A New Beginning

3 years ago, i saw a t shirt online, fell in love with the design. Loved the design because it i thought it had quite a deep meaning (pretty deep for a t shirt, i know but i appreciate art and i was emotional and there were a lot of things going on, fuck you all).

So i tried to buy it and it was sold out. It’s not like threadless, where they’d reprint it and sell thousands of them, once it’s sold, it’s sold. So 2 months ago, i surfed the same site and saw the tshirt, this time, it didn’t have the sold out tag on it, holy crap! 3 years of waiting, the t shrt i’ve wanted since, i’ve been waiting for this moment. The delivery charges were a bitch but when you’ve been waiting this long, it’s worth it i guess.

Few days later, i received an email. The owner apologised saying that the website was sort of not working and refunded my money, so they sold it to me by accident eventhough it’s not in stock. Yesterday, my housemate said i got a package, opened it, and there it is.. the t shirt.

checked out my credit card account and they didn’t charge me. Wow.. now that’s customer service. Plus, i never thought i’d get the tshirt ive been wanting for 3 years for free. Awesome.

I Don’t Care Where, Just Far

When i got sent to Australia 4 years ago, i was psyched because i finally had a better chance to watch one of my favourite bands, Deftones live. I was also psyched up because i had this stereotypical image of beach, sun and women in bikinis cycling around in uni giggling and how Ayer’s rock is right on the backdoor. But i was quite surprised how my uni is flooded my mainland chinese students. University of new south wales.. heh… more like University of Southern China..

ANYWAY

3 years after, Deftones made an Aussie tour and performed in a festival. But i was in Brunei stuck for vacation work. The closest chance i had was in 2nd year, when the lead singer, Chino Moreno toured with his side project, team sleep. They were playing in my uni but i had a physics exam the next morning. I did badly in the exam, if i had known, i could’ve gone to the concert. I’ve gone to a LOT of concerts here in Sydney and i find it silly that i haven’t had the chance to go for one that i’ve wished for since i was 14 years old.

The worst, probably, was the Dashboard Confessional concert. Don’t get me wrong, i love listening to Dashboard Confessional but when i went to the concert, i stepped in the emo zone. Apparently, hugging each other to tears during Chris’s solo in “So Impossible” among men is acceptable among emos, or at least during the concert, an action easily condemned as über gayness outside the musical halls. Maybe to them, this was “the night with Julio, what happens in Bangkok, stays there” scenario.

My junior, who was emo that time, suggested we join in and hugged. Like a Cobra (with arms and legs..and clothes) cornered, I responded with nothing less than a fierce hiss and an provoked defensive stance to evade any over emotional man-man affection that would taint my manly red hot mojo. I’m not homophobic but it doesn’t mean i’m prepared to give take it up the arse to see the other point of view (the wall). I don’t give a shit if monkeys raped you as a kid, i’d help you for therapy but you are not going to hug me over an emo song. We never fitted in that crowd, we were the only ones who were moshing and jumping about when “Hands Down” was played, while couples and buddies made out.

Going back to Deftones, my deftones t-shirt is probably the t shirt that has survived for the past 4 years of uni. I have always treated this shirt with TLC during laundry. It was my favourite t shirt. It’s all faded from the washings, with the graphics all cracked but you could clearly figure out it’s deftones. I got my washed out black jeans, since form 4 i believe, i stole it from my brother, which is why length was never a factor, it was always too long. My hair isn’t going to stay on for long. Judging from my uncles (from both sides of the family) non-existent hairline, baldness is a destined curse for me. I just need a smashing deftones concert to go to.

So I got my faded t shirt, my washed out jeans, maybe a bandana and hopefully, memories from an awesome concert so 30 years from now on, little children will be told that granddad is awesome and the mass produced hip-hop noise (sang by singers whose names suggest that they probably have triarchic disorders) they listen to these days, is bucketloads of shit or the very least, would probably make an elephant take a shit.

Listening back to old music sure makes you remember how you feel back then. How you wanted and strived for freedom. How you wanted to finish school so badly. The priceless idiotic things friends did at school. The people you’ve loved, liked and hated. The ninjas and useless things you’ve done at night with friends. The times you’ve wondered how you’re going to turn out after 10 years. I’ve sure been taken back for a flash back, i can’t stop smiling. This is another topic, it’s deep and it’s hilarious, i’ll be glad to talk about once the gang meets up again, after 4 years

(Title of this post is taken from one of the most liberating songs ever, “Be Quiet and Drive”)

lieben Deftones.

Just wondering..

So there i was, happily reading history (don’t ask why, i just felt like it). So i decided to read up on history of Brunei. Tucked away in google’s search results, i found this article. But ever wondered how this history of the first sultan seems to be obscure?

Article on Bruneian History by Christopher Buyers

I’m not too sure about how accurate this article is. But i am scared to think that this article if it even had a pinch of truth in it.

So i did decide to read it (the article is painfully long) and decide to do a little bit of reading from other sources.

Our history books that we’ve learnt in school say that Awang Alak Betatar went to Johor, married the sultan’s daughter and became muslim and went by the name of Sultan Muhammad Shah. Ok, fine with that.

The SECOND sultan of Brunei, Sultan Abdul Majid Hassan (which our history books have claimed to be muslim) was recorded to have died in China in 1408.

But there was no Johor sultanate that time. Johor sultanate reported to have their first Sultan in 1528 (Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah), who was a direct descendant of the Melaka Sultan.

Even if we mixed up Melaka and Johor, the first recorded sultan of Melaka embraced islam in 1409. That’s a year after Sultan Abdul Majid Hassan died.

So which Johor-Temasek princess, daughter of Johor Sultan, did Sultan Muhammad Shah marry in the first place? We’re talking about a 120 year gap here.

Shed light on this, people. Shed light on this. Anyone?

* I do not endorse the views of the article linked. Article written by Christopher Buyers.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Windshield Was Broken But I Love The Fresh Air, Y’know..

I went to V festival to watch Modest Mouse (a band), After their gig i found them roaming around the concert grounds. Talked to them, shook hands with everyone. Man, i am speechless.

For those of you who don’t know modest mouse, below are 2 of their best songs (all of their songs are pretty awesome actually)

Modest Mouse – “Dashboard”

Modest Mouse – “Little Motel”

Coolest guys ever. One of those events that ill totally remember for the rest of my life.

Back From Melbourne

Hello everyone,

I’m back from Beautiful Melbourne. It was just 2 days but i had a real good time. Being in Sydney for a few years, i found myself in a constant state of hurry. Everything is go go go. When i visited Brisbane, the pace was very slow, nearly like Brunei. So i ended up relaxing in Brisbane most of the time, not that it was a bad thing haha. Melbourne was in between, which i really liked.

What i really liked was that all flavours; the china town, little italy and little greece were packed into one concentrated area that is the Melbourne city. Every turn offers a different flavor. It was a very charming experience walking into the small alley ways and tight streets and getting lost. Whenever i turned into another street in Melbourne, I felt like i was unwrapping another present, i was always pleasantly surprised.

As for the F1. I really don’t know how to make of it, i’m glad i took the experience though. On one hand, i was extremely excited over the cars racing around the track. I thought V8 supercars looked stupid on tv but when you’re there, it’s a whole different experience. The noise and getting into grips how freaking fast these machines are. On the other hand, Melbourne was battling a heat wave, highs of 38ºc. I was battling with myself not to faint under the extreme heat and exhaustion. Being there really made me appreciate the value of experiencing the real thing compare to the tv.

I also met heaps of Bruneians there, i was in luck cause they were having some sort of rehearsals there so i was very very lucky to meet them. Great bunch of characters as well, so thank you for showing me around! i greatly appreciate the company!

Also met muneer, i think he’s really obsessed with sticking his finger in someone’s ass. Come on, man, im no homophobic but i pretty much would really gross out sticking my finger in someone’s ass, let alone a guy’s ass.

oh, and it was great meeting up with Daniel (now a consultant with GDH..omaigod.. my good friend daniel has all grown up *sniff sniff*). Pretty much the same. Him telling me how shitty Shell is and me telling how shit Sydney water tastes like haha.

The Lost Boy Scouts

I was watching tv when an ad about scouting Australia aired on. Brings me back to my scouting days and i had heeeaps of fun when i was a kid. They really instill the value of respect to everything in me, far more efficiently than any ugama studies or scolding i received as a kid. More importantly, i had fun learning about it!

Oddly enough when the subject of scouts is brought up, 2 things immediately came into my mind.

The first one was that one day, when the skipper was away, we decided to play cops and robbers. Ok, fair enough. But what i remembered was that it was the most brutal game of cops and robbers i’ve ever played. The cops would keep wearing their scarves while the robbers mask themselves with the scarves. Never mind that all of the robbers were the big and faster kids, we had a no hold barred rule going on.

Not only did we have to tackle those massive robbers to the ground to catch them but somehow, some dumbass kid started using a belt as a weapon and the next thing i know, kids were just whacking each other with the leather belts (and metal buckles). Now, that time, i was a well disciplined kid. How do you tell a full spirited cub scout who learnt to respect everything, to take off his belt and start beating everyones asses to implement the iron fist of the law? It just wasn’t happening.
It was a war zone, royal rumble with every fuckin wrestler on the ring. Man, i had my ass beat down so hard, i had to sleep with layers of pillow.

The other thing that quickly comes into my memory was the Brunei national camping trip before i got my silver arrow. They had a treasure hunt for the cub scout troopers. I was like, awesome! i love treasure hunts! Plus we were PGGMB, baby. Nothing but smart ass kids, haha.

Unfortunately, the person who wrote the clues wasn’t too smart. It’s either that the clues were deliberately given in a foreign language or the guy had terrible terrible grammar. I remember one of the clues was..

“Moon hill”

What the fuck? You’re giving this to a group of 8 year old kids? I remembered getting LOST. Cause we were literally looking for a bloody moon and we were hauling every inch of the camping grounds for a moon. What moon? big moon? small moon? moon cake? Luckily, we found our skipper in the grounds and asked for a hint. After much “What the fuck?” argument, we were finally told it was the MOSQUE on top of the HILL. What? whaaaaat?

What’s supposed to be a fast paced 40 minute race turned into an ugly 1.5 hours. Oh please, lay us the da vinci code while you’re at it.

Just ranting, those were really good memories though! It’ll be more fun when good ‘ol oirul becomes a cub scout skipper.

Rare Species

I finished the literature review phase of my research (thank god, it was getting depressing) and it’s off to play around with the simulator. Unfortunately, since i can’t afford a $10k software, i’d have swing by into the black hole of the campus, the petroleum school.

Nothing has changed, literally. The computers in the lab are still the same old pentium 4 computers with old massive CRT monitors with refreshing rates so pitiful, i swear i’d get blind if i spend one more year in university doing work there. I’m having delusions already, man. Someone change those monitors before i hit on someone ugly.

Internet is still blocked in the computer room and the printing room is still locked, denying student’s right to use the photocopy and printing machine. Jeebus, i can’t believe we’re actually doing research and consulting work in this school.

I did notice a new notice..

Whaaat? Say whaaa? You printing 2 pages of shit (with pictures) about a damn spider but you’re denying my access to print far more important research materials? There’s penguins and shit relying their fate on me. Hey, i’ve seen red back (black widow) spiders crawling around in uni and even my bed! so i am NOT taking any chances, no way, not in Australia. If it’s got 8 legs, i will smash the mofo down, even if it’s massive, fluffy and holding a ‘Visit Sydney Acquarium’ sign. I mean, how am i going to know that dude isn’t gonna rob me?

I did meet two new faces. 2 new Swedish students finishing their work here in Sydney. I was shocked though, one of them is a female. I mean… a female? in the petroleum school? Wicked. I mean, you rarely see females in the petroleum school, they’re not really females. No ummi, i’m not insinuating that weren’t a female or a butch (…alright, i am). Just kidding wah, peace, harharhar.

I was also very-very tempted to stereotype after they said they were swedish..

“Sweden? Aaaah!! Ikeaaa!!” lol

Looking forward to the new phase of research now. Can’t help that i’m the tua bagak dude of the school now haha. Nda apa.. van wilder, van wilder.