Embun.

I just saw a friend's page loaded with pics
of dew on the verge of dropping from the
tip of a lalang.

Arghh. Lawa gila.

I went to his house a couple of weeks ago to
test his D40 kit. It was the same kit he used
to take these brilliant pics.

I took some pics, but thems came out shittier
than the ones that I would take on my T5.

I guess I should've wash my hands first.

On the other hand, the DMC-L1 looks delicious
as hell. It's got a Leica lens, and I pretty much
didn't pay that much attention to anything else.

Except the price tag.

Shit.

Bollocks.

renungan evil kucing itam kat sungai rengit.
probably he's saying, " lu jangan kacau awek tu."

Am I That Boring, Pussy?

I hope not.

When it comes to cats, I could spend literally hours just
watching them.

I don't remember who said this proverb/saying (duhh)
but here goes,

"life is a misery but two things - music and cats"

i don't necessarily agree with the idiom, but cats are certainly
.....how do you put it...they suck the attention out of you.

I think they're pHd holders in Jedi mind control.

cis. ilang rim.

sapa kat bawah kete tuh?

calm befor the storm.

apa2 pun layan nasi dagang che nah dulu.

new apartment at taman tun.

turun JB.

sekali kena turun teluk ramunia dulu daaa....

Jay Bee.

JB bakal riot minggu depan.

Datu' Bandar JB, bersedia-lah.

Kami akan mengecat bandar
anda rona merah.

Gegar.

v3i camera.

it's quite strange to downgrade your camera.

we'll see.

sin ya ba wau kaf.

apabila di-eja jadilah ia sibuk.

crazy. pukul 5 baru nak start kirija. bertimbun dol.

apa lagi.

on v3i. klik i-Tunes. set volume 1 (takut geng ofis marah),
and layan air drums.

yeah!

sat lagi baru nak setat kerja.

i promise.

ho ho ho balik kampung.

i went back home last weekend.

after a 2-month hiatus in the muddy banks.

i needed to unwind. i was too tightly wound.

being a selfish simpleton that i am and will
be, i just need some time off in Kedah.

just spending some quality time with my
single parent.

my momma. i love her to bits.

2 days in Kedah is not enough, but 3 days is
too long. it's a delicate balance between
savoring a serene moment and being sick of
the monotonous humdrum of Alor Setar.

I arrived at Shahab Perdana about 6am, and my
momma picked me up. I feel quite guilty about
disrupting her slumber, but she shrugged it off
and she's quite happy to see me.

We arrived home and the first thing she showed
me was the new fridge she bought (with my benjamins).

it's huge!

it's actually bigger than both of us.

come dusk, i got ready to send her to work.
at her age, she shouldn't be working. i'd like
to buy a house and get her to stay with me.

but i guess she needed a routine.

and, driving in an automatic kelisa is a bliss,
not having to work the left leg.

she's nippy.

I had some roti jala at the stadium. Kuah
kari ayam. sambil baca paper star.

lapang-nya dada.

shame everybody's not available for chat.

went to pacific to buy some dvds. they stock
some pretty awesome selections. I bought
some, but I'm not sure if I'll watch any of them.

afternoon was excruciatingly hot. better spent
sleeping on the cold marble slab.

dinner with mums. kueyteow iman. simple meal
and very humble. i hope i could be as humble
as this meal.

the next day was spent pretty much in a haze,
but it's definitely be'er than being.....

nah, i don't want to compare.

i went to town and witnessed something which
pretty much seemed strange, but made perfect
sense.

there was an old man pedalling a rickshaw by the
roadside. they are a dying a breed, indeed.

what startled me was what he was carrying. it was
a disabled person, together with his folded wheelchair.

i guess however down you are, you still could make a
difference, huh?

there's always people you could help.

there's so many levels of sincereness in that event alone,
but i think i'll take my time to dissect them one by one.

come sunday night, i felt a bit sad to leave
momma.

i know that she's happy in Kedah.

I'll try to come home more often, Ma.

precipitation.

it rained today at noon.

lots of cats.

lot of dogs.

i got out, stood at the entrance of the lobby
and inhaled.

ahh. sweet, damp, moist air.

the palm trees are swaying to the left,
caressed by the mighty wind.

wind, being the wind that it is, blew me
away.

as the gust blew across my face, it carried
away some of the worries residing in my mind.

i'm quite cross that my plan to jog this
afternoon had been mercilessly obliterated.
but on a second thought, precipitation's
not so bad.

beautiful rain on a moody monday.

just the remedy for the heart.

runut bunyi.

soundtracks to a film can be distracting.

especially if they're really good. afterwards,
you'd just go crazy trying to figure out the
singer, title and where you'd get hold of 'em.

lately, you'd get really good tracks at the
end of the film.

just when the closing credits about to appear.

'the last kiss', for example, has a great
closing track. it's by Turin Brakes. the
title's 'Pain Killer (Summer Rain)'.

I heard the song way before the film. Still is
a good song.

'ocean's twelve' also has great tracks.

the best yet so far?

'the matador'.

near the end.

when greg kinnear and hope davis is at the
grave of their son, and pierce brosnan is
looking at them by the side of the road.

he's holding a plane ticket to greece.

the music kicks in.

'i wanna stand up, i wanna let go,'

he inserts the ticket under the wiper of their car.

'you know, you know, no, you don't, you don't,'

he turns back and disappears into the row
of houses.

'i wanna stand up, in the......'

the closing credits appear.

fuckin' A, man.

moral of the story: go watch 'the matador'.

khabar dari kampung halaman.

i received a call today.

the number was +60389244100.

Yes! Jacaranda!

My supervisor called just for
a chat, but we ended up talking
'bout everything under the sun.

just about.

Everybody's fine. Hamidon. Roslan.
Khairul. Suhaimi. Munir. Aswade.
All of ZPEB's in the pink. Yang,
Wang, Billy, Liu.

Meh huangti.

Alhamdulillah.

Apparently, it's been raining in
Jacaranda, and the weather's
improving (sunny).

I wish I was there.

And I heard the most exciting thing
happened.

'Fahima, salaam naw'

'Salaam naw. Dena naw? Tiru naw?'

'Taruno. Betaam Tiru.'

'Fahima, Jacaranda menem anbessa.'

'Anbessa? Alle?'

'Aw. Buzu anbessa.'

'Sent naw?'

'Seddest. Sebbet.'

'Ara ara ara. Buzu buzu. Adega alle?'

'Adega Yellum. Menem chigger yellum.'

'Konjou anbessa?'

'Aw.'

Dammit. Apsal la aku balik Malaysia haritu.

Patut aku duduk Gambela sampai pencen.

I miss her.

Greatly.

Spectacularly.

my poor (pair of) eye(s).

I've been staring too long at the monitor.

Sampai nak sparrow dah mata.

Balik awal la ari ni. Sparrowkan mata
layan 'sekeraps'.

But it's worth it.

the phenomenon that is wikipedia.

wikipedia is basically an encyclopedia that
can be available to be modified by anyone,
anonymously.

The concept of self-regulation and 'edit
this page' is basically handing over the
task of verifying the content of any articles
to the users, hence anyone with better knowledge
of a topic, may edit the entry to reflect the
unbiased (sometimes biased) view of an article.

that's not always the case.

due to the ability of users to stay anonymous,
some articles contain elements of slander, and
it reached a level that the founder of the
Wikipedia has started a new, Wikipedia-mirror
encyclopedia called Citizendum (Citizendom?)

You have to prove your credentials to write in
this 'dom.

melalut pulak.

to me, wikipedia is a good thing to do to
while away those free times. you can find
anything (plus one) and who knows, you
might stumble across a link you might like.

so, for example, you want to know what the
hell is 'diphtong'.

you just type 'define: diphtong' in google
and wikipedia will tell you.

(disclaimer: the word is kind of misleading,
and some people might visualise it as a new,
crazy kind of thong. but no, it's not.)

Definition: -

In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek,
"diphthongos", literally "with two sounds")
is a vowel combination usually involving a
quick but smooth movement from one vowel to
another, often interpreted by listeners as
a single vowel sound or phoneme.While "pure"
vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have
one target tongue position, diphthongs have
a moving tongue. ...

one of the things i like about this Wikipedia
is, aside from being a time-killer, it is a
great tool for me to revisit the history of
Prophets.

I learnt more, too, on the subject of all
thing Jewish/Yehud/Talmud/etc.

It's quite interesting to read and remember
about the hardships of the Prophets, and to
add new dimensions, such as what the scholars
of the West think of the Messengers.

You'd learn of the origin of the names Moses,
Jesus, Abraham, Eshmael, and how they are
related to each other.

I knew now why the Israelis consider themselves
special.

And lastly, the Seal of Prophet. You'd learn
so much about the Prophet in school, but to
read them again and visualise what it's like
is refreshing.

It's cool to see the article in Wikipedia.

It really is.

You'd read about his childhood, the death
of his father, the kindness of his grandfather,
the rejection of his uncle, the death of his
mother in yathrib (?), and many more
hardships.

One particular paragraph particularly struck
me, as I'm orphaned myself.

"At the age of six, Muhammad lost his mother
Amina and became fully orphaned. Many years
later, when he was exiled by his Meccan
opponents, on his first pilgrimage from
Medina to Mecca, he stopped at his mother's
grave and cried bitterly, bringing tears
to the eyes of his companions."

It's weird to have an article in Wikipedia
grasping at the frayed ends of your emotion.

It's also shocking to hear that before the
Prophet made his journey to Yathrib, he sent
a group of his closest sahib to Habshah,
knowing the Christian king there's a just
ruler.

I never knew that.

Maybe I forgot.

"In 615 AD/CE, a band of Muslims were counseled
by the Prophet Muhammad to escape persecution
in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia, which was
ruled by a Christian king.
In that year, his followers were fleeing
from Mecca's leading tribe, the Quraish,
who sent emissaries to bring them back to
Arabia, but the King of Ethiopia protected
Muhammad's followers. Since then, Muhammad
himself instructed his followers who came
to Ethiopia, to respect and protect Ethiopia
as well as live in peace with Ethiopian
Christians. Accordingly, some scholars
state that Ethiopia was the country that
saved Islam from its near destruction and
termination."

Hmm...

batu bersurat yang ditulis oleh Robert James.
time tu kertas tak dicipta lagi.

batu bersurat yang ditulis menggunakan printer.

chinatown

believe it or not, this thing didn't exist in 1511.

A Famosa. Jangan keliru dengan kuih samosa kat pasar malam Melaka.

St. Xavier's Church. Sewaktu Sunday's service, banyak
orang portugis komplen kat paderi kata panas.

It was la'er discovered they forgot to build the roof.

Daun pintu sedang lepak 'coffee break'.

Pertembungan antara 1511 dan 2007. Campurkan kedua-duanya,
dan ambil purata.

Senang cerita.

Nasib baik dia tak silap eja jadi '*elaka mall'

surat cinta dari Alfonso Alburqueque kepada bininya,
Melati Alburqueque.

Translation:

'Hai yang. I kat Melake nie..Seronot la Melake.
Makan pun sedap. Asam pedas dier you memang
kener try la.Barang pun murah.'

'Nanti I hantar kapal ambil you kat Catalun. You
packing sekarang, lagi 6 bulan sampai la kapal tu.'

'OK gtg. bye.'

xoxoxo
'Alfonso'
13 Augustus, 1512.

Vandalisme.

'Orang Melakee memang camtuu!!!'

Gila. Tahan napas seminit tu nak ambik foto nih.

This plane actually was planned to bring the atomic bomb
to Hiroshima. Last minit tukar. Tayar tak cukup angin.

Masjid terapung Melakee.


melaka kelaka(r).

It's very highly likely you've heard
about malacca a.k.a. malakat a.k.a. melaka.

And i bet it's through history SPM.

If you haven't heard about it, maybe you've
taken the july paper.

When it comes to travel, i'm the second last person
to be counted in. i'd give all sorts of excuse
imaginable to mankind, and wouldn't commit
to any type of travel outside of PJ.

So, when Izad got married on Sunday, I broke
my vow, and went to Ayer Keroh with me former
housemates. It is, after all, a Sunday, and
traffic on the highway's murder.

but i'm not driving this time, and i'm more
than happy to fork out the benjamins for the
toll. no hal lah bro.

my stereotypical view of malacca is a state
full of portuguese nationals, baba and nyonya,
and all that que sera sera 'whatever will be,
will be'.

back to Izad's wedding.

He got hitched to a Sungei-Petanian, so I just
would like to guarantee him a lifetime full
of bliss and happiness. Lifetime warranty,
brother.

Ha ha.

He's an okay bloke, and
although it's quite strange to not see the
bride during the 'kenduri', I know they'd be
a compatible couple.

Well, the wedding's attended to.

Next. Pahlawan Mall. To the untrained eye,
this might look like just another mall.

Take a look again.

At the back, of course.

A Famosa kat belakang tu! opocot!

A few years back, when they were constructing
the mall, they unearthed a segment of 'the
bastion', apparently a segment of the
portuguese fort. It was preserved. Still is.

I feel like I'm in Lisbon. Circa 1512.

Macam-macam lah ada kat sana.

Museum stem (Filateli?). Although I'm not
sure why anyone would pay to see stamps.

Maybe filateli-philia.

I hope that's not a bad word.

A Famosa. Ahh, how do I describe it?

It's surprisingly....small.

I thought it would span a few hundred metres
but it's just like a monument or something.
I later found out that the rest was destroyed
by heavy bombing.

What a shame. I was about 400 years too late.

Up on the hills, the Xavier church. I'm not
sure about the name, though. A marble bust
of his physique was carved (minus his right
hand), and inside the church, there's a well
for you to chuck in your loose change and
make a wish.

I threw 20 cents. Followed by 10 cents.

There were a lot of epitaphs there. The size
of doors.

They was damn cool.

I ran my fingers along the wall of the church.
The surface undulating, weathered by the
rain. By the development. By the guilt of
the emperors.

You could see the Straits of Malacca from
the church. Where they entered precisely at
5.00am, September 13, 1511, guns-a-blazing,
ending the peaceful spice trade started
a hundred years earlier.

I gained new perspective on Malaya's history
by now.

Dinner.

Yeah!

We chose the most iconic dish available.
The dish, when its name uttered, will evoke
fear and drooling amongst local and Westerners
alike.

Asam pedas jenak.

Or, as the people up north do, 'jenahak'.

To be honest, I never really 'devoured' this
dish. More towards occasional tasting.

I ate some of this cuisine.

And I fell off my chair. It was that good.

It bends gravity.

So, anytime you're around Malacca, do drop
by the asam pedas shop near SM Teknik Bukit
Piatu, and you will leave for home with
a smirk on your face.

If you're not a fan of all things fish,
you might frown.

So, with our belts unbuckled, we headed for
KL.

The traffic was shit.

I got home around 1 a.m., all bruised and
battered from my nomadic Malaccan adventure,
but content with my short course in
Sirah Malakkiyyah.

Que sera sera.