22
Placebo - Every You Every Me
Powderfinger - My Happiness
The Verve - Love is Noise
Posted on Friday, September 26, 2008 | 0 comments
From Belarus with a Motorbike
Bukit Bintang is full of strange things. Spend enough time and you'll stumble upon some stranger things.
*
Today I met Vladimir Yarets on the sidewalk of Jalan Bukit Bintang. Vladimir who?
Mr. Yarets is from Minsk, Belarus. Since 27 May 2000 he started on an endavour to travel the world on his motorbike and after 8 years of traveling, he successfully covered Europe, The Americas, Australia and is now in Kuala Lumpur on his Asian leg of the long journey. He brought along a map of the places he visited and from the look of it, he still have South Asian and Africa left to explore before getting a shot at the Guinness World Record.
Interesting isn't it? No? Well, consider this: he's also deaf and mute.
I told Neet about it and she asked me how the heck did I 'talked' to a deaf and mute person, from Belarus some more. Haha.. Well, it was hard at first but seeing how much I am able to understood Mr. Yarets by only his hands on the map and his expressions, I decided to give it a try. I noticed he have a Soviet sticker on his bike so I pointed at myself, then at Moscow and St. Petersburg on the map, then to the Soviet Army belt I was wearing then back again at the map. He smiled at the sight of the belt buckle and gave me the two thumbs up sign. I think he understood what I meant because he immediately went on to compare Malaysia and Russia. The weather that is.
Our small conversation went on with him telling me how much he enjoy the food here (heh) and how he had hard time eating using the chopsticks in Japan. He again (and again) complained about the weather up north where he's from and the hassle of having to wear all that winter gear as well as how this part of the world is a little to hot for his liking. Haha.. If I was conversing with him with words these things are nothing but to understand all this sans words is enough to put a smile on my face.
It's amazing how far two different parts of the world could go without words, isn't it?
*
Mr. Yarets, wherever you are by now, good luck and have a safe trip. For more info about this man, click here.
Owh by the way before anyone asks. Belarus was a part of the Soviet Union.
Posted on Thursday, September 25, 2008 | 3 comments
Maaf Zahir Batin
Sejuknya pagi ni. Mungkinkah malam tadi lailatulqadar? Aku di mana? Atas katil sibuk berangan.*
Raya is less than a week away yet I am feeling nothing. I don't feel like getting excited about it, I don't feel like wishing people about it and I don't feel like celebrating anything.
What is Raya actually? Oh, Hadi.. it is the celebration of us being triumphant against our nafsu and yeah yeah yeah and such. I know that.. that's the thing we are told. But really, what is Raya?
I've heard people saying it's inappropriate (morally, ethically.. not religiously please, don't go into that) to celebrate Valentine's since you are supposed to love someone all year round and not only on one day. Then, is it not appropriate to just ask for forgiveness for a year load of sin on one particular day rather than doing it every day of the year?
What is Maaf Zahir Batin? Of course during Raya when you say Maaf Zahir Batin to someone, that person will say the same thing back to you. But the thing is, does it vindicate all the sins between you or is it just something fun to say like Merry Christmas?
Maaf Zahir Batin. Don't you think that is kind of like lying? An euphemism to sugar coat the real things you want to say? Think about it. What if in a typical pagi Raya, a son instead of the time honoured mintak ampun words, went detail and told his parents about the crazy drug parties and sexual escapades that he did last year and asked the parents to forgive him. Would they forgive him the same as how they would if he simply said, Mak, Ayah.. Mintak ampun, mintak maaf. Maaf Zahir Batin?
Is this Maaf Zahir Batin thing kindof like a get out of jail free card? Cool. Go rob your neighbour's house. Wait for Raya, salam that fella and say mintak ampun mintak maaf la semua salah silap saya dengan awak sebelum ni.
*
Sorry la mengarut pagi-pagi.
Posted on Thursday, September 25, 2008 | 2 comments
Jalan Brunei
23 September 2008
Sekitar Jalan Brunei, Pudu
*
Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 | 6 comments
Ten
Feeling productive? Here's something to slow you down.
This is a short movie about a guy who broke all the Ten Commandments.
On a Sunday.
Before Breakfast.
*
Sorry couldn't embed it on this blog. Click on that picture up there to view the video.
Posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 | 0 comments
Memory-uh!
I was driving Mak's car. I can't remember the song that was playing other than the fact that it is awful so I did some channel surfing.1.. No. 2.. No. 3.. Hell no. 4.. Not tonight. 5.. Wow..
Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach, as I want you to be.
As a trend, as a friend, as a old memory-uh
Memory-uh... Memory-uh... Memory-uh...
Pergh.. Nirvana, Come As You Are. I haven't heard this in ages on the radio. So while I was singing along to the tunes and tapping my hands on the steering wheels, I glanced at the blue lights of the radio screen.
96.7FM
Sinar?
*
I remember joking with some friends that in a few short years, we will have to tune in to Sinar for the songs of our generation.
Have that time comes?
Nah.. Nirvana isn't actually my generation kot. Kot...
Posted on Sunday, September 21, 2008 | 5 comments
Relations
I read this on Bernama a few days back:PUTRAJAYA, Sept 18 (Bernama) -- The government will draw up a race relations act to safeguard and strengthen relations among the different races in the country, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar disclosed today.
Oh come on.. do we need another law to tell us how to be united, to create harmony among races. Do you think anyone would give a damn about it?
You know what I think we need more now? Friends from other races. How many Malays have good Chinese and Indian friends? How many Chinese have good Malay and Indian friends? Yeah sure, you might have some but what about the others?
I believe that people don't really think a lot about other races because they don't have any sort of relationship with them. When people don't feel any connection between them and others, they tend to treat the others as, well.. others.
Want one a good example? Hang around at a mamak someplace and see how people treat these mamaks. I was rather offended when a friend I brought over to my neighbourhood mamak in Equine Park used harsh words and tengok that fella who's taking order pakai sebelah mata only. Little did he knew that these mamak fella are all my friends for longer than I've know this 'superior' fella. I've been going there for 2 years. They fed me sahur for 2 Ramadan straight now. How could I not say that they're my friends? I know them all by name.
How much can we know about people just through out stereotype tinted eyes? How much can we know about people by just reading?
Orang Melayu kata tak kenal maka tak cinta kan? So come on now, let us all try and make a change. There's bound to be those people you've never talked to before in class. Why don't we all try approaching them and have a nice chat. We'll never know what we'll discover until we try kan?
Posted on Saturday, September 20, 2008 | 0 comments
21
I peeked to the other side, and I saw its grasses green.But here on my sides is where the swings and slides are.
Though the muddy field and dry brown grass seems like decay at first.
Take a closer look as see, that here there is life.
Posted on Thursday, September 18, 2008 | 0 comments
Bee..
Here's another time waster for you while I go about finishing my works.*
Taken from The Perry Bible Fellowship. Don't worry la, name only. Not religious one. Seriously.
Naturally, that one up there is a bit kecik kan? So click here la to go to the website.
Posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 | 2 comments
English language is dum
The absurdity of the English language in the phonetic point of view, as told by a 103 year old man.
Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | 3 comments
20
Dia bangun lagi, biarpun sudah berkali-kali dia diterajang jatuh, tersungkur menyembah tanah. Tangannya terketar-ketar, otot-ototnya tegang dan panas sedang bibirnya yang diketap merah dengan luka. Bajunya yang asal-asal putih kini berdebu dan berlumpur, gelap sedikit barangkali daripada tona kulitnya.Pantang anak Melayu mengalah, tegas hatinya. Tapi di benak fikirannya, yang ditentangnya itu juga Melayu, juga berpegang pada prinsip yang sama.
Aku pantang, kau pantang.
Mungkinkah pertarungan ini akan meleret melepasi sangkakala hingga ke pintu neraka? Perlukan mereka berdua diterajang jatuh ke lurah-lurah api hitam membakar oleh malaikat-malaikat yang marah dan benci, supaya baru ketika itu mereka akan berhenti?
Hell no.
Kalau orang dulu-dulu boleh berkata-kata dan kata-katanya kita masih pegang sebagai prinsip, kenapa tidak boleh kita berkata-kata sekarang, dan pegang kata-kata kita itu juga sebagai prinsip?
Siapa yang memberi keistimewaan itu kepada mereka-mereka ini? Kenapa perlu kita teraskan hidup di atas kata-kata orang yang hidupnya di zaman yang langsung asing daripada kita?
Bukankah kita juga berakal dan berfikir?
It used to be interesting, now I'm just getting tired of it.
As cliché as it might sound, wake me up when september ends.
Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008 | 0 comments
Breaking News
R.E.M - Bad Day. In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 (2003)
Butterfingers - 1000 Tahun. Kembali (2008)
*
Good artists copy. Great artists steal
Steve Jobs misquoting Pablo Picasso.
Posted on Friday, September 12, 2008 | 7 comments
19
Here's something honest: Aku jealous tengok kawan-kawan aku fly.There.
No matter how much I try to be cool about it, no matter how positive I am about staying in Malaysia, no matter how much I try to be cynical about them going there to study, the fact remains.
Itu la kau. Suruh belajar kau main-main.
Posted on Friday, September 12, 2008 | 7 comments
Sam's Town
The Abbey Road session. The Killers really do kill.
Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 | 0 comments
Benci?
Yeah, okay.. whatever.*
I don't have any classes yesterday but I was around college at noon for a group discussion for journalism case study. Specifically? Define the ethics in this particular news article on the case of a pedophile. Sounds easy but I have to read Kant, Aristotle and a little Plato and some other guys to answer it. Oh well.
Anyway, my discussting friends were already there by the time I got there and before working we started the customary gossiping session about this and that.. tengah-tengah bulan puasa. Suddenly this one friend of mine said that I have a question that I need to answer, and answer truthfully (like yeah..). I said, okay.. what?
Kau benci aku ke Hadi?
Naturally I laughed, the best defense mechanism while my brain is digging for the best answer. Hahahaha.. then I looked at this friend.. who started to cry. Oh..
*
Where do you draw the line between being mean as in friendly mean and really mean? I don't know.. I've been telling people that unless I stop talking to them or avoid them, I don't hate them. Why? Because the last time anyone truly hated and despised me they did roughly the same thing, and naturally I replied as such. Lacking originality.. Anyway... yeah, friends can be mean sometimes but that's kindof what makes friendship interesting kan? Boyfriend and girlfriend pun selalu main buli-buli kan? Kawan apa tah lagi, as the old English adage goes:
Tempat jatuh lagi dikenang, inikan pula tempat bermain.
Many most of the friends that I really spend time with are those who I've known for almost a decade now, spending half of that time really really together. Maybe I brought that sort of friendly mingling to these friends that I only get to know for about 3, 4 years and only getting to see each other occasionally. Yeah.. maybe that.
I don't know why I'm quite shocked at that question. Maybe it's that sick feeling of being hated.. maybe I've never faced such a question before or maybe I'm plain scared that there are many more friends that felt the same way towards me. Whatever it is I guess there are a few thing I need to really take a look into. This is a wake up call I guess..
Hurmmm...
*
Sorry.
Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 | 1 comments
Internet issues
My Internet connection is still down, so tomorrow I'll be marching to TMNet to argue argue and perhaps lessen my pahala puasa a bit here and there.
We'll see.
I'm now online courtesy of my friend's Maxis wireless broadband thing. I don't know what all the fusses are about.. it sorta reminds me of dialup Internet of yesteryears, minus those musical telephone tones and sans cables.
Slow and flaky connection at best.
Posted on Monday, September 08, 2008 | 0 comments
18
Dia terbaring di atas katil, di tepinya, sekujur badan sedang nyenyak tidur seakan-akan tidak sadar langsung akan kehadirannya yang menyemakkan katil bujang yang memang asal-asalnya sudah sempit itu.Malam ini bulan penuh, cahayanya lembut menyinari tubuh itu menampakkan lekuk-lekuk sedang yang lainnya hilang dalam bayang-bayang malam. Dia masih lagi terbaring, di fikirannya satu perdebatan hebat sedang berlangsung.
"Apa yang aku buat di sini?", hatinya berkata. Terus menerus mulutnya menjawab, "Dah tahu, bertanya pula..". Berkali-kali soalan yang sama berputar-putar di benak kepalanya tapi di hatinya bebanannya lebih berat.
Apa yang dia buat di situ?
Perlahan dia membelek-belek jam yang ada di tangannya, mencari-cari sinaran bulan. Pukul 4 pagi. Di sekelilingnya masih sunyi, sama seperti di luar sana cuma mungkin di luar sana hatinya tenang, mindanya terang. Di luar dingin, di dalam hatinya juga dingin. Sudah tiga jam lebih dia di situ, masuk jam ke empat, masih lagi di situ.. Masih belum ada jawapan.
*
Nafasnya kencang, seluruh tubuhnya terketar-ketar. Fikirannya bercelaru, hatinya runsing. Semua yang berlaku seperti sebuah mimpi, bergerak pantas seperti filem-filem cemas. Dia bangun dari katil itu ke arah pintu yang luas terbuka dan berlari.. dan berlari.. dan berlari.
Seumur hidupnya dia tidak mungkin pernah berlari seperti itu. Mungkin tidak pernah dan barangkali tidak akan lagi. Seperti orang hilang akal dia ke satu hujung. Sampai di sana dia berpatah kembali ke hujung yang lain. Langsung dia tak pedulikan telapak kakinya yang merah, seperti merahnya lantai yang dia berdiri. Nafasnya makin kencang, fikirannya masih belum tenang.
"Apa yang aku buat tadi?", soal hatinya. Tetapi dia sudah tahu jawapannya, "Sudah tahu lagi bertanya..". Di saat itu, matanya terpejam dan dia terduduk. Perlahan-lahan dia menarik nafas, sedalam-dalam rongga peparu udara malam lembah suci itu menerjah masuk. Selang beberapa nafas, dia membuka matanya lalu dengan selamba dia tersenyum. Lebar senyumannya dan masih tersenyum.
Tiba-tiba dia ketawa. Hahahahaha.. Hahahahah.. Apa yang lucu, cuma dia yang tahu.
*
Sambil bersiul dia menyalakan sebatang rokok, menuju ke bilik air. Sambil menyanyi dia putar-putar kepala pili, air sejuk pun turun mencurah-curah. Dia masih lagi berpakaian, tetapi dia tak peduli, hatinya terlalu senang untuk ambil kisah perkara remeh sebegitu.
Sekembalinya dia ke bilik, baju-baju basah tadi digantungnya di ampaian. Sehelai tuala putih ditenyeh-tenyehkan ke seluruh badan. Dia suka tuala putih, dia rasa yakin. Sesudah kering dicampaknya tuala itu ke atas katil lalu dia mencapai sehelai kain pelikat dan menyarung sehelai baju Melayu.
*
Di sekelilingnya masih sunyi, di hadapannya samar-samar kelihatan bulan penuh dari jendelanya yang terbuka. Dia pandang ke lantai, sejadah sudah terhampar. Dia mengangkat takbir dan bersolat dua rakaat. Fikirannya kerap kali tertanya-tanya entah apa juadah sahur nanti..
Kau hilang untuk bersembunyi atau untuk dicari?
Posted on Monday, September 08, 2008 | 0 comments
All the books in the world, but one.
I stumbled upon this scans of a Croatian comic while on Digg. I just have to share it with you.
As the name suggest, it is about a bookseller who have all the books in the world, except for this one little book. Which one? Why?
*
I hope somebody'll make a movie out of this story.
Posted on Sunday, September 07, 2008 | 8 comments
Ramadan
Those loud t-shirt won't help you disappear. Those earrings won't help disguise you. Those Mr. AZ hats won't make you look different. Those blond rag on your head won't make you a Scandinavian. Those Sennheisers won't do anything much but deafen you to people's sneer. Those UNO cards are nothing but a distraction for you so you won't see people's stare. Those colorful bangles on your wrist are still not enough. Through all that, I can still see that can of grape you're passing around.Budak kecik pun tau malu.
Posted on Saturday, September 06, 2008 | 0 comments
Annoying IE
My sister bought a new laptop so the old one that I'm suing here is going to be Mak and Arif's. The desktop upstairs is dead, so this laptop is going to replace it. Plus, it is upstairs.. mak tak suka naik atas. This laptop she want to carry to the kitchen pun can also.As always, I have to tune it up to make it easier for mak to use.
Anyway, it has been a long time since I've used anything else apart from Safari. So today while I was browsing my blog on Firefox, I've decided to do a cross browser check to see if there are any anomalies.
Here is the result.
1. Safari. This is how I see my blog, an intended it to be.
2. Here is how you guys on Firefox would see Pelangi Hitam Putih.
3. Now, this is annoying. I've just found out my bottom bar is screwed when opened in Internet Explorer.
I've read about how Internet Explorer is particularly infamous for its rendering. Is it a problem with my code? If it is, then why could Safari and Firefox display it properly?
Damn.. this is really frustrating. I know for a fact that a lot of people reading my blog are using Internet Explorer. I really got to figure out how to fix it. I can just throw it away but I kindof like it you know..
Yup yup.. this is very much annoying.
UPDATE: Changed the code, made the bar to sit at the very bottom of the page. Not quite satisfied but it's better that way. Please inform if you see anything that looks strange. Thanks.
Posted on Monday, September 01, 2008 | 4 comments
