fake plastic words

We were sitting by the lake. I was listening to him talk about his past life, regrets and hopes for the future. He was playing some Bob Marley on the ragged old guitar. I sang along with his raspy voice and crisp strumming. At the middle of Redemption Song, he stopped. And he started to tell me a story,

"Dulu aku selalu busk dekat Central Market. Tiap-tiap hari kau akan nampak aku dekat main entrance, dekat Annexe, dekat dengan pasar, merata-rata. Dengan rambut aku sampai pinggang, gian macam nak mati, dengan tak mandi berminggu, busking pon pasal cari duit nak hisap fit. Orang ingat aku gila.

Dah gelap ni. Maghrib pon nak dekat. Jom pegi surau dulu."

- Buddha Bar has a song that if you listen closely, you can hear the guy saying with complete intoxicated whisper, "kote... phun... kote... phul", again and again and again and again.

- There's also another song that's mixed with a traditional Malay song. I thought that was pretty cool.

- Please go to http://www.failblog.org. If not, you really do fail.

- A couple of Zuzu's photos appeared on http://www.koleksiawek.blogspot.com. At first I thought it was one of those sleazy sexmelayu sites, but it wasn't all that bad. The author even credited me for the photos.

- A's facebook status: "Human beings in general are nice... but I need to smile more often". B replied to the status saying, "Anjing". And A replied back, "You wanker. Cakap benda positif tak boleh. Aku harap kau cirit lagi malam ni. Keluar pacat".

- One of my most favourite, over-used teka teki; Why did the dinosaurs went extinct? And, the answer is, jeng jeng jeng, because Ultraman killed them all! Hm. Eh, laugh lah. Funny okay.

- And here's some more,

I have very amusing friends.

A car decided to "stop by" for a teh tarik at The Attap (formerly Uncle Don).

It's a shame that I never got the chance to get to know her personally. Although I do remember adding her on flickr and we did correspond a little bit there, a long time ago. I can see now that we do have several mutual friends. What a small, small world. Coincidentally, she's also doing architecture and we also have a mutual passion, photography. What a loss, to someone so talented, so young. But of course, things like these are never a complete loss, partly thanks to the internet.

I can see now why I personally find it hard to escape the net. In Sara Aziz's story, the websites only now act as a shrine, a place where her passion and herself is now immortalized not only in virtual memory but also as a place that strangers like me are made aware of her existence. It saddens me so much that someone like her had to leave this world so early, so tragically.

Perusing through her pages I can feel that she's a person that is passionate, full of energy and above all, hopeful. Rarely do I come across a photographer's work, especially someone still fresh and new in the field, that is able to convey so much emotion into a photograph. Be it animate or inanimate. I added her on flickr because I thought she had so much potential, and I did admire her modest collection of work then, and all the more now. It's odd that I don't remember her from last year's Rantai. I only found out that she exhibited her work there after browsing through her blog just now.

I've lost a number of friends and family myself. And although I never got to know Sara on a personal level, but I do feel a loss. I do feel saddened. And I feel, in some level, the pain that her family and friends are going through. It's the most difficult thing in the world to lose someone you love. How terrible it must feel.

Sara, thank you for sharing yourself. If not because of this thing called the world wide web, I wouldn't have known you even existed. Your life and your passions will never be wasted. It is now forever immortalized, in virtual memory, and in the memory of family, friends and countless of random strangers.

Al-Fatihah.

Cupcakes by Karl Hilton.

And I'm the unofficial penulis event details atas billboard.

Part of the crowd, almost maxed out at Lepaq and spilling onto the streets.

Here's to better things to come for Yuna. She truly is a rare breed. If you ever got to know her, you'd find that who she is as a person and her music is one and the same thing. Honest and pure in every way possible. You don't find that kind of quality much in music these days.

I can still vividly remember hearing the takbir Raya for the first time. I was a few years old back then when we were still living in Taman Putra. It was very early in the morning, just as the sun was rising, at an unusual time for me to be up. Wandering around the house half awake and groggy, I heard a faint sound coming from the outside.

Out of curiosity, I walked to the locked front door to peer outside and inspect what that sound was and where was it coming from. I looked around and saw people with white jubah, baju melayu, and white telekung walking towards the nearby mosque. I clutched the cold grills with both hands, with complete childlike wonder, peering further into that faint, mysterious sound.

And then it came. Floating frighteningly, rapidly, soothingly through the peaceful still morning air. The serene music sent tiny ripples throughout my body. A million goosebumps erupted on my skin and sent a sudden shiver down my spine. That was how I felt the first time in my life that I heard the takbir Raya. Years and years have since passed, and it still gives me that same feeling from that morning in Taman Putra. That sensation that resonates and uplifts me like nothing else. A sense of peace and melancholic serenity.

I've never heard of any sound, any song, any music, more beautiful than that. And I know I'll never hear anything else that will sound any more beautiful than that.

Hope you'll have a spectacular time getting fat on ketupat and rendang.

I know I will.

"Ornament your Eid celebrations with the Taqbir" - Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.