Random Scribblings (part II)

Akhirnya, saya sudah sampai ke penghujung hidup di UKM. No, not yet. Just the beginning of the end. Mula terasa sedih dan sayang. Hm...

Cait, baru mula the last semester dah touching. Awal lagi bang. Cool.

Anyway, I feel really blessed. Compare my life now with my life before...I can conclude that now I feel better. It might be just the mind perception, but doesn't matter. Because,

My last sem result is okay la. Yes the definition of okay is relative and subjective to each person's interpretation. But for me, it fell to 'not the worst scenario'. That means, I can certainly gets better this semester. My last semester.

I live in a double room this semester (and also last semester). But my roomate never showed up. His name is in the system, but he never been in the room. Good for me. I like. Double bed to switch whenever I like. Full privacy to do whatever I want. Hahahaha. But of course there are disadvantages. No soul to talk to, lonely, no one to wake me up, over privacy problem. Haha, I can live with this.

I had bought a pair of dumbbells. Really worth it I tell you. Not saying that now I am a lot tougher than before cause it will be an obvious lie, but I'm working towards it. Yes I have weakness- eating. But not bad considering everyday I work out. And the extra space in the room, really ease up my indoor exercise program.

My PC is back to it's former health, with a cooler and better fan. Means, there won't be any glitches-hang-stuck whenever I don't wish it to happen.

Though my PC is alive again, still my desire to gaming is fading... and fading...and fading. I have lots of games inside my PC but they are not desirable enough for my eyes and heart lately. Assassins Creed Revelation tadi main pun tak sampai sejam. Tutup game, sambung baca Epic of Hang Tuah. Me getting old maybe...

This past months I have her, etched in my heart. Hehehehe.

By her, I get involved in something new. Learning Mandarin. Never in my mind I imagine myself learning Mandarin. Never. Well, Allah knows better than me.

She taught me some phrases bit by bit. Not the appropiate step-by-step learning, but by introducing me with phrases, common phrases. After a few lessons, I found that...MANDARIN NI BANYAK MAIN INTONASI. Sesunnguhnya, ada banyak aspek nada dan intonasi yang boleh bawak makna berbeza biarpun perkataannya sama 100%. Main naik bukit, turun bukit, junam bukit, bukit flat. Aeeihh stresss!! Haha~

Learning in progress

Betul lah orang kata, nak belajar kena ada minat dan semangat. Kalau kena paksa belajar, contohnya sebagai PB, ugh mesti tido sokmo.

So... wo hoei jia you!! (tak tau eja macam mana, ampun!)

From that, no wonder lah bahasa melayu pada zaman dulu kalanya adalah lingua franca. Sebab setahu saya, bahasa melayu sangat senang kalau dibandingkan dengan bahasa jerman, english, spanish, mandarin, korea, jepun dan arab. Tak hairan juga anne2 di mapley mampu faham order customer eventhough baru ja sampai Malaysia.

Oh not to forget, I started to listen (again, after a gap of 8 years) to Beyond, a rock band from Hong Kong. My brother Pahlavi got two same albums (1 he bought first, 2nd his student gave him as a gift). I borrowed one and rip it into my PC. Lagu2 Beyond ni sangat best. Biarpun sepatah haram saya tak paham, tapi music is universal my friend. Letakla bahasa Zimbabwe pun kalau lagunya dan melodi sedap, sedaplah ia di telinga pendengar.

Hoho, now my neighbors must be wondering. 'Gila apa brader ni? Sat Jepun, sat English, sat Jerman, sat Melayu, sat Indon, sat Korea, sat Cina pulak?'

Hopefully, I can maintain this feel good factor atmosphere. Thank you Allah for all the things You had arranged for me. Alhamdulillah.

X Japan

*asalnya, nak tulis tentang cannibalism, tapi hold on dulu lah. Tunggu habis baca buku tu dulu. Setakat half pun dah horror, nanti kalau finished baru best buat entry*

WE ARE X!!!!

Aku ni seorang peminat muzik. Muzik yang pelbagai. Dari rock, techno, pop, ballads, clubbing, metal, nu-metal, nasyid sampailah ke oldies zaman 50an dulu. Semuanya aku layan dan enjoy kalau sedap dan sesuai dengan taste aku. Jadi antara artis2/band2 kegemaran aku (to name a few) adalah Guns N Roses, Queen, Elvis, Blur, Judy and Mary, Larc en Ciel, Glay, System of a Down dan macam2 lagi. Tapi!! Ada satu yang stand in his own class, which is

X JAPAN

I believed that many of you don't know who the hell are they. Ok, untuk pengetahuan lanjut, sila baca dari ensiklopedia percuma ni. Tapi untuk pengenalan kecil2an, bolehlah aku cerita sikit2.

X Japan ni adalah band metal di Jepun yang mana diketuai oleh Yoshiki (drum, keyboard) dan disertai oleh Toshi (vokal), Hide (guitar lead), Pata (guitar) dan Heath(bass). Pengasasnya adalah Yoshiki dan Toshi, bermula sewaktu mereka masih lagi budak sekolah. Bermula dari situ, mereka mula mencipta muzik yang pelbagai dan mengikut zaman. Akhirnya, band ini berpecah pada tahun 1997 sebab Toshi buat perangai. And the next year, Hide was dead accidentally in his home, leaving thousands of fans in tatters. Tapi ini bukan sad ending. Tahun 2007, they decided to reunite and up till now they are still alive and kicking, even umur dah 40 lebih.

muka dah kedut2. tua dah.

Now, you may ask this question: what's so special about them?

Hehe, the answer is: their music. X Japan, they start as a trash/metal/apanamatahakutaksure band. All their earlier songs are headbanging songs. When I say headbanging, I mean a lot and serious headbanging. Then as they grew matured, they experiment and started to write various other kind of songs. From trash, they went to rock, pop, nu-generation and even ballads.

And they are the band who knows how to make beautifully arranged melodies combined to become a song. They are not the type of verse-chorus- verse band. Susah nak cerita..tapi lagu2 diorang memang feel dia macam satu journey, ada naik- turun- flat- menjunam dan naik balik. Ha paham kan? Selain tu!!! Ini satu2nya band yang tahu macam mana nak combine rock music dengan piano dan orkestra. Seriously, listening to X Japan is a different experience to listening to other band.

Antara sebab lain, adalah kerana Yoshiki adalah sangat kool. Yes appearance dia waktu muda2 dulu (gaun, jubah, muka mekap/lipstick, rambut panjang) memang pmpuan (well, semua band Jepun macam tu pada masa tu- Visual Rock weih), tapi bila dia main drum dan piano-dia lah lelaki paling cool dan macho. Especially pada zaman album Dahlia. Serius bagi aku, dialah drummer termacho dan tercool di alam semesta.

Coolest pianist in the www.

Tak dapat nak imagine, takpe Youtube ada.

For example, let me give you one ultimate trash/headbanging song of theirs. It is Kurenai. This is my favourite headbanging song. Complete melody, long guitar solos and great drum play (drum play faveret aku).

The most catchy rock song of theirs is this- Rusty Nail. Just plain catchy with beautiful piano and orchestra interlude in the middle of the song.

And the most touching ballad is this masterpiece- Tears. Just a masterpiece. The song flow is really perfect, from low mood and it rises as the song builds up. Actually this song is really poetic and meaningful, written by Yoshiki about his father who committed suicide. Cuba korang stop whatever you're doing, play this song and layan the lirik. Then you'll understand.

Haha tu lah serba sedikit yang boleh aku share. Ada banyak lagi band2 Jepun faveret yang lain macam Judy and Mary, Luna Sea, Larc en Ciel, Glay, Orange Range dan etc2 tapi X Japan tetap nr 1. Oh yea, Yoshiki ni memang otak business. Dari band entah apa2, dia berjaya buat label record sendiri, groom band2 baru untuk naik (antaranya- Luna Sea), buat side project, collaboration, dan even Hide's death pun (presumably) he milked it. Sampai ada konsert2 Hide Summit la bagai. Hahahaha.

Setakat ni, aku tak pernah fail bagi kawan2 aku dengar dan layan lagu X Japan. Yang lelaki akan minat dengan Rusty Nail dan Kurenai, yang perempuan akan minat dengan Tears, Without You dan Forever Love. Just prove you how strong their music are.

Jadi kalau ada orang tanya aku samada aku layan lagu korea tak, aku jawab X!! Hahaha~serius, aku biasa dan minat lagu macam ni, macamana aku nak suka lagu2 techno superficial yang sampai suara pun edit habis dengan komputer, haha. Jangan kata aku tak cuba, I tried already but not compatible with me. Jadi, apa kata korang pulak cuba. Rambut dan muka dah hampir sama kan Jepun dan Korea ni, haha?

I Feel Great

One question only.

Yesterday I was in charge of DOE booth. Then the VVVIP came. She offer her hand and 'salam' me. I explained our job scope, she asked some questions, I answered all. Both in Malay and English. I presented her one DOE handy bag. We had our picture taken.

She is yang mulia Tuanku Intan Shafinaz.

I feel great. Damn great and proud.

You ada?