Just a quick update to explain that the lack of updates is because I am currently focusing on a slew of assignments, and my finals are starting this Wednesday! Will be back with updates after the exams. Wish me the best, yeah!
That's all for now! Can't exactly type much, because I'm actually... in class!
- naz
Suddenly felt like writing some Haiku, and I don't know why :S
Hard as rock
Enter my mouth
You simply melt
Round and red
Your luscious curves
Squirm with every bite
Strings flopping
Wondering why
Oh damn, you're loose
Wish I could read you
'Cos every night
You read me
Books at the ready
Body present
Mind absent
An apple a day
Keeps the doctor away
Still have this flu
Smells so good
Tastes too good
Wish you were food
Vibrating and throbbing
Goosebumps and thrills
Oh, an SMS
Engines all revved up
Motion sensor, activated
Too much oil
- naz
No, I have not jumped onto any bandwagon, nor have I joined any 'revivalism' movement. It just so happens that I feel like posting in Malay for this post! I've never been one to adhere to any convention anyway; breaking the rules whenever and wherever I can be creative has this sort of magical appeal to me. You know, the feeling you get when nobody understands just what the heck is going on... Za'aba doesn't like open-form poetry or prose poetry, having once said that even monkeys can write it, but I don't seem to care. Ok, I'm babbling too much... On to the post!
Today's post is inspired by 1. an intense SMS-ing session; and 2. the fact you can tell someone something and the person can spread the love without giving you proper credit. Time to feel the original fire!
Tahap. Sebut sahaja perkataan tahap, dan perkara pertama yang terlintas di fikiran mungkin sesuatu yang mempunyai hubung kait dengan sesuatu yang saintifik, ataupun mungkin suatu perkara yang dalam bahasa budak-budak zaman ini, kita gelar sebagai 'skema'. 'Tahap' dapat menunjukkan betapa hebatnya atau betapa jahanamnya sesuatu. Pernah diri ini semasa zaman sekolah, menggunakan dan mencipta segala jenis pangkat. Ya, mungkin kami boleh digelar 'perosak' bahasa, tetapi bukankah bahasa kita sudah rosak?
Pernah saya gunakan suatu tahap untuk menunjukkan kehebatan sesuatu. Itulah tahap 'gaban'. Apakah makna perkataan 'gaban' ini, saya tidak tahu. Jika 'gaban' ini nama seseorang, sangat larislah dirinya itu kerana namanya selalu digunakan untuk menyatakan tahap yang tinggi. Hanya Tuhan sahaja yang tahu. Itulah jawapan yang pernah rakan saya coretkan dalam kertas peperiksaannya setiap kali dia tidak dapat menjawab soalan. Tetapi itu tidak mengapa. Biasanya orang akan berkata sesuatu itu 'tahap gaban' bila perkara itu terlalu bagus atau hebat. Tetapi, banyak sekali cara-cara untuk menambahkan lebih perasaan kepada 'kegabanan' tahap yang diberikan. Bak kata pelekat-pelekat pada cakera padat yang mungkin asli dan mungkin tidak, "Pastikan ori, baru beli".
Gaban, gaban, gaban... Apalah engkau ini. Sesungguhnya engkau ini tidak layak mendapat tahap gaban. Engkau lebih layak mendapat tahap yang lebih hebat. Ya betul puan-puan, inilah resipi turun-temurun yang masih kekal sebagai khazanah alam. Inilah tahap yang digelar tahap dewa punya gaban makan kari babas! Tahap ini banyak variasinya, contohnya tahap dewa punyi kuli gaban punya dewi masak kari babas import, tahap dewi binti dewa gaban tak reti masak langsung, tahap gaban punya kuli punya dewa punya dewi punya kari babas masak semalam, dan sebagainya.
Tetapi tidak kira apa sekalipun tahapnya itu, apabila tersebutnya tahap itu, maka berlakulah suatu saat magical, sehingga boleh jadi musical yang sungguh hebat sampai kalah High School Musical 1 hingga 3. Zac Efron pun papa kedana jadinya apabila tersebut tahap ini, sehingga tahapnya turun menjadi tahap kuli punya kuli punya gaban punya entah apa-apa. Apakah yang boleh menyebabkan berlakunya tahap-tahap hebat ini? Ya puan-puan, jangan kemana-mana, kerana selepas ini akan terdedah, bukan dadih, tetapi suatu ramuan yang luar biasa. Ramuan yang apabila dilihat, bersinar dan bercahaya. Ramuan yang apabila dicium bau, keluar penari-penari yang beraneka pakaian. Ramuan yang apabila dirasa, boleh melompat sampai awan kesembilan-belas sambil mendendangkan lagu "Purnama Merindu" dalam bahasa Jepun.
Apakah ramuan itu? Jawapannya... selepas ini... :p
- naz
I think I'm bound to frustrate and/or upset people... I"m crazy, and I know it!
I know, this is probably the umpteenth time I'm saying "Sorry for the lack of updates because of bla bla bla!". It's hard to believe this blog is almost completely neglected. That's rich coming from me, considering the fact that I used to blog A LOT. It feels a bit different writing and blogging these days. Once upon a time, it was easy to write, because I was fueled by a lot of inner turmoil and stuff, and from there I sort of cheer myself up by writing (most of the time, not about what I'm mad about!). But now, there really isn't anything to be angry about, plus I'm a happy person these days, so it is a bit hard to write when I'm in a good mood! Thankfully, I'm totally energized and fully re-inspired to write and blog, plus now I can write no matter what the mood, so it's time for some MAJOR updating! Let's see where should I start...
Aah, I know! Let's begin with the open-mic poetry session - I think it was organized by the Kelab Pantun or something (sorry, I forgot both the name of the event and organizer!) - on the 26th of February at HS Cafe. The main highlight definitely has to be the Mamak Stall owner singing! Anyway, I performed with my best friend Sarah Iqbal, assisting her as guitarist while she recited her poem "Inferno" (dedicated to the people engrossed in materialism). Unfortunately, no pictures or videos were taken, so sadly I'm not able to share much on the performance! :(
After the performance, I was assisting my Green Team mates with their badges production. Ever the talented and creative people they are, they were so kind to give my trusty old acoustic a total makeover! This is how my acoustic guitar originally looked like:
Thanks to my mates, now this is how it looks like:
Design credits: Kim, Shaqila, Moon, Maryam, Shaniy, Muhammad
Thanks guys for the amazing design! I'm definitely going to proudly use this acoustic guitar for any live situation that calls for it :)
No, a bee didn't bite me, nor has the 'Queen B' (aka Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl) bitten me either! (I wouldn't want her to bite me anyway! :S) What actually happened is that I just got myself a lovely 5-string bass, and 'Low B' refers to the lowest string on a 5-string, which is a low B! Kind of odd, because once upon a time, I thought I'd NEVER play a 5-string. I used to think, if I need a low note, just detune! Plus, I wasn't a fan of active electronics. Fast forward 4 years after I once mentioned that, and I actually own a 5-string bass, WITH active electronics! Here's a pic of my new wife bass:
I'm definitely playing her on stage this coming long semester!
Last Saturday, I attended a Poetry Talk cum Slam which was I had to attend as it was made compulsory for us to come. It was great, as the performance and stage tips (though meant for spoken word poetry, is also applicable to theater and rock band performances as well) were really good and delivered in a fun and humorous way. The students came up with some excellent pieces of poetry during the slam (Rabiatul, if I got her name right, had a REALLY mind-opening and powerful poem!). Plus, I got to play guitar impromptu with the invited guest poet for the event, Fynn Jamal. (That's already two poetry with guitar performances I've done in just weeks!)
HOWEVER, I have a few things to say... I just wish a bit more of ethics and moralities are emphasized in the talk. After all, it's held in an Islamic institution, so I don't think much emphasis should be put on being loud, angry and relatively negative about life. Plus, I think it's not wrong to be happy or write about happy things; happiness IS possible if you work for it. This is all just my opinion, though! That said, I did learn quite a bit, and heck, stole a few ideas here and there. (my lecturer would always say "Feel free to steal ideas, nobody copyrights them!") No, I'm not bashing. But I seriously wish things were a bit more Islamic. It was certainly a good experience for me though!
Hmmm, maybe I should touch more on this in a future post...
I've mentioned about writing, recording and performing solo songs perhaps a gazillion times, and have sporadically posted samples over time. It is tough to find the time to finish it, given my responsibilities as a student and all that. Plus, it's hard to decide which material I've written goes for my solo stuff, my band or other occasions. What I can say right now, is that the release of my solo material, either in the form of an EP or album, is going to happen, THIS YEAR. It is taking time, given that I'm playing pretty much every instrument on the record, plus I'm also producing and mixing it, and doing it on my own means I've got to self-finance the production. But, I'm glad to say that by the end of the first-half of this year, it will be ready! :)
As to what it's going to sound like, it's DEFINITELY not an indie, singer-songwriter kind of record, nor am I doing spoken word. The final product will be a surprise :)
Ok, looks like I need to go soon, so I'll end the post here, and post more soon! Until next time...
- naz
Hey everyone...
Yeah, it's me again. It's been quite a while since my last update, and I know I've repeated that line probably a million times already. Once upon a time, I used to update frequently with posts ranging from how to lose weight to weird stickers pasted around in campus! Then, all of a sudden, I suddenly stopped updating for quite a while and (at least to me) faded into obscurity. What exactly happened? Well, for quite a while, I thought I lost it. I thought I lost my ability to write. A writer's block, as some of you may call it. That, plus a sudden lack of motivation and inspiration to write and dangerously enough, study (despite doing well in my mid-terms). To put it simply, I was caught in a bog of apathy.
It was a tough situation to contend with. I was feeling this strong feeling of apathy and lack of inspiration despite being really happy with other things in my life at the same time. How weird is that? I looked back at the situation and reassessed things. Later, I realized the mistakes I did.
First of all, I forgot to appreciate the little things that matter. It's a bit sad that I am kind of... uninspired by what I'm learning, and ironically the subjects I'm really into are not even Major courses! But, talking with those close to me and checking out how others are going through the situation made me rethink: Everyone's going through some sort of difficulty in one way or another. Some people might have problems due to lack of proficiency in the medium of language used, while some are best suited for different kind of subjects. What matters the most is how you face it, and keeping a positive attitude, as well as having constant support also helps a lot too!
The next point, which is the one that got me thinking for a really long time and which is something that I want to share with everyone, but just don't know how, is that you should never, ever lie to yourself. I have done a lot of mistakes in my life, and I've mistakes that many do not know of. I'm obviously not perfect! But the worst thing I did was not only did I lie to myself about something, I kept it away and made people believe in it, perhaps as a way to convince myself at the time.
Now just what the heck am I crapping about right now?
On the bright side, it's NEVER too late to turn back and rectify matters. That's just what I'm doing with things right now. No matter how crap things can be, there is ALWAYS a solution. Sure, life is hard, and we do make mistakes, but it's what we learn from the mistakes, and what we do after the mistake that makes us better. I was doing some random reading earlier and found and interesting saying (which unfortunately, I forgot the source!). It goes something like "I'm happier to make more mistakes, because the more mistakes I make, the more oppurtunities to learn I get".
So there really isn't any reason to indulge in sadness and the like! All that matters is that you just have to be positive, and think out of the box, and hey, things suddenly look better already! But of course, you're going to have to put in the discipline and effort for it or otherwise, it's just an unreachable image of happiness that you're staring at.
By the way, I am grateful for you always being there and for the constant support all along. I know I can be horrible at times and a bit slow, too, but you've made me change so much and you make me want to change even more, not just for myself, but for the really bright future. For that, I thank you, though I truly do not know of how to repay you. Words and actions are not enough to repay the big favor that you have done for me. For all you have done, I thank you :)
- naz
