Como esta?

"How are you?"

Every time I get asked that question, I seem to lose the ability to speak.

Actually, I have no idea where to begin. Not even sure if the person is sincere enough to really know how I'm doing. Or maybe it's a form of conversation-starter so that the person on the other side of the conversation can start rambling about his/her great/shitty life.

Like i.e.

X: How are you?

Me: Err..

X: Hope things are great! By the way, I just bought a new car!! And it has a super engine and..

Me: *constantly nodding head to appear attentive to the conversation*

Yeap.

So what about when I'm the one asking the question?

I gotta admit, sometimes when I ask "how are you?" I expect a really brief answer. Like ten words is pushing it. This happens if I'm on my way to do something or go somewhere and I bum into you. Or if we've only known each other through a mutual friend on Facebook where we constantly see each others' faces on tagged photos. Or you're a distant family member.

Then the ideal situation would be:

Me: Hey! How are you?

You: I'm fine thanks! (Even if you're not) And you?

Me: Yeah, I'm doing well! (Even if I'm not) Listen I gotta run. Nice meeting you!

You: Yeah, you take care!

Two sentences each would suffice.


But, if you are a good friend of mine; someone whom I've made a pact to die with together if Armageddon were to hit, or if the Zombie Apocalypse is real after all.. or my blood and flesh, or someone I sleep and wake up looking at.. then I expect more than a "fine". Coz "fine" does not mean a single legit thing in this world. In fact, in most cases where "fine" is used, the person using it is "not fine".

Demo situation.

Me: Hey! How are you?

You: I'm fine, thanks.

Me: (what does she/he mean by that?!)

Not cool. Not ideal.


Ideal situation where I expect to happen without me having to ask "No, really how ARE you?"

Me: Hey! How are you?

You: OMG. We have to sit down and get coffee.

Me: (Liking the intensity of it already) Wow, ok. Something happened?

You: Yea! You know that job I had? I quit. Bla bla bla (continue story)

That, my friend, is a REAL conversation. This applies to online conversations as well. (Not that I'd appreciate it if we were to be face to face and still be talking via our gadgets. No sir.)

So lesson of the day, it is largely important for every single human being no matter what ethnicity, language or the kind of brutal or civilized culture you grow up with to know that it is immensely important to know how to communicate well especially in these two key, most commonly used, conversation starters.

If you ask someone "How are you?" make sure you mean it. And if you're on the other end, having to answer the question.. know your place and answer adequately.

Thank you, class dismiss.

Moving Pictures Silent Films

Moving Pictures Silent Films by Great Lake Swimmers

"Or is this the dream I've been saving? / Oh where the heart beats slower and slower / To almost nothing"

Keepin' it 100%

Got real inspired today. It must be the Friday mojo.

Hell, that's why people love Fridays.

You do nothing, be a fool then get mad genius ideas.

Like ma boi always say "We keep it one hunned!"

Yeah. 100%.

And that's how imma do.

Pursuit of Happyness

It is such a common thought that happiness is a destination..

.. that when you finally reach the destination - in whatever form it is that you have imagined - the sensation is indescribable.. that you will have sparks going on around you and neon lights blinking, illuminating the word: HAPPY. HAPPY. HAPPY.

Like, I am sure I will be happy if I can drive a Porsche.

But no.

As we have been told a lot, happiness is the journey - the pursuit.

And I have learned to actually believe that saying.

I find that happiness comes in small packages too. That it happens in moments you would normally dismiss. 

For example. Most people think they are only happy when they land the job of their dreams. Or get a huge a mount of money. Or get married.

Yes that makes you happy too.

But relatively speaking, you can feel as happy when someone actually replied your text instantly, or someone you've not heard from in a long time gave you a surprise call.

What I'm trying to say here is that happiness is defined in so many ways and it is up to you.

For me now, to get good, quality 10-min nap in between my hectic day makes me happy.

To share a meal with my boyfriend, even at a roadside stall makes me happy.

To just see my parents for 30 seconds when I say bye to them before going to work at 4am in the morning makes me the happiest girl in the world.

I want to be grateful with all the little things that I never noticed but have made me happy before.

I want to believe that happiness is attainable.

I want to always be happy, and to always find things that will make me happy when I am not.

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.