how long is eternity?

Michael Learns to Rock is still learning how to rock and I think they will do so for Eternity. Michael will never become a skilled rocker. Haha. I remember listening to MLTR when I was 12. My sisters were all crazy about them. (ahh.. the good ol’ days) Their hits include 25 Minutes, The Actor, Sleeping Child, Paint my Love etc. Their easy-to-memorize and sing-along lyrics are painless (to my ear at least). They call their new album ‘ETERNITY’.

Their new album's cover

MLTR is a Danish soft rock band formed by singer-keyboardist Jascha Richter, drummer Kåre Wanscher, guitarist Mikkel Lentz and Søren Madsen, playing bass. Søren Madsen decided to leave the group to embark on a solo career, in 2000.

As I would like to share it with you, here’s the download link.

http://www.4shared.com/file/106052983/9ca626af/Michael_Learns_to_Rock_-_Eternity__2008_.html

Have a blast weekend!

promises to my dog

I spend weekend at home. Tidying up and doing all the chores I haven’t had time to do. I even watched DVD, something I hadn’t done in a long time since my DVD player broken last year. (I thought I just bought it last 2 years, betul-betul cap ayam). I bought new one anyway. I hope something as recognizable as Sony won’t disappoint me.

I watched the ’10 Promises to My Dog’. What a breathtaking story. Simple, momentous yet memorable. It’s a story about a girl who found a puppy lost in the backyard of her house when her father was busy working as doctor and her mother dying of fatal disease in the same hospital. She decide to kept the puppy and made a promise to it in the presence of her dying mother which later revealed that it’s her mother asking for the dog’s original owner to give one of his newborn puppy to her daughter. The puppy was named ‘socks’ after the paws which looked like they had white socks on. When the girls grow up and became a veterinary, her feelings and interest moves away from socks. Their distance grows when she moves to a far off city leaving Socks behind with her Dad.

The movie poster

Watching this makes my mind pondering to my childhood years. I grew up with dogs too (and cats too). And lots of them have been with me through my younger, bitter yet memorable years. (Warning: don’t preach me how haram the dog is. Wrong place and wrong person for your oh-so-gullible knowledge of religious matter. Tehee)

The first dog came to my knowledge is a childhood friends named Kobi and Chiki. A loyal servant to their masters Kobi likes to chase after the rooster and Chiki loves to bath by itself. Kobi has golden fur and Chiki has brown fur. When both grew old and can no longer bark strangers on the street, my father tried to get rid of them. Kobi has been left on the street where no one lives. Maybe a hundred kilometers away from home. Kobi make it home after 3 days. Both died of natural death.

Another dog named well… Dog. Like Madonna’s song with the title well… music. It’s like making a film with the title well… movie. Dog has orange color fur. This dog has live its life through 3 generations of my family. I remember of its fur turn grey and eventually white because of its age. Most dogs have life-span of 10 to 15 years, but Dog has lived miraculously for 20 years. It died of natural death.

Many of these furry friends of mine have their own character. I remembered one of them named Putih (because of its white fur) loves to plant the seeds of palm tree. It’s intriguing to see him korek tanah with its legs, place the seed from its mouth and cover the seed with soil with its nose. One day, we realize he’s missing and after a few days just when we thought it had died, he came home and that moment when we knew it had been on a long journey to my grandparents’ house (10 kilometers away) to see his true love. Her named is Karagalu. What an exotic name it has. Putih will be home by weekend and he loves to played hero by climbing up himself every time my father started the engine of his lorry. Putih died peacefully after weeks suffering from his eyes bitten by a snake from one of his journey. His brood continues their father’s legacy. That was before digital camera came to my knowledge.

The recent furry friends at home are female dogs (I never care to know what type of dogs they are. They're friends with lots of fur). These two female dogs (one of them is now deceased) have flirting away uncontrollably, and thus expanding their offspring. The broods however never make it to adult dog. Most of it died of illnesses and accidents.

Front : Karagalu (named after its grandmother. Karagalu is now deceased) Behind : Narutulu (which mean ’a long head’ in my native language)

Narutulu loves the cats. An example of the proverb ‘Bagaikan anjing dengan kucing’ Dah tak boleh di guna pakai dah. The cats was named: Silow (mean ‘yellowish’ in my native language, because of its fur)

Friends where you can say whatever you want and they will listen without complain is one of the significant ingredient that makes up for a beautiful life.

P/S: Any story involved pets (especially dog) and a relationship revolved around son-father or daughter-father, grandfather and grandmother to their grandchild will bring my tears down. Romantic movies even with sad ending always fail to do so. I wonder if there's something wrong with me?

down memory lane

Pernahkah anda mendengar lagu yang instantly reminds you of some place or certain time of your life? I have never written a diary throughout my youth (I wasn’t allowed to have one, beside if I wrote any, somehow some culprit manage to find and read it). Oleh itu, setiap kali mendengar lagu yang tertentu, it reminds me of that time and place of my life. Take a look at my memories.

1. Sentuhan kecundang by Ekamatra – The first song I can sing-along. I was 4. My sisters used to say ‘Ya’ know, we never knew any song when we were your age, you’re lucky you got us’. The backdrop - Pemandangan selepas hujan, and the sun shine through the rubber trees and there’s a rainbow.

2. Untukmu sayang by Febian – I was 5 and I went to school with my sisters and sit at standard 1 classroom just because there’s no one at home to babysit me. I thought the title of this song is ‘Keindahan Pelangi’ back then. The backdrop – Perjalanan pergi dan balik from school. Ada sejenis tumbuhan yang tumbuh meliar di tepi jalan ketika itu. Namanya ‘Rumput Malaysia’ (origin is unknown) dan angin bertiup sepoi-sepoi bahasa membuatkan tumbuhan tersebut turut bergoyang-goyang. Jalan raya tidak ber-aspal. (sampai sekarang pun takde, nak buat macam mana, wakil rakyat makan rasuah)

3. Bila kasih menyepi by Kejora – I was 7 years old, standard 3. Kejora is a rather famous group in 80’s. They became a well-known rock kapak group after joining the Gagasan War Rock in 1986. The backdrop – My other house. Di belakang rumah ada hutan which me and my mom used to find wild orchids and me and my sister used to find jambu batu yang tumbuh meliar and every other possibly edible wild fruits. Aku suka sangat lirik lagu ni dulu. Pernah datang ke pusat sumber sekolah semata-mata nak cari maksud perkataan ‘perawan setia’ dalam kamus.

4. Sejati by Wings – I was almost 9 years old and my elder sister babysits me and my one year older than me sister and 2 younger sisters. We used to go to school together. She was in form 5. The backdrop – Tidur berhimpit-himpit with my sisters. Tidur guna kelambu dan aku suka tidur kat tepi sebab takut terpijak sesiapa bila nak pergi ke tandas di tengah malam. My brother from the other room bagi teka-teki yang menyakitkan hati jawapannya. (Yes, you can hear someone yelling at you from the other room, ya’ know, that type of room)

5. Right here waiting by Richard Mark (along with his song Now in Forever) – My first English song. Courtesy of my brother. I was 6. The backdrop – Every scenery I can remember at that time. This song is timeless.

6. Paintings in My Mind by Tommy Page – I was 7 and my brother has his poster all over the wall of his room. I used to think Tommy is the most handsome guy on earth. The backdrop – Sungai di tengah hutan. Mandi sungai adalah perkara yang digemari. Perjalanan ke sungai akan melalui dusun buah-buahan jiran sekampung. Ada pokok langsat (ya, aku suka makan langsat) dan limau serta pokok mangga. Jadi, akan singgah untuk mengambilnya tanpa kebenaran. The fact that it was ‘stolen’ made the fruits even mouth-watering.

7. Cinta Azali by Nurul – Didn’t quite remember my age. Maybe it’s around 10 – 11 years old. The only thing I clearly remember is my sister’s statement ‘berani betul jamin akan bertemu semula di syurga’. Well, Nurul’s syurga with her husband ended after 10 years of marriage. The backdrop – The absence of my father and it makes everyone in a good mood and we’re sleeping in front of the TV (although there’s no TV or sofa). We’re having dinner earlier than usual and mula berkerumun di depan radio (the only entertainment equipment available in the house at that time).

8. I Swear by All-4-One – I was 12 and in Form 1. The backdrop - This song reminds me of the classroom. My sisters is my teachers, it makes me sick. I have a crush on someone but it lasted for 3 months after his sister (in form 3 at that time) threat me with ‘My lil’ bro has the highest score in Math in this school, don’t you dare disturb him studying’ I was like… Wow! I haven’t declared anything and yet the sister has noticed. Must be my unspoken persona. (ahem)

9. Wannabe by Spice Girls (as well as their song ‘Two Become One’) - I was 13. Form 2. I was the school’s prefect and even the school’s favorite sprinter. (Well, I mean… among). I have a crush on another guy, but the new teacher has a crush on him too. She’s 20 and the guy is 14. Omigawd. Cinta tak mengenal usia. The crush lasted until my last day at the school. What a favorite years. The backdrop – Hari sukan sekolah. My mother came not only to support me but to berniaga as well. My other sister who came to help her shouted my name and I caught the sight of her while still running. It makes me giggle. I can’t jump over the second hurdle and run through it. Anyway, the second song is a bit ‘dirty’ but the tune is so beautiful to me.

10. Barbie Girl by Aqua – No, really. I was 14. My first time living in hostel. I was the DJ when the school organizes an event sempena valentine’s day. This is the first song requested by a guy without name. Dedicated to all the girls in the school with a message ‘why can’t any of you date me?’ Aku gelak tak ingat dunia through the microphone. The whole school can hear it. I became famous for that nonetheless. Yay... what a year. The backdrop – The whole school. I can remember it clearly.

The group - Aqua

There go my 10 ‘reminder’ songs. What can I say, aku suka rock kapak. I have too many sisters I’m sick of them. Haha.

too sweet for your less-sugar coffee

I often received an email about ‘friendship’ that stated I should forward it to as many friends I had on my list (even to the sender) and see how many came back to me. As if many of those friends are rajin enough to forward the email back to me. I probably one of those who read these email and as soon as you realize what it was about, you move to the next email with the title ‘Lawak hari rabu’ or ‘If you seek Amy on one of these days’ forwarded by your other concern friends.

Ok. This isn’t about that friendly email. There aren’t any necessities for me to forward such email to see how many friends I got in my life and the fact that how many of them are ‘good friends’ or ‘true friends’. You don’t need to forward emails to identify them; you can see it right through their skin. How many good friends you had in your life? And how many of them are true? Good friend take care of your heart, your feeling, while true friends will say something like ‘I’m sorry, but that’s the truth’. OK, so what will you do if you come across a friend that is too good to be true?

Every morning the first thing this person will do when she saw you is say hi while her eyes scrutinize your dress with a ‘judging look’. And her comment will be something nice like ‘oh my, your dress is pretty’ or just screaming out loud ‘cantikkk’ before she even say hi.

If you made any changes to your appearance (cut hair, or you threading your eyebrow etc.), she’ll be the first person to notice even if she is the last person you saw that morning (given that she came late often than anyone else). She will talk about the changes you made for the whole day and made everyone else talk about it. You had no choice but to reveal how you did it, where you did it, how much it costs you etc. even if you hate bragging about something like that. The way she talks about it to anyone else to make them notice is too irritating to bypass. She will notice if your dress is new, if your handbag is new. It makes you wonder if she ever noticed the last handbag you used is already koyak-rabak.

If she saw you bought new moisturizer or new compact powder she will talk about it, the next day. How was it, is it ok, is it good while you had never heard of any product that will give you result the first time you applied it to your face. Not to mention the face powder is the one you used before. What can possibly the result of the new one you bought just because you’re running out of stock?

You went to pharmacy with her and conveniently brag about certain face moisturizer that you once bought because it’s on sale and the price is cheaper and the result is somewhat makes you happy. But, that time, you didn’t buy any because of the price. 3 days later, she scrutinized your face in every chances she got saying your skin is flawless and the certain moisturizer is indeed a good product. You were like… Oh my god! First you went with her and she saw that you didn’t buy any and second, to say that your skin is flawless is a blatant lie. No one has ever said that and you never expected anyone to say such thing and since it came from a person whose spending most of her time judging your appearance… it is really getting on your nerves. Nevertheless, you just said I didn’t buy any, you saw it. But she didn’t notice the sound of ‘you annoyed me’ in your voice and continued bragging about your so-called flawless skin in front of the others (and the boss for that matter) and while in the middle of discussing other topic. For god sake!

None of her comment is actually able to hurt anyone’s feeling in any sense because it is all so sweet. Too sweet that you cannot put it in your less sugar coffee. So somebody will ask you, then why the hell you bad-mouthing her? Simply because it is what you describe as too much of something and it isn’t good for your health. And when there’s too much of flattering remark, you started to feel uncomfortable and doubt any of it was true.

All in all this kind of friend deserved our sympathy, mercy… maybe even forgiveness. For me, I make an effort to see on some optimistic perspective. Growing up in urban area where everyone expecting higher than you can achieve... like Be nice to everyone, talk sweetly… to get what you wanted from them… you know, that kind of thing. Turn out, when real friend came along, they’re trying hard to keep this friend but didn’t realize they’re driving them away instead. Trying very hard and it’ll look and sounds unnatural, it starts freak you out. The truth is, we never really need ‘good friends’ all the time. We need some bitter taste of the truth from the ‘true friends’. We might tripped over and hurt our knee sometimes but that’s what makes life truly wonderful, isn’t? It's like the saying... A good friend will tell you what you want to hear. A true friend will always tell the truth.

p/s: A good friend will help you move. A true friend will help you move a body. Hehe

twinkle twinkle little star

I was running from the train to bus station last Friday to get home from my office and relieve that the queue wasn't long as I expected. I was looking at the sea of busses searching for my supposed-bus when out of nowhere a girl with ‘Tudung Labuh’ approach the line and queuing up behind me. I wasn’t looking directly at her but she seems to purposely looking at me upside down and smile. She did that twice and I feel kinda weird but I smile back to her nonetheless.

My bintang

Out of habit I pull out my CLEO magazine and start reading page to page. While reading, I can feel someone’s head behind my back as if looking what I was reading. But I kept reading. And suddenly I feel someone nudge me. I look behind me, surprised. The girl smile and said ‘Dik, tak elok baca bintang’. I was confused for 5 second. ‘Bintang’? What does she mean by reading a ‘star’? And she nodded to the magazine in my hand. Oh! I was in horoscope page!! And she added ‘Akak just nak bagi tau tu je’. What!? You interrupted me just to say such nonsense?

I was like, who the hell is she to out of nowhere pisses off with someone’s habit of reading? It’s not like I read a Playboy magazine (not that it’s allowed here, yay!!). Is she someone I know and been friend with for years that she ought to know konon-kononnya I’m a person that read my horoscope every month, even believe it and depend my whole life on it? Who the hell she thinks she is?!!! Ustazah? What does an Ustazah doing at this bus station when it’s almost maghrib?! The problem with this girl is, she thinks she’s better by comparing her dressing with me. Sorry for any ustazah out there who happen to read this. (hey, one of my best friend is Ustazah too). If she caught me doing some ‘illegal businesses’ then I will not gnashing my teeth, but come on... I was reading a magazine's Horoscope section while waiting for the bus! How immoral is that?

But the real problem is, I was reading every horoscope on that page and she was there all the time, bends over her head behind me to see what I was reading. I was even on the Q&A Sex section and the page with Ms. Spears wearing a ‘barely there’ outfit. Why doesn’t she told me that one is ‘tak elok’? It was like she was waiting for me to make some ‘mistake’ so she can lashes out her urmm… knowledge? What if I read ‘Mastika’? Or many other ‘Majalah Picisan’ out there, will she tell me that one is not ok? I really had no problem with people who wants to show the world how knowledgeable they are, but those who thinks they’re better than others just by looking at others’ appearances really pisses me off. Don't judge the book by its cover, moron. Unless the book has no cover at all. (eh! whats this? haha)

Happy rabbit

P/s: I replied that girl, ‘Kak, ini bukan bintang la.. ini magazine.. dalam bahasa melayu kita panggil Majalah. Mana ada orang baca bintang.. tengok bintang or kira bintang adalah’ She and the guy in front of me was speechless with my obvious dumbness. Give me a dumb question and you’ll get the dumpiest answer from me.

goku went to high school

I just watched the all-time favorite Dragonball and as their decision to modernise my high school favourite manga, the word 'evolution' was added to the title. It is a bold move but nontheless failed miserably. Drastic changes made to the characters, including (sadly) to the lead character.. the young, cute and monkey-like warrior, Goku.

Goku, played by Justin Chatwin

And to add salt to the injury, Goku went to high school and met Chi-Chi his love interest who has been revamped into a sexy kickfighting bombshell. What's more, Chi-Chi was his motivation to mastered the famous KameHameHa. Gone is the free-spirited, always-hungry, adorable and kind youngster looking for a fight. Instead, there standing a Karate-Kid itching to prove himself to the world.

Many of the character's familiar quirks eliminated or downgraded, like the Master Roshi lascivious nature. I recalled only one scene to show this nature of him, that is when he grab Bulma's butt as they about to ride her high-tech bike.

Goku and Bulma, Played by Emmy Rossum

The only character almost as close as to the original one probably is Bulma, the tech-savvy girl. And whats with that romance between her and the desert bandit Yamcha? It's stilted and somehow uncomfortable to watch.

Running at 89 minutes, the movie feels rushed, as if the filmmakers wanted to get over it quickly because they knew they had a bad product at hand. I can say the only interesting part is the special effects and few fight scenes.

The original Goku and his KameHameHa

p/s: why the heck almost all the characters was somewhat 'asian'..(even Bulma was made to look like one) except Goku? Probably they can't find any asian that suit to played Goku. I just hope hollywood won't try to make a live action of Sailormoon. Just imagine 'Sailormoon Evolution'. Wonder who will played the handsome 'Mamoruchiba'.

isn't perfection annoying?

The perfect being, was it?
There is no such thing as perfect in this world
That may sound cliché, but it’s the truth
The average person admires perfection and seeks to obtain it
But, what’s the point of achieving perfection?
There is none. Nothing. Not a single thing.

I loathe perfection, never strive for it
If something is perfect, then there is nothing left
There is no room for imagination
No place left for a person to gain additional knowledge or abilities

For scientist, perfection only brings despair
It is their job to create things more wonderful than anything before them, but never to obtain perfection
A scientist must be a person who finds ecstasy while suffering from that antinomy
In short, when you say you’re perfect, you had already lost the battle