destruction of mind

The misconception of patriotism can somehow lead to destruction. It’s not wrong to be too nationalistic but if it’s too much until it leads to prejudice and discrimination then just forget about it.

Another story

On last Friday (12^th March), we were asked to take part in an acoustic show at Lepaq Cafe in Kelana Jaya by our friend for his band’s CD launch party. I arrived quite late that night because I’ve been stuck in a massive traffic jam earlier on. Lucky the show haven’t started when I arrived.

Anyway, it was the first time for all of us to be at that cafe. At first I was wondering why my friend chooses that place, but according to him, he chooses that cafe because the ambiance was quite suitable for an acoustic show and decided to give it a try. Besides us, there were also 3 other bands/ solo entertainer performing that night.

Being the second last band on that night, we decided to play only 5 songs. We did not want to bore other people since that night supposed to be our friend’s album launch party; so, we decided to keep it short and simple. With acoustic guitars and a simple drum set, we did it as decent as we could. Everything was like normal. Then it came to the forth songs. Before we played it, as usual, Hana proclaimed that the next song would be a cover song by an Indonesian band called Marjinal (just to be polite to the original band). We played as usual, suddenly our drummer stopped playing. I heard he said “why, why??” in stern tone. I saw a guy was standing beside him yelled “No Indonesian songs here”. It was kind of humiliation when the owner of the place asked us to stop the music while we were playing. He asked us to stop not because the constituent of the song but he cannot accept the song is originated from Indonesia. Yoyo and I were clueless, Hana was speechless, Cem obviously pissed off, Alak gave us signal to keep on playing and so did several of the audience while the others still clueless. I should admit; it was the most awkward moment in my entire life. Mulish as we were; we continued playing.

Right after we finished, the guy took the microphone and said “Kat sini kita tak galakkan lagu Indonesia ehh...kita patut support our local scene. Hidup satu Malaysia!!” (Indonesian songs are not advisable here and we should support our local scene. Hail 1 Malaysia!!). I was like...”what the hell?” Cem yelled “Fuck 1 Malaysia” and he left that place, whilst all of us (without Cem) managed to stay for the sake to watch our friend’s show. Keladak (my friend’s band) played all of their songs that night. Their songs were a mixture of Audioslave and a bit of stoner rock kind of music (I’m not expert when it comes to music genre, hehe). They also dedicated a song from Iwan Falls’ (Indonesian singer) – Bento to us. Thanks to Keladak, it was really comforting.

To me, music is a source of satisfaction. Without it, this world would be meaningless. Music can make you feel patriotic, spiritual, angry, happy, sensual, inspire, you name it. It stimulated the brain to think and make brilliant art. There should be no right or wrong when it comes to music preferences. It was kind of ridiculous when you can’t play song from certain Country, but frames of Bob Marley, Ernesto Che’ Guevara & The Beatles were hanging pompously on the wall. Music is universal; you lose nothing if you listen to different kind of music from different Country. There is no such thing as ‘originality’ in one song. Don’t forget, even our ‘Negaraku’ song was actually adopted from a popular French song called ‘La Rosalie’. I was wondering, how to improve our local scene if there are too much restrictions? Plus, discrimination towards certain people is not good. I mean, why should we hate each other?

When the show ended, all of us went to the nearby Mamak for a drink. Cem was there, and all of us realized maybe there are good things behind the incident. We are glad because we continued to play a song from Indonesia that night even though the owner asked us to stop.

As we passed by the cafe to the parking lot, The Cure song was played loudly by the in-house band. I just looked at that place; knowing myself well that I will never come back.

hati batu

Jikalau aku diberi satu permintaan
Aku tidak akan memilih untuk menjadi kaya, tidak akan memilih untuk menjadi cantik, tidak mahu rumah yang besar, tidak mahu kereta yang mahal atau gitar yang mahal
Kerana aku bersyukur atas apa yang aku miliki
Aku tidak kaya, tidaklah cantik, tidak memiliki rumah yang besar atau kereta yang mahal
Aku tahu semua itu boleh dicari dengan usahaku sendiri

Aku hanya mahu dia berubah
Aku tahu aku tidak punya kuasa untuk mengubah seseorang
Aku hanya mahu dia tahu yang anak-anaknya sentiasa ambil berat akan dirinya
Biarpun dia gagal memenuhi tanggungjawabnya
Anak-anaknya sentiasa ambil berat akan dirinya

Kini dia tidak punya apa-apa lagi
Orang yang disayanginya ketika waktu dulu sudah pun pergi meninggalkannya
Aku tahu memang perit tinggal bersendirian di waktu usia mencecah tinggi
Tapi apakan daya, keadaan tidak boleh dipusing atau di rewind

Dulu aku selalu ingat aku sedang bermimpi dan tidak boleh terima kenyataan.. tapi itu dulu, waktu aku masih diusia remaja
Aku selalu mimpikan rumah yang pernah didiami oleh aku, dia, mama, dan adik beradikku
Kini tidak lagi
Aku punya hidupku sendiri
Dia yang mengajar untuk aku jadi hati batu

Dulu aku hati aku hati tisu
Selalu mencuba untuk mengambil perhatiannya daripada orang yang disayanginya
Belajar bagai nak gila semata mata untuk make him proud of me..

Tapi sekarang tidak lagi
Aku sudah menjadi perempuan hati batu
Jika dia mahu aku temani dia dihari hari bosannya mungkin aku boleh cuba,
Cuma mungkin tidak lagi seakrab dulu

No more daddy's little girl

Aku sayangkan dia sama seperti dulu cuma keakraban mungkin sudah hilang lama
I'm sorry dad..

Happy Women's Day!

Women Reclaim the Night was totally awesome. I was happy because lots of my girlfriends showed up at Cloth and Clef. The place was packed with almost 200 people. Some of them cannot came in, so they have to wait outside. We were quite lucky to get a table and a place to sit inside, even though it was at the back. It was quite hard to give attention to the performers since everyone at the back were hectic socializing and mingle around.

It was a great show ever. We played electrical set that night (thanks to Joe for lending us his electrical guitar), we played 8 songs including 2 cover songs from Marjinal and Dara Puspita. The most priceless moment: when all of our beloved friends were enjoying themselves.

Anyway, Rice Above will be another excuse for all of us to skip work on the next day. Some friends told me they have to take MC and even worst; sleep in a file room at the office after a fidgety (but fun) night at the rice above.

Couldn’t agree more with Yuen’s fb status today:-

Rice Above is a political act. Because of it, productivity of companies (and schools and government agencies) dropped drastically on Wednesday.

goodbye phlegm

Cough is getting better now. Thanks to the Chinese medicine. No more sleepy sensation and the most important thing, no more phlegm. Momma introduced it to me on last Saturday and I fell in love with it instantly. Kee Wong tablet only costs RM 15 per bottle 2-3 tablets to be taken with warm water 3 times daily. I love it to bits!

Another story,

Last Saturday I received an invitation for a BBQ get-together at E’s (theme: naughty, sexy, bitchy). E is one my closest guy friends which I’ve known for almost 9 years. He’s a great guy and very cheerful person. First time I met him when I was in Matriculation College, back in 2002. We climbed tall gate together, he used to be my ‘fly’ partner on that time. Everyone thought we are couple (on that time), but hell no, E is more interested in guys. E always cheers me up whenever I’m down. Both of us still meet each other until now.

Ok, back to the BBQ night. Nothing fancy, just a common get together, but it was fun. Sue, Wawa, Marwan, Remy, Evi and E’s schoolmates were there too. I ate a lot of chicken wings and we shared lots of stories among each other that night. I think we should do it more frequent in a future!

it would be really nice if....

My throat is killing me. I have taken antibiotics and I’ve drank cough syrup straight from the bottle since yesterday. Yet still no improvement. Yesterday I was on MC. I had (and still have) terrible coughs. It keeps me awake in a middle of the night. Two days of sleepless nights caused me migraine.

Yesterday

Right after I got MC from the doctor, I went to Mamak for breakfast. I had Maggie goreng and warm water just to fill up my empty stomach so that I could nourish myself with drugs which I got earlier from the doctor. After breakfast, it was still early in the morning so I decided to go to the workshop. I almost forgot March is the time for Rudy’s next check up. Anyway, Rudy is my car. He serves me well for 2 years and a half. While waited for Rudy, I walked to the pet shop across the road. Outside the shop, there were a lot of birds (in a cage of course), and when I went into the shop, there was this one little puppy grab my attention. It was so adorable; I can barely turn my head off of it. For god’s sake the puppy was so friendly. Not forgotten it has a pair of cute sad eyes, white color with brown spots. I really wanted to take her home, but I can’t. How can I take a good care of her? I don't even have time for myself. I came out from the shop few minutes after because I felt a bit sad for all the animals. They are not supposed to be locked in a cage!

After Rudy’s done with his check up (luckily it was less than hundred), I decided to stop by at food not bomb house to drop the pots, plastic plates & cups which I bought months ago for FNB. I really miss that house, the last time was in October last year, I went there for a freedom fest (Steve Towson’s show) organized by Poodien.

When I reached the house, Luna was barking. I calmed her down and realized how I miss Luna ! She has grown bigger. Poodien, Nunu, Avroco, Husni & Solar (the cat) were there too. Poodien was busy doing his thing (anyway, his new self-portrait is awesome!), Avroco and Husni were chatting at the living area, Nunu was busy adjusting pictures to be put in her blog and Solar was sleeping in a middle of the living area. Solar is a big boy now. I managed to hang out at the house for a while and later on, all of us went out for lunch at the food court nearby.

After lunch, I went back home, take meds and dozed off. I woke up at 7pm, took a shower and went to Sunway for Pips’ jamming session. Arrived home approximately at 11ish, watched dvd till I dozed off -again.

Anyway, it was my first MC for the year 2010. Have to take extra precautions so that I could avoid stupid illness such as sore throat in a future. Sore throat sucks!! However, I have to admit that it was such a nice day of MC. Sometimes I do imagine how nice it would be if I can only work three days in a week. I will get more time for friends, family and pets... Too much to ask, ey?