Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

How do you say it? 

Two-Oh-Twelve or Twenty Twelve?

I say it as Two-Oh-Effing-Twelve.

It has been one hell of a ride, and I still can't believe I made it out alive.

As any other year, a lot has happened. But this time around, I hit so many milestones that I just can't help giving myself a pat on the back.

I made important life decisions, chose between crossroads, fell and stood up by myself and all in all just tried to be a champion at battles against myself.

Whether I succeeded.. let's wait for the answer this year and see if I can reap the rewards.

And before I start complaining and whining I want to just say one thing:

Alhamdulillah.

I truly appreciate all that I have gained throughout this year (and all through my life).

Thank you Allah. I know I have been asking for too much, that I sometimes forget to thank You.

All the hard truths, brutal experiences.. I appreciate them all.

Very loving and harmonious family who's always there for me regardless, understanding boyfriend who I can't imagine living without now, a few great friends that I really cherish, fun acquaintances and new friends, nice colleagues and workplace, a job that I'm starting to really have a soft spot for, comfortable new house (where I finally have my own room), and the ability to travel as I want.

Thank you.

The only standing question now is, what was I doing at the end of 2012 and the start of 2013?

I was here.

I was praying right in front of the Kaabah, with a few thousand other Muslims from all over the world.

It was definitely an amazing opportunity and I count myself lucky.

Definitely the right way to end and start the year. I pray that I will be able to make this an annual tradition.

And so to 2012, I thank you for being a great teacher of experience, and I have come out a little wiser.

I look forward to a rocky (where's the fun in not having a few turbulances? :p) yet fruitful year with the people I love the most around me.

And now I officially say so long to you 2012, a year that I used to know and you shall be in the equation that makes me who I am right now.

And I say hello 2013. Please treat me well.


The Best of Me - The Starting Line

Hard Enough

Hard Enough by Brandon Flowers

"Where would I be tonight if you hadn't held me here, in your arms?"

Take A Break From Me.

Keroncong Untuk Ana by Qi Razali feat Yuna (M. Nasir Cover)

Blowing Candles

Celebrated my birthday this year feeling extremely loved :)

25

Today is my birthday.

In fact, just about an hour ago.

I turn 25 this year - a year older, a little bit wiser, and also slightly bitter.

Older by age, never by heart. Wiser with experience, but not by time. And bitter.. bitter because another birthday means another year has gone by, and that means the clock is still ticking.. not at all compromising.

What has happened in the span of a year?

A lot.

Too many things, that I feel like I've actually lived two.

I decided few weeks ago that I prefer 24 to 25. But last year I preferred 23 to 24. Will I be faced with this crucial biasness every year? Maybe.

They say age is just a number. But it is a number that haunts, and scar people. A number that hallmarks people's lives. It is a sign of living, and how life is lived.

So for now I beg, let me make enemies with being 25 first, before I turn 26 next year.. And then I'm sure I will like being 25 by then.

And oh, happy birthday to me.

Musim Hujan

They say babies born around the end of the year are always more mellow, and morbid.

I was born in December, so I can testify to that.

I think it's the monsoon and rainy weather, and the winter season.

Anyways, what country is more gloomy and mellow than Iceland.

So here's another Icelandic delight, to feed your ears.




Horfid by Lay Low

It's Deepavali tomorrow, and school holiday has begun.

Then it's Christmas, and New Year.

I love year-ends. It spells family-time, loved ones, feasts, holidays, celebrations and happy people.

Not gloomy or morbid at all ;)

Silver Lining

Love, Love, Love by Of Monsters and Men


Well, maybe I'm a crook for stealing your heart away
And maybe I'm a crook for not caring for it
Maybe I'm a bad, bad, bad.. bad person
Well, baby I know.

So I think it's best
We both forget
Before we dwell on it.

The way you held me so tight
All through the night
'til it was near morning

Cause you love, love, love
When you know I can't love
You love, love, love
When you know I can't love
You love, love, love
When you know I can't love

And these fingertips
Will never run through your skin
Those bright blue eyes
Can only meet mine across the room
Filled with people that are less important than you.

Of Music and Men

I couldn't care less about celebrating Halloween.

But I went to a Halloween gig anyway, because I celebrate music.

It's a gig by Converse in conjunction with their brand-new Boots line and was by invitation only.

So been wanting to check this band out, coz people say their live shows are awesome.

The band's called Enterprise. This is them. The drummer's totally rad, and these guys are awesome!

Enterprise

It was extra sweet when I won myself a pair of the new Converse boots! Jyeah.

My musical appetite has been fulfilled as far as 2012 is concerned, but I'm still looking forward to Urbanscapes this month for Sigur Ros and Yuna!

My friends and I were supposed to represent The Syndicats at that event, but due to our unforgiving schedules, we had to give our slot away.

Cancelled my trip to Singapore for Sigur Ros, to catch them in KL instead so that I get some Yuna treatment as well. Win!

Loving this year so far. And as the year approaches that corner where New Year is, the Laneway Festival will keep me on my toes!

Rock on! \m/

Laneway Festival 2013

Hey,

So the annual St. Jerome's Laneway Festival is back! And they've just recently released the line up!

And guess what. Of Monsters and Men are playing!!! And Real Estate, and ALT-J!! Gosh.

You can count me in. 100% going.

Disappearing Act

A silhouette on stage,
A shadow in the dark,
The hurriedly torn page,
The smoke after the spark.

Ekki Mukk

I have always been fascinated by trees.

And this, this is just an art of philosophy. To fuse the different natural elements of the human being and the tree.. subliminal.

Kudos to the runner-up of the Sigur Ros's Film Experiment Competition, Caroline Fisher.




Film by Caroline Fisher
Music by Sigur Ros

Check out other Sigur Ros' films on their website: Click here.

Belief

What is life without belief?

For belief roofs reason, meaning; the mere existence of the human kind.

Belief - in whatever form it comes in, whatever package that enwraps it - is truth in its entirety.

In part of belief is trust; for to trust wholly is to believe and thus to believe is to consequently devote.

Devotion, is to surrender and submit with consent - to consciously give yourself up to something because you believe in it.

Belief is the mother that gives birth to values that make humans more than just bodies.

For who am I; who are you, without belief?

Bones and Sinews

Bones and Sinews by Ahmad Zakii Anwar

One of my favorite local artists. This is a large scale sketch by Ahmad Zakii. His sketches are so clean, and so vivid that you can not help but to wish you can run your fingers through the outlines just to believe that it is just a sketch.

There's something about photographs, pictures etc of the back view; it tells a lot about someone by telling just a little. Mysteriously engaging.

On a day like this

River Flows in You by Yiruma

The Nomad

"What is it about solitude and nothingness?"

Of Souls + Water: The Nomad by NRS Films

We are all nomads - constantly moving from one point of our lives to another, always changing from one prism of our self to another.

Dream/Reality Car

I am not a big automobile person. I know only the general stuff about cars, and don't really have strong opinions about them.

But the moment I set eyes on this one particular car, I was hooked.

Presenting, my future car..

The Peugeot 208 XY

It has everything I want in a car. Specs-wise, I'm not too particular about but it has all the basics and more.

In terms of design, it was love at first sight.

Hello, purple leather interior finishing? Win!

And my favorite part:

The purple LED trimming the overhead panoramic window.

And this:

Purple LED-lit dashboard!

The purple color only comes in the XY version. The normal Peugeot 208 comes in various colors and specs to choose from.

This car is currently not out in the Malaysian market yet. It will start entering the European market Q4 this year, and Q1 of 2013 for Malaysia. Exact release dates are still not confirmed, but it will be distributed by Nasim Sdn. Bhd.

To drool, go over to this link: Peugeot 208 XY

Prepare a bucket. And enough savings. Don't say I didn't warn you!


Sources: Many, from Google.

Give Thanks

I believe in miracles!

And luck!

Still in disbelief that me and the boyfriend actually won the Hitz.fm Fugitive, the last bounty!!

Alhamdulillah :)

Tuesday Morning

Tuesday Morning created with cinemagr.am

Being Anon.

People notice. They observe. They take mental notes.

Truth is, you are not thinking too much.. they really do.

And most days, you want to just be a wall; any common wall. A paint-coated wall.

Maybe a thing, anything, that has an amazing camouflage ability.

Water, perhaps? Simply because you cannot single out one drop of water out of a larger body of water.

You just want to blend in, to just be another face in the crowd.

To be a speck in a pool of spots. A string of hair on a head full of it; one minute sand on a beach; a star amidst all the stars in the universe.

To be nothing, nobody.. but anonymous.