. found a single-storey terrace last year at a very, very cheap price. however, location-wise the place will need at least 7-8 years to be fully developed which will logically have a substantial effect on the future selling price. the only thing good about the house is, you can build another house of the same size next to it.

recently, a friend told me about the townhouse. the value was somewhere myr400k when it first launched and the singaporean owner is now letting it go at half price.

so i'll go check it out tomorrow. then, i'll decide. then, i'll feel responsible again. financially.

bensonandhedges

the time will come.

cause you just might get it all

i couldn't agree more with the designer about the writings of our friend up north. there is no and in fact, will never be an absolute freedom in this world.

hence, be careful in sharing your thoughts and opinions. i/we do not promote a rally on the grounds of preserving our freedom of speech. i'd rather learn to deal and live with the non-existence of it. during my years in SA, we had a debate on the issues pertaining to the Freedom Of The Press.

Case Study #1
A journalist should let the people know the truth as it is their responsibility. What if the truth is ugly, at it has always been? What if the truth makes the people who reads it become ugly?
Should the journalist still have the news made public?

Case Study #2
News Blackout. Do we use it appropriately? or appropriately?

Doing the right thing means doing it the right way (using the right channel), at the right time. my opinion is,"if you can't beat them, just join them. at your terms if you can. if not, just leave them".

after all, "what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular".

guerrilla radio! turn that shit up!

everywhere i go, coffee shops, toilets, complexes people are talking about the election. people are increasingly becoming a k-society in respect of the political climate of our nation ever since. i was not surprised with the current development but rather stunned with the election's outcome. although frankly i was hoping for a change, thus anticipated a number of seats to be grabbed by the leftists. but not 4 states.

and i thought i heard someone said something about a conspiracy theory in the pearl island. also, that all 3 of us should share the cake instead of fighting for a piece of it. it's very, very crucial, they said. i just thought, why cry over spilled milk?

and hopefully, there will be no riots or any form of public outcry.

there's one prominent lady figure from Turkey said this, "if they hate the leaders, it's our internal problem and we will deal with it. but if you attack this country, they will surely unite as one. they will be fighting against you as a team, a uniformed unit".

good and bad

the outcome is good and bad.

an accidental patriot

after work, i went to pizza hut as planned. we're supposed to discuss with the area manager of their intention to hold a major coloring contest in our atrium. one topic to another, or since there was nothing more appealing than tomorrow's election, we landed on top of the political mountain.
i can't remember when was the last time i ever had to justify my not going to vote this saturday. the manager was asking the very same question. question i have heard like zillion times. question i have been wanting to avoid. question that will only make me feel that i'm doing the right thing.

so i said many things about the current quality of life. i asked her if she could stop by the KFC and buy something for the family on her way home. she said, "yes, sure". and if she could do it effortlessly. and the answer was "yes" again. so i went, "do you know that there are breadwinners out there left with no other choice than to save for three months just to bring their kids to enjoy the KFCWTF, because they have been promised?". and because getting to dine in KFCWTF means a lot to them. a real big deal. and i said that i couldn't bear the sight of a family of three riding a bike in the rain. with the wife holding the baby.

in those remote places, villages, squatters, families shared a blanket under the tin roof. studying with the help of poisonous candles. fighting and crying over fried fish or cold chicken from yesterday's lunch.

and they say, this is a rich country. this is the nation you should be proud of. this is the country you can live in harmony. agreed. now, go help the people.

only read the papers after march 8

i was once asked to hold a discussion with someone from the industry. my boss had earlier, emailed a detailed proposal to me, with hope that i'd vet it through and revert with something to materialise from it. i didn't. she said, this guy is blind. my reaction was normal. i mean, how would you react to that?

so i went to meet him at a restaurant in our centre. the guy was wearing a sunglass, accompanied by a loyal friend. we shook hands and i apologised for being late. (shut up). actually, that friend kinda helped him to get our hands together. the guy then proceeded to elaborate the objective of that day's meeting...bla, bla, bla,....his friend was a bit quiet though.

you see, the social manner is, you should look a person in the eye section whilst he/she is doing the talking. not nose. not ears, not lips but eyes. so i just acted naturally and looked him right at the spot. and this guy, (i wonder if he can actually see from behind the glasses), he suddenly said to me, "i'm blind, you know". now that's the part that i did not know how to react. calmly and naturally. so i went, "yeah, ok". man, i felt bad. he didn't have to tell me about it.

and i'm meeting him again at 10.

p/s : a message to mr khai, "kita sudah berada di landasan yang betul". is that right?

teesherrt

my new t-shirt says, edison chen is my hero. period.

they say...

they say, if you love someone, set them free.
can you actually, willingly, possibly do that?

they say, no point of having someone around when he/she is not happy.
but, it is better to know that he/she is happy with someone else.
will you be happy then?

they say, move on. go on and find yourself a new set of happy memories.
will it ever be the same?

forget what they say. it's your life and your call. live and do it.

with or without you

i can't live with or without you.

contraband nation in electioneering

is there any other news than the upcoming election?

a) someone is getting a new tractor.
b) someone is helping someone at the wet market, in tailored suits.
c) someone is giving everyone something. for free. not really free actually.
d) something just need to be given away at least one month prior to the election date.
one week is ideal.

i'm not reading any papers.

can that someone do something about imitation cigarettes instead?. i had rather severe headaches after consuming a packet.

pre-election Q&A session.
A> mr minister, can we have cigarettes for free?
B> no, it's bad for your health.
A> why sell if it's bad?
B> well, it has a significant contribution to the tax which will be converted into developing our beloved nation. you know, schools and stuffs.
A> so, is this nation idealistic?. can we compromise health for something like "schools and stuffs", of which you can't be certain? we're still paying for books and stuffs, you know.
B> next question please.

just my thought. vote for me. i'll get you free cigarettes.

Who Moved My Cheese? B**ch!

this pic was taken last year during a course at our HQ. it was ok. i'm the youngest, that was why.

left, from HQ. me. someone from our sister company.

a session with one makcik. do i look like i'm enjoying it? ..hmm...

alone but not lonely

it was like watching felicity with a scene where a lonely, hungry busker stood on a pavement and started playing sullivan street by counting crows. and he was smiling. and it was all just kind of melodramatic. it was getting dark. and as the moon rises, he stopped playing. he just stared. he was stunned to see the beauty of this world. the moon. as if enjoying his first sensation of seeing the moon. he was still smiling when he discovered that he was no longer hungry. the hunger just disappeared into the darkness. he walked back to the same spot. the spot was something like a makeshift shelter. then he went on to sing black by pearl jam.

i was just imagining things. i was trying to fly back to the nineties. the unexplainable serenity. i feel like spending a night watching reality bites over and over again. i feel like being a part of the empire records.

and i know, i'll still feel that there was an imaginary connection while reading the article about the night river phoenix overdosed at johnny depp's viper room.

i still have those kerrang and other 90's mags. and one mag dated june 1994 (if i'm not mistaken). merely three months after kurt cobain's death.

refuse.

the game had just begun

in my line of business, we know each and everyone of our competitors by name. the circle is considerably small. we had after-five-conversations regularly. we came with a practised smile and we've learned our lessons in disclosing sensitive datas. no matter how close you are to the person sitting next to you, he or she still going to be your competitors.

a friend from a neighboring centre calls me from time to time. he is now under constant scrutiny by his superior as a result of losing good promotional activities to us, as well as to other "friends's" centres.

we are getting it. i mean, my company formed a task force and having your asses being monitored on a weekly basis is not a cool thing. but i guess, it is the thing to do. now, all three centres are slowly being catapulted back into the limelight in terms of weekly activities.

but, god knows how much i need a break.

i alone

My Burning Heart

My heart is burning with love

All can see this flame

My heart is pulsing with passion

like waves on an ocean

my friends have become strangers

and I’m surrounded by enemies

But I’m free as the wind
no longer hurt by those who reproach me

I’m at home wherever I am

And in the room of lovers

I can see with closed eyes
the beauty that dances

Behind the veils
intoxicated with love
I too dance the rhythm
of this moving world

I have lost my senses
in my world of lovers

Love Is The Cure

"Love is the cure,
for your pain will keep giving birth to more pain
until your eyes constantly exhale love
as effortlessly as your body yields its scent.”

all poems by Jallaludin Rumi.