Dumpster Divers Unite!

Yesterday I was determined to fill my day with labor intense tasks. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon I've accomplished so much. It really helped that the night before going to bed, I've listed down the things I wanted to do. I made lists for almost everything before this but after reading Doris #15 which I recently got from Noly and Shah distro, I felt a fond feeling that I was on the "right" track. Having control over my own life. Not letting anything slip away with so much time on my hands. These few weeks, I was kind of in a honeymoon period because of this new found love. Being alone jolted my inner conscious to get on/over with this mushy limping feelings we let seep in our subconcious when being in a relationship. Relationship empowers when the foundation is strong. Sometimes we just got to be apart to realise that we're drunk in our own potion of love. We need to quickly snap out of it but not being a robot and let emotions aside whenever the moments comes.

Getting out of bed this morning was really a pain but 30 minutes after the alarm clock was hit to snooze a couple of time, I sat down while still not wanting to wake up. I thought to myself, if I wasn't going to follow my own plans of the day which is not to serve anyone and go to work for someone else but myself, I would feel horrible and failed. So I jumped out of bed. Sore neck. Sleepy.

Whenever I'm home, I don't shower when not neccessary. So instead, I wrote on my list that I will wash my clothes the first thing upon rising. Part of it maybe to be in contact with water. To allow my body to be alert. I soon realise that washing towels manually using these bare hands is damn hard and tiring! It took alot of strength to squeez the water out of these fabric. They are etremely heavy when soaked. I was showering with my own sweat. It was awesome.

*~DUMPSTER DIVING~*

Last week, me and Arip went to the local wet market behind Noisy to scout for vegetables in the dumpster. We made a mistake and came too early about 10 a.m where the vegetables were still on sale and not many were discarded. So we went back and waited. At about 12.30 noon we came back but the garbage truck had taken away the discarded vegetables. We only managed to find the last stack of vegetables wrapped in plastic bags which the last vegetable stall discarded. A fellow scavenger, an old Chinese auntie in her 50s who was also at the dumpster site, tipped us off that the best time to come and dumpster dive is at 11a.m before the garbage truck takes them.

So out with another attempt! Yesterday I had gone to the market at about 11.30a.m to try my luck but the garbage truck was already there. I cycled around the market to find the remaining vegetable stalls that were not yet closed and found a nice Chinese aunty with still loads of vegetables on her table. I bought some chillies, ginger, and petai so that I could communicate with her. I asked about the vegetables on the ground of her stall whether they were going to be thrown away. Suprisingly, she said some of the unsellable vegetables will be sold to restaurants with cheap prices. In my head I thought, owh! the might been thrown away vegetables are served in possibly posh restaurants where posh people dine not knowing that their vegetables are the same quality (near dumpstered vegetables) as our free food we gave to the homefree and poor people. heh~ or maybe she sold it to normal mamak restaurant kot.

Anyway, I told her of our plan to set up a free food distribution chapter in this vicinity. We need loads of free vegetables. Then she said sometimes she gave her leftover vegetables to someone living nearby too. She generously gave away her vegetables and totally support the idea of free food. Now we got loads of tomatoes, lady's fingers, cucumbers, long beans, some chillies. Enough to feed easily 30 people or more. The bag was so heavy that I had to send back my bicycle and come back to carry it by foot to Noisy.

I made tomato paste/sauce for pasta out of these tomatoes. I'm calling people to come and eat with me. We just need people to bring spaghetti or the like so that we can eat it with the vegan bolognese tomato sauce. Maybe (if can) also any ingredients (of non animal please) we can put in the sauce as extra lauk (i.e oregano, mockmeat etc). While we're enjoying the delicious food, we can also discuss on how we can cook together next time and distribute food on the street. We can bring our party outside!

I've just got an sms from Ekin inviting me to do some scavenging / hijacking? one night market. I'm bringing the food there so we can eat together.. (^_^)

Share Share Picnic

Young Folks

When someone goes to a certain extreme for you, you can't help it to feel really special. It was raining half the night inviting the two souls to converged and poured out their heart's deepest calling. Explosion in the Sky made the moment of quiet night where only the raindrops tapped the clock away. A clock that beats the multiple pulses of the earth. Hours passed by but yeah we didn't care. The only thing that was on our minds was this lovely magical moment with the person who stayed behind to share the coldness of night and rain. The greatest gift from the Divine. When we ignored the clock, we measure our existence by our relationship with each other. When our hearts beat with one another, we are having the time of our lives.

If i told you things i did before
told you how i used to be
would you go along with someone like me
if you knew my story word for word
had all of my history
would you go along with someone like me

i did before and had my share
it didn't lead nowhere
i would go along with someone like you
it doesn't matter what you did
who you were hanging with
we could stick around and see this night through

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you

usually when things has gone this far
people tend to disappear
no one will surprise me unless you do

i can tell there's something goin' on
hours seems to disappear
everyone is leaving i'm still with you

it doesn't matter what we do
where we are going too
we can stick around and see this night through

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you
talking only me and you

talking only me and you
talking only me and you

Hmm.. when did I changed? when none of this mattered before....

Animal Farm

15 March - Isn't it amazing what everyday of our lives bring us? When we get into a different environment, we're tuned in different mode. Sometimes we get passive, sometimes we get aggressive.

Work does do a lot to change your pattern of livelihood. It has been six days I'm helping out at my parent's restaurant. I am staying at the hostel with the workers. Wahh ada experience duduk macam ala squat! :) The hostel is on second floor of the commercial building lot. The rooms are compartmentalized into a few rooms which the walls are made from plywood, so every single conversations, snoring, slamming doors, foots steps, ringing tones, and simultaneous radio stations aired in each rooms are shared as daily music to our ears. *Sings Solidarity Forever*

Even though I do enjoy working and staying with the workers, I do terribly miss my friends, bicycle and internet!! Now food is in my mind all the time. I'm surrounded by food! The hanging BBQ ducks~ Ducks are the specialty of this restaurant. I'm struggling to avoid the temptation and politely turn down offers to have this rare delicacy in my meal. I eat tofu and veggies a lot these days instead. I'm so lucky that they have tofu. Having surrounded by food, I noticed that I'm constantly hungry. Drinking sugary drinks like ice Milo doesn't help my blood sugar level. It spiked as fast as it inclined making me more hungry than before. I feel stuffy. I'm the cashier and I get to sit on my job but sitting for 12 hours gives me butt cramps. I have to be cautious of the money flow and everyday I'm counting thousands of them. One mistake could lead to disaster. I always panic at the closing time because of the casual discrepancy. Where can I fork up the money to cover the discrepancy if there's any! Weekends are the most busy. Families come and dine together. On peak hours, the place will be packed with people from all over. People from as far as Penang came to eat after they seen the TV interview about the restaurant.

Music from my small notebook, books, zines, and some casual interaction with fellow workers are the things that make me stay sane through the job.

A few things that make my day were the customers and animals around this area. There's this one old grandfather who is a regular at our restaurant. He loves ducks. He would wait in front of the restaurant before it opens each morning. He orders ducks everyday and eats twice daily at the restaurant. He'll definitely eat BBQ duck on either time. Morning or evening. There's something about the way he eats those ducks. Maybe because of his age, he wants to enjoy everyday eating his favorite dish. He doesn't have all his teeth I think and he takes his time chewing his food. The precious expression on his face of joy and heaven having savor each bones of ducks. He would close his eyes and chew away. If the restaurant were to advertise on commercial TV, he would definitely get the job done right without audition needed. Mmmmm... kalah KFC .

Alive animals are seen plenty on top of this hill.(I said alive because there are plenty of dead ones in the restaurant). Fishes in the aquarium are waiting to be eaten. There are a lot of birds especially pigeons basking at early morning warmness. A family of cats come in and out of the restaurant where food is abundant as though claiming their territory over the leftover. Mosquitoes bred rampantly and flourish in the forest nearby. Dogs are taken for walks without leashes. There are three beautiful golden retrievers in this area. They run freely because there are no traffic. The most interesting was seeing a family of wild boars coming out of the woods! There were six or seven of them. It is my first time seeing wild boars. From the stories I heard, wild boars are huge but they are not. They are small and a bit fury. I'm not so sure about the color though as they only come out at night. I think they have poor night vision because they react only by sound. Everyone at the restaurant stood from their seats to watch these creature. Was these piggies convicts from the nearby zoo? It's a puzzle that need not be solved. Napoleon from Animal Farm does exist! haha

Weather Underground

Today I came back to Shah Alam after crashing at Noisy studio for 2 days with the Wild Dogs and a day in Ponyo. The initial plan was for me to cycle from Noisy to Shah Alam but it was too damn hot yesterday that I had to stop at Ponyo to rest at noon. Did you feel the heat yesterday? It was so hot yesterday that Ponyo felt like a big oven or sauna. There was no wind at all. The trees stood utterly still with their leaves hanging with no movement at all. That night, I fell asleep at the badminton court in the playground in front of the house because I can't stand to be inside but the mosquitoes feasted on my blood. It is in this dry condition, these parasites come out and hunt for their food. I had to come back inside and brave the stuffy hot air in the house after battling with the blood sucking insects outside!

There were 3 traveling girl friends who arrived at Ponyo yesterday. Two from Aussie and one from Ireland. They were friends of Wojtec. Cekidut~! Woot woot.. (imitating Yuen). It was Wojtec's last day in Malaysia. He's going away somewhere yet again. This international lover can't stay still in one place for a long good period of time. There must be something to do with his legs.. They appeared to be normal but I think he has itchy or squirmy legs. Hehe.. I know when you are so used to traveling, you won't stop because there are so many places to visit. When you get into the rhythm of going on various transportation, you'll know the procedures and fussiness which country will get on your back because of your nationality. Discrimination on citizenship, skin color, background and your clothes does play a major drama for travelers and the immigration. Especially when you come from third world or troubled country (i.e UAE - terrorism?) See you soon Wojtec.

We looked up for the Polish artist, Zdzisław Beksiński after Cem's admiration of this guy. We ended up listening to repetitious haunting music from his website while being blown away by his artwork. Awesome artwork dia... Post apocalyptic. Very dark and lonely.... Same as the music.

Another artist we checked out was Nikki McClure who did the illustration for the Off the Map's cover. I love her artwork!!! She incorporates nature from her surrounding. Mostly from her back yard. She does stencilling for her work. They looked like normal computer or hand drawn illustrations but they are actually cut out from black paper.. Tedious but awesome~!


Okay.... I want to share a story about my encounter with the cops yesterday. I was cycling from PJ to Shah Alam and I was about to continue my ride after stopping for a drink when two cops approached me at my bicycle. I was somewhere very near to Hana's house. It was so freaking hot and I was so tired. I didn't want to argue as I know I did not have my identification card with me. One of the cops asked for it and I just gave him my library card instead. He asked me all sorts of questions. I gave the infos he wanted as I really want to get going. The second police who had finished cross checking with a guy who was further up the road came and started to threaten me to go with them to the police station. I said that was not necessary because they can check with my dad or sister as they were near by. He was playing the bad cop in this scenario of interrogation. Giving the fierce look. They were kind of accessing me with psychological tactic which I know a thing of two about it. I was playing the innocent girl role. They wanted to check my bags (I carried a couple of bagpacks on pannier and on my back) but I said there were only clothes and threads. I kept repeating that I was on my way to a friend's house to do work (sewing). That gave me a plus point being in the role of an innocent girl. After all the drama, the bad cop asked me to sing Negaraku to verify my nationality as true Malaysian. I almost burst out laughter but had to control it and I sang a couple of lines to please them and they let me go. Power tripping I tell you.. Intimidation. Instilling fear. Grrrr!

What a weird day.. when I was having breakfast earlier someone gave me a CD cover with Saleem's lyrics. It was so funny.

That evening it rained and Hana and I went out to dance..... We took a walk behind her house where there was guerilla gardens and lake. It is a community space. People actually plant things there because there were so many land to grow stuff. Bananas, pineapples, papaya, and heaps of vegetables. It is a place along huge power polls. The road was in a really bad condition. Pecah dan rabak. Everything feels like being in kampung when you block out the sound of the highway and the sight of the police headquarter building from its view. Some people were fishing at the lake. When we reached at the small jetty, one of them shout at us to be careful not to fall down into the lake. They were using some animal's stomach as bait (as I recalled from some experience fishing with friends long time ago). We stayed near the lake until the rain stopped and the sky cleared and the grey clouds vanished leaving the blue background. Sparrows came flying from all over. A few hanged at the electric cables while drying themselves. We love watching them sit together in pairs and we made silly conversation for them. We head home and quickly showered to avoid getting a cold and fever which we did (a pinch).

After, we cycled to get some mushroom soup, baked beans and Tabasco sauce which Hana craved for some wild weird reasons. It must be all the talk with ehem an English dude. Hehe sorry no Tabasco for you today Hana. Small shops doesn't carry this delicate sauce. Try Giant or Tesco. Oooppss free ads for them. No!!!

Road Trip With Knot Records Fellow Friends

Sunday, 28 February 2010

It is now 9 a.m and we’re still in Taiping as I’m writing this. We’re at a motel called HLW. The darkness of the room made it seemed like it is still night time. I was awoken by nature’s calling to empty my bladder. I could not help myself to get back to sleep and then came the tingling feeling to write.

It has been a long two days trip with Knot Records fellow bands and friends (the groupies). Knot Records had organized a party gig for their fans back at their birth place. So The Pips, The Garrison and Pusher which had recently released their new albums came all the way from Kuala Lumpur to celebrate and bring The Rainhouse down.

I will get back to that in a minute. Just so you’d follow through the journey (if you want to).

Last Friday was the Maulidurasul, a holiday making it perfect for us to plan a detour to Penang before heading to Taiping for the party on Saturday. We had assembled at the Rawang rest house at about 12 noon. Marr, Hana, Karen and I went with Yuen’s yellow 4 wheel drive. It was a nice sunny weather. I can say this because we’re moving by car with the luxurious air-conditioner on. I’m happy and could not complain. I even managed to sew a few cross stitch patches along the way. The Garrison folks rented a van and they had stuffed about 10++ people in it. Sardines in can!! Lily being the only female drove the van. Hail salut! Ekin and Yoyo went with Onie’s car. While others in 2 more cars.

Proper servicing before travelling long distance with the engine powered moving “tin cans” is a must. I’m not sure whether it was jinxed or they were just unprepared, but almost all the vehicles had problems. First there was Nana and Apeng’s car and then as we reached Penang, Yuen’s conveyer belt fell off its place making the steering hard to turn. Once we reached Penang, i heard Alak said they saw a car swivelled because one of its tyre fell off. Sarjan Hassan could not make it because their car broke.

When ever I get on a moving vehicle, I will get some sort of nostalgic sensation from the past reminiscent of a baby’s experience in the cradle. This is a very good time to sleep! Sure the view was nice but staring at the window screen for hours watching the long endless highway clamed by the greens seemed too much. I think I’ll give this scenery a pass thank you.

We had arrived at the Penang Bridge just about when the sun was setting. The sunset view from Penang Bridge was amazing. I wish we could pull over and hang out by the bridge to watch the sun disappear...

We had dinner at a food court along Weld Quay and I ordered Laksa. It was automatically blurted out of my mouth to order this glass rice noodle in fish soup dish. When ever I come to Penang, this was the one dish that I won’t miss to order. Aww and I was practicing to be veggie... There’s still hope. Ekin, Yoyo, Hana, Cem and I decided to sneak away from the group and go to the jetty. We went to Tan’s jetty because it was the longest jetty so that we can get some privacy.

Penang has a long history of migrant workers. These jetties which are made out of wood were also homes to about a hundred houses of the historical descendants from China. Most were brought here to work with the merchants. They had lived by this sea for many years now. Their homes are now part of the heritage of Penang thus protected by the UNESCO after some of the houses had deteriorated and destroyed by the corrosion which the harsh salt was responsible. Maybe some were torn down by authorities but I’m not too sure. This close knitted community of Chinese displaying their culture and laid back lifestyle will continue to beautify Georgetown for years to come hopefully forever.

After deciding about our lodging, we head to Bayu Senja in Feringghi. I still remember cycling through the curvious road going up the hill before reaching the beach. This was last year March during our cycling trip to Penang. Although there were signages of bicycle lanes, the road was too narrow for cyclist to feel safe with the lanes provided. The sharp corners made it dangerous for cyclist to climb steadily up the steep hill. The thought of being squashed and cornered by buses or lorries did came into my mind while riding up the hill. I could only hoped that they see me and my tiny blue bicycle~ Upon reaching Kerachut beach, the distraught of the mind vanished like foot prints on sand being washed by the waves. The only thing that was unpleasant were the hot sun (we reached the beach at noon) and obor obor! (jelly fish) Btw, I’ve found out that my favourite snack when I was in school is made out of obor obor.. The round shaped squid like taste snack with strong spices skewered on sticks mostly made in Thailand. Do you know which snack I’m talking about? I really don’t know they were obor obor.. Cute obor obor........ Hana got stung by one of them when we got into the water. The ocean in this area is filled with obor obor. Visitors are cautioned with signages of these near fluid creatures. The cure for the lucky stung people was a plant near the beach. These plants were purposely planted near the beach for the brave souls to seek cure for ailment. The other natural remedy was to pee on the localize injury. [singing the Amazing Horse song - Sweet lemonade.. Emm sweet lemonade...]

So back to Bayu Senja, the place was like Petaling Street. This is one of the beaches that attract tourists with its night market, restaurants and bars. The place was crowded with people from all over, so much so that car parks became an issue. Nana’s car got scratched on its bumper while the driver was trying to get in the parking space behind Nana’s car. CAR PARKS.... THEY DON’T DANCE.

I think it was just the hypeness from the artificial lights and the colourful stuff being displayed for sale that drove people to this place. Adding to that, the bars/clubs nearby surrounded the beach making full use of this extra feature for its attraction. Their music blasted the night from its quietness to make it more happening. We on the other hand chose a spot a little further along the beach. A nice dark spot away from the crowd and artificial lights to enjoy the natural moonlight. It will be another day for the moon to be full but none the less, the moon shun for these punks who came all the way to watch it radiate. The shiny reflection from the waves made up for the clouds covering the twinkling stars. It was as if there were some festivals going on up there as well. The God and Goddess danced forming the atmosphere the surreal unearthly Armageddon. It was for those who are willing to see.

I’m now wearing the Ocarina everywhere I go. I practiced the Ocarina so that someday I can make some beautiful melodies for some hearts to melt. Though the process of learning and playing with it is a bit annoying due to the high pitched sound it creates. The first time the Ocarina was passed down to me from Yuen, I got crazy with it and Hana’s maid did not like the noise and slammed the door. Was I that terrible?? Huhuhuhuuuuuuu *cries inside* Ekin and Yoyo had a taste of addiction blowing this tortoise shaped instrument. FYI, it broke! :’( We also brought jembe and Sidh and other regular baskers had tried to entertain us but failed miserably due to being too drenched in hallucinogenic subs and liquid. They were all pecah that night! Alak was the first to take a dip in the water. Others followed suit. Some even skinny dipped. Cem had been pranked as he tried to be courageous to join in the fun to go stark naked. His pants were taken away and they said his pants were dragged to the sea. He really panicked and looked for his pants in the water. I know he never wears boxers or briefs. So that pants was his only hope. They later gave back his hope. :P

And then there were us, the sober homosapiens. I was lucky that a few people did not drink and had kept me company. Like Mat Nor, Yoyo, Ekin, Hana and Marr. There was something that I clearly distinguished between being in that state of mind of the other party than my own soberness. Being aware was precious to me. This newly sophisticated feeling had left me wanting to explore solidarity with those who are pro-drunkenness but rejects substances. It was an article in Icarus that had made me think about how subculture had been married with substances. Not being preachy just mere reflection. I concur with the idea that hallucinogenics are naturally produced in our bodies. We just need to alter our perspective while being fully aware of our state of minds. To be in control as well as let loose. The notion of having fun should be withheld from consumer culture. Vis versa.

We left the beach to get to Mr. Ong’s place. It was allowed to us only after 12 because there were other events going on I think. The place is a space supposedly a film club. It didn’t take me too long to snooze after a long day. I practically dozed off as soon as my head reached the pillows. Who cares my snoring.. Most guys slept at the Soundmaker studio on the first floor. I know they were terrorizing the studio without actually having to be there to witness it. Wehad to pay RM3 each as rents.. It was super nice of Mr. Ong to offer his space to anyone travelling in this vicinity. Thank you Mr. Ong.

Saturday, 27 February 2010

Today is the day, the day to party. I craved for rice and veggies. So we head to the nearest small Indonesian restaurant a few meters from Mr. Ong’s place. We were all too tired (spoiled) to be adventurous and go to Evergreen unlike Karen who walked all the way to Komtar just to get her cendol. I really wanted to go to Evergreen... I just wasn’t as enthusiastic as Karen to hunt for what the heart longs for. Plus I woke up quite late and dilly dallied to get ready.. It felt too much like home since I’ve already been at the space about 5 times. Evergreen is a vegan restaurant somewhere in Pulau Tikus. This place is heaven for vegetarians and vegans. Travelling friends from abroad passed this by word of mouth to their friends. Almost all vegans must know about this place. You’ll be spoiled for choice just by seeing more than 20 vegan dishes that were displayed. They even have all kinds of side dishes, desserts, and titbits. Some are organic. VEGAN ICE CREAM! This is a very rare item seekable only at few known places. Arrghh my mouth is watering already :P~~

Off we go to Taiping...

We reached there about 3-3.30p.m. We were the first to arrive. We quickly hanged The Pips’ pink banner which we made with lots of lurve. I took every opportunity to mess with the drums. I finally got the basic beats. It was one of the times where I could find to utilize for a drum lesson besides tagging with The Pips at their jamming sessions.

The crowd started to show about 4-4.30p.m. The show started about 5p.m with a local band Amieva. They were very young kids but pretty much emancipated the atmosphere of its long silent wait. They played screamo something core :P Sorry I don’t really know the categories of the ever complicated tunes. Yang pastinya keras. You’d get too much of fast and hard music that sometimes bla bla bla who gives a shit ya know. All I know they were loved by the locals and a few girls cheered for them. They were with so much energy banging their way with their music. The power stance plus the head banging while playing guitar, you do the math.

Aiyay yay yay yay (Mexicana sound effect) This aint a party until the phat lady sings. The Pips opened their act with Hana holding a candle reciting words of wisdom in Bahasa. They chose Dungeon as their first song. It’s about girls having to go through shit at the age of 13, the age of when the hormones starts to kick in and all the complicated bullshit we had to face. Nor was so excited dancing with her heavy belly covered by her green knitted sweater. Mar and I were jumping with joy. Almost half of the room was filled with people from KL giving The Pips loud enough backup vocals sing along through Ashes in The Wind and Change song. The Pips is a band that brought the red hot cili padi into this male dominated scene to give it the heat and burning tongues that it deserves. A Go Go Go...go go go go!!! They are heading to the garage era by bringing this Dara Puspita song to live.

Freygyle made their appearance after being inactive for 2 years (according to Hana).

Pusher and The Garrison.. The dynamic duo bands. Without these two bands the party won’t be as hype as it did. The Rainhouse Studio was definitely a good space for gigs. The space was with good proportion of size and well ventilated. It was my second time being there. The first was with Scum System Kill tour.

After the gig, we had a crazy photo session. I hope they upload the photos soon coz I need to steal some to delight your eyes with visuals to balance it off with these tiny stretchy compound letters. Soon after, we went to makan. It was a crazy long 20-30 minutes drive to get to the restaurant that was said to be known for its awesomest prawn noodle. When we were in the car, we were like this better be as good as the journey that took us to get there. Everyone was hungry after being drained in the mosh pits. When we got off the car, there were the cracking sounds from our feet. It was a sea of sea shells. Cem was tormented by it and called it a holocaust of these invertebrate sea creature. This was normal for having a seafood restaurant nearby. Hmm.. it was shit load of sea shells....

Everyone ordered something with prawn since it is the main ingredient on the menu. I was terrified getting allergic reaction just by the sight of prawns. I shared with Mat Nor mixed veggie and rice instead. My partner in crime when it comes to being vegan. I find it so cute about Cem being freegan. He’d find friend’s unfinished left over and ate them even though they were meat. Some meals are prepared too much, some stomachs were too small to fit all the abundant food, then came the saviour – the freegans. No food needs to be wasted. No rice toiled by our precious farmers needed to be thrown out. No animal sacrificed died in vain just to be thrown away after the plates of humans. Utilize everything....

Everyone went separate ways after having feast together like a big happy family. There were seven vehicles all together. Yes I counted. A few cars went to a memorial cemetery near Larut hill to get some fresh air while digesting the good food. Everyone had a good time.. Marr and I went at the back of Yuen’s 4-wheel drive to lay on our aching backs while covering ourselves with The Pips’ banner (we knew it will used as a blankie! the fabric is so soft). We were so lucky that it was full moon. The fantastic ironic view of a cemetery combined with the full moon which often made known in horror movies, gave the night its astonishing splendour for us to bring this memory back to Kuala Lumpur. No corps was buried here. At least not as many as the tomb stones appeared. A lot of the names written on the tomb stones were soldiers from India, Pakistan, Bangalesh and some white colonialists. They were those who had been killed in the 1940s war. The soldiers died too young. The youngest was 17 year old kid. I bet they were recruited imports to help the Malayan army back in those days for the Battle of Malaya. It is really sad... Their death is sad. The war that killed them is disgusting. This was fully expressed via my blue spray can. Grrrr!!! While being excited upon having leaving a message in the cemetery, I told Apeng that it would be great that The Garrison posed with the cemetery view as the whole band was present. Plus it would be awesome photo of the band if they were to use it for some silly satire album covers or something. Indeed the pictures had turned out great! Nampak metal sikit.. The Garrison must acknowledge me for this brilliant idea. Haha.. Here’s also the leopard who got lost from the nearby Night Zoo.

We split at midnight. The Garrison folks went straight back to KL. They have several drivers to rotate driving the van. Alak and Onie went back that night as well. Pusher and The Garrison had another gig to attend to at Noisy the next day. We on the other hand looked for cheap motel to stay and rest our weary eyes and aching backs. HLW it was.

The amazing thing about living in small towns is that the food is really damn cheap! We got ourselves breakfast at a Chinese food court. There is a vegetarian stall! Hurray...! I got myself 3 dishes with rice and it only costs RM3! Believe me, when I take vegetarian dishes, I would pile the dishes almost covering the rice. That’s a lot. We also bought some local kuih to snack in the car. Yuen got spring rolls and Japanese jello. Hana and Karen got themselves some charkui and another thing similar but with cinnamon added. Yumm..... Cem had to part from us here. He had to follow Bard, Shimi’s brother to KL because there was no space for him in Yuen’s car. That night when he followed us to the motel, he sat at the back of the car hiding underneath the pink banner to avoid being seen by the authorities. It was night time so it was okay then. I still can see you lah Cem! Hehe

I wanted to go to the gig at Noisy because I did not managed to sell my patches in Taiping.. *cries* I’m flat broke. Traveling does suck the money out of our pockets. Not to mention the petrol, the toll, and food. We were so humbly lucky that our far well off friends chipped in for most of the expenses for those things.... Hmmm...... *frowns* I’ve decided to cycle with Marr to Noisy because Yuen, Hana and Karen had a reunion with their old buddy, Yohana. So we stopped by Ponyo to get my bike. It rained when we were about to reach Karen’s house. Our bags and the jembes were almost drenched as we did not put on the covers. The rain was heavy but quick. Nothing like a nice shower as a present for us cyclists. We hit the road as soon as the rain stopped.

Marr is going away~ She is going to Sarawak to work for a month. The third sister.... this tough girl cyclist will be missed!!! Marr is an inspiration to me.. She rides her bike almost everywhere. She often turned down car pooling just so she could ride her bike. Hardcore! Most of the happenings are in KL. She lives in Puchong. That’s far. It’s okay lah Marr.. Like I said, you can always cekidut the scene there. Maybe bring back some hot gossips. You know how much we like them.. I received an email from her and found out that she fell off her bike after she received an sms from her dad telling her that the job in Sarawak will be for 3 months. Ape lah!~

The gig at Noisy was organised by Pirate Punks Bukit Bintang inviting their guest band from Bandung Pirate Punks, Majestic. They played rock and roll punk. They got keyboard! They sounded rich and majestic. No wonder Joe Kid like this band.. They were awesome. I got stuck watching band after band. It was my second time at a sort of chaos gig. The first was the Big Show at Shah Alam in 19--?. The energy was definitely different. Boots stomped the mosh pits leaving no space for the weaklings. Malescentiric. Most were well build dudes in studded jackets, tight jeans, braces and boots singing along with the band they worshiped. Plenty of vulgar words in their lyrics but with great spirit and intention. Going nicer won’t portray what anger is all about. Fierce.

After we go makan at Restoran Hassan. I got stuck again in between conversation as I sat with the musicians. Joe Kid and Sarjan Hassan band. Hearing them talk about music, bands and performances. I went back with Lily to her place. Had a good chat about our experiences with relationship. I thought it was a really a good start to get to know this tough girl a bit better. I ended up staying over for 3 days. Thank you Lily for letting me stay at you place for me to work (sell patches at gigs). I’m going to Cloth and Clef tomorrow.

There is an end for those who want. (taken from a poster at Lily’s room)

Howard Zinn + Cyclown + Marjinal

There was a screening on Friday about Howard Zinn called Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train (78 minutes). He was a writer, activist and historian who passed away a couple of weeks ago. The screening was held at Annexxe, Central Market. Hana and I came early at about 6.30 p.m because we wanted to drop by the Ricecooker Shop to meet Mat Nor and check out the new space. The shop is not at all hard to find. It’s a corner shop at the lower ground floor in a building next to Mydin at Jalan Silang. You will notice a restaurant called Shukran and A&W outside of the building. It was our first time being there since it opened. Mat Nor said the rent was cheap. It’s a very cozy place and while you’re there, you can trim your hair at the next door barber shop. Hana did.

When we arrived at the shop, Mat Nor wasn’t there so we phoned him and found out his whereabouts. He was having his evening tea break with a friend from Jogja! We were so surprised that Maya was in town. We knew her as one of the members of Cyclown when they toured in Malaysia back in 2007/8.

A bit of a story here about Cyclown. Cyclown was formed as circus clowns who travel by bicycles and performed from one country to another. They’ve travelled to so many countries, performed endless circus acts and recorded a few songs. They stayed in Lost Generation Space in Seputeh and joined Not That Balai event when they were in Malaysia. They even performed at Food Not Bombs serving place to entertain the homefree people. They are really nice people with loads of sense of humor (hence being clowns). A few times I was awoken by the sound of their trumpets in the morning. They practiced really hard. I really admire them for their spirits to travel by bicycles and make friends from all over.

They were striking wherever they go as it was not easy to miss them with their tall bikes and dashing colorful outfits. I’ve never rode a tall bike before, for them, it must’ve been a whole different view of the traffic and scenery. Once I heard one of them (Raphael) said that the pollution was unbearable whenever they visit any cities and that included Kuala Lumpur. This was and still is true for the streets are never lungs and bicycle friendly.

I remember hearing stories about their amazing stories from their travels although I’ve only had brief encounter with them during their visit here. One of it was that they had travelled through the SAHARA DESSERT BY BICYCLE AND STILL LIVES! Imagine that! They were tough young lads I tell you.

If I’m not mistaken, there were 5 or 6 of them (mostly from the States) when they were here but many others had been cyclowns. You see, Cyclown was an open “collective”. Anyone can join them. They’ve got a few new members whenever they travel in each place. They had always without fail to invite us to join them. Let see if I can remember some of their names.. Raphael, Bob, Christine, Maya, errr.. I forgot most of them. There was always something interesting to learn from visiting friends. I know that they DIYed mostly everything, from their bikes, bags, food, clothes etc. I learned from them to substitute chain oil with cooking oil but later found out that there is some downside to this – ants love the sweet cooking oil – but I’m sure that was not of a big issue compared to holes in their pockets. Travelling does make you learn survival skill and force you to rethink about living with less money and more brains. Being vegan/vegetarians also another skill that needed to be learned while travelling to other meat eating countries. Cooking is always the best part. You would know what they eat and substitute – sugar to honey to maple syrup. Whichever with less contribution to the world pollution and animal cruelty. Ethics.

Here’s their website with more details and photos http://www.cyclown.org/. If you ever get your hands on their CDs, check out the KUCING (cat) song. COMEL (cute) and AWESOME!

Back to the day’s story, I know Maya studied culture and arts in Jogja after the Cyclown’s tour there. Maya’s from the U.S. In Indonesia there’s this program (with sponsorship I think) for foreigners to study Indonesian culture and arts. If it’s not with sponsorship, then it might be cheap because a few friends from abroad did try it out. She said she was renewing her visa and had to work for survival because she was broke. She’ll be in KL for the next two weeks working with the Annexxe gallery. So many things to talk about! She was still as friendly and cute as ever. (I’ll get her picture!) She said she had dropped out from her study because she didn’t find what she had hoped for with the course she took.

Mat Nor was so nice to entertain us with some music from Deepset, gave free zines, and stickers. Wahh ni shopkeeper yang baik ni. He gave Hana a copy of Morgan Muffel's zine and had promised to give me one too, This time Isi collaborate with another cartoonist. Looks really interesting... Much like Mat Nor zine. Scenery is Free. He said he's going to compile them and make it into a book. He doesn't have enough money to get it publish just yet. Money seems to revolve around everything... I'm glad Mat Nor went through his surgery well. I asked him to show me his scar, it's a very long scar across his chest. Now his heart is doing well and he's still on meds. Cheers bro.

I’ve been to Maya's house in Jogja in 2008! It was a very nice house with a garden at the center of the house (like most typical houses in Jogja/Indonesia). For ventilation I think. I remember that the house had countless rooms (compartmentalized buildings) that surrounded the garden. It has got a neat common living area where you can chill. Maya said her room was the only one that is on the first floor. Yep I’ve been inside her room. Not many furniture only a thick mattress with “kelambu” and one cupboard. Minimal. Not minding that, she had the view of the village instead. It’s awesome…

She said her house was considered expensive in Jogja. The rent was RM1200+ a year! That’s about RM100 monthly! They had to pay annually though. For the longest time I envy who ever lives in Jogja.. The rent for houses are extremely cheap, the food is very tasty and not to mention - cheap, the warm inviting locals, and most of all, the feast for the eyes – street ART!

In Jogja, it’s still a lay back part of Indonesia. Some areas are still very much kampong and anak punks or weird looking artists/youngsters blended well with the locals. The popular art movement “bloomed” as I heard the term used by art magazines and artist friends’ chit chats since the fall of Suharto’s dictatorship in 1998, moving along side with the activism/resistance movement back in those days. Jogjakarta is considered the center of art and culture for Indonesia.

I went there when I joined the Jatiwangi Art Festival (JAF) in 2008 with Ili, Bebe and their two kids. An artist friend from Malaysia, Aswad also tagged along with us. Ili had a special mission while she was there. That is to document how art event was organized and artists and peoples’ involvement with it. Bebe and Aswad did their share of performance of interaction with locals. Okay this is going to be a whole other story all together and it will be a long one. So, I promise I will write about it in specific details in my next entry.

Aside from that, I thought I would want to add in a little bit about something interesting in Jakarta instead. I’m thinking about another documentary which will somehow relate to the Howard Zinn’s documentary. It was a documentary made by Mash (a punk girlfriend from Germany) on punk band – Marjinal. The band had assimilated themselves with the locals in the kampong (village) where they live. It was rather amazing to see “boys” with dreads/Mohawks, tattoos, pierced who clung on black shirts as their everyday theme helping out the villagers with their gotong royong (_) fixing the road and gutters, cooking, and teaching kids to silkscreen t-shirts and sing. Yes, kids from all ages worshiped them! Their songs are catchy and easy to sing along. Rakyat songs (People’s songs). One of their songs, Hukum Rimba had been covered by The Pips in their new album.

In the documentary, the band members explained how they had open up their space for people to learn about punk DIY resistance culture. In return showing that they are as human as anyone could be because what was important to them is communal living and community. They had been well accepted by the people in the village. I think part of it was because of the warmness and friendliness of the band members with the villagers. They were not at all as fierce as they looked. In fact, they were very polite and respectful. That’s the true (or should be) nature of punks in community I think.

I’m impressed that old folks there are easy to accept the band without being judgmental of their appearance and lifestyle. (At least that is what we hoped for) I think being in the same village does make them neighbors and part of the community where they had to work together to help build the community regardless of religion, ideology or culture. Indonesia and their culture…. I’m not good with history but I do know a few things about Indonesian culture revolution by Suharto where he had made the Bahasa Indonesia as the national language and it has been successfully implemented as all the races speak in Bahasa Indonesia as their first language. Although this has its downside where people lost part of their language/cultural identity i.e Chinese can’t speak Chinese. But I think the unity of language had brought forward the downfall of the dictator himself via his own vision where people would be united through their words and these words were understood thus had educated, mobilized, and empowered people to bring him down. Other than the economic factor and IMF. Read more here.

Talking about history, mobilization and people’s power, I shall continue with the daily journal about the screening about Howard Zinn. See I told you it would somehow relate. Overall like all documentaries I’ve watched, it was fairly good. One comment from a young emerging film maker, Fahmi Reza commented that it was a bit dragging and could’ve been shorten at some part. It was not those documentaries where you’d watch before going to demonstrations to fire up your spirits. It’s more of a memoir of his struggle during his teaching and writing years. He was a modest and decent man with his inspiring words. He wrote several books, to name a few which was mentioned in the documentary, Emma, Karl Marx, and the most famous The People’s History of the United States. He had led many protests against racism and the war while he was teaching at Boston University. One of the intense parts of the documentary was when he told about how he used to be a bombardier during the World War II. Like many uninformed soldiers who were convinced (brainwashed) that they were fighting for their countries, he had explained how on several occasions that they dropped home made napalm bombs on places where German soldiers were awaited for the war to end. Many were near civilians. A shocking statement by the deputy minister of America during that time quoted of saying that they bombed the headquarters of the enemies, which “happened” to be surrounded by civilians. WTH? This was to justify and blind the masses of their bloody war. Howard Zinn said being up on the sky dropping bombs, they were clueless of the impact on the ground until they saw what had happened in Hiroshima. Noam Chomsky was one of the people interviewed. A quote from Howard Zinn – if you don’t know your history, it is as if you were born yesterday. He was kind of like Hishammudin Rais of Malaysia with a little less fashion sense.Ye ke? HAHA.

Oklah.. that was some of the things I could capture in that documentary. We met Pik-Svoon and Fahmi as well as a few others old friends at the screening event - Poodien, Thilaga, Yew Hun, Sis Mas and Kak Yati from SIS, the Brown couple (musicians) and other 50 people or.. After the session was over, we went to downstairs to the mamak restaurant and bummed into the cyclist friends whom just finished their Massa Kritikal ride every Friday. Alind brought a kite given to him by Rat who was there as well. Rat got the kite from his ever-so-resourceful workplace as an installation artist. Others were El Pheng, Sidh, Nana, Nobeat and friends from Sky Bunker, Setapak which I don’t really know/ forgot their names.

After realizing that the mamak restaurant was closing, we headed to a stall at an alley near Kotaraya and Petaling Street. Talked about plans, catching up, movies, gossips, jokes, critics, eat, drink etc. Hana and I didn’t realize that we’d almost missed our bus to Shah Alam. Luckily the last bus was at 11.30p.m. So nice of Pixie and Fahmi to walked us to the bus stand Klang. We felt safe. Thanks mommy and daddy. :P

The day was going to end with something sweet to remember it by. We spotted a boy who looked just like a younger version of Poodien. Memang saling tak tumpah. Serious. The hair, the eyes, the short pants, the bag, the notebook and sharpie! They could’ve been brothers or twins! He even got on the same bus as we did. We decided to give him a card/note which reads “You look like our friend. Wish you’ll have a good day. And at the back, “ Life is so isolated and alienating that all we have to do is reach out to each other”. I managed to secretly snap a photo of him using my hp by pretending to take Hana’s picture. Stalker! Hehe. He just smiled and kept the note. He did not look at us after that. I think he was shy being “harassed” by two crazy girls on the bus.

That was that. After we got off the bus, we had a long walk and talked about how we would feel about getting a note from strangers. For me, it’s fine if a boy gave me a note on the bus or somewhere. Sure I would be shy but I would like it. Indeed, we pass each other every where we go and crossed paths but yet no interactions. These small practices are little sparks of happiness we encounter in our lives.

Maybe that’s also how I feel about street art. They are sweet and cute little “nuisance” that some may not understand. They appear at some corners of these blocks of concrete “life” that shouts Hey! Here are some cute things we did to make you think or just to express. They are not as intimidating as the billboards, which are forced onto us. You’d know which giant corporation that demands your attention and loyalty by repeatedly flashing their ads. I missed those old days where movie signs, shop signs etc were painted by hands. More personalize and “REAL”.

That night we had to pretend that we were crazy because we too had been harassed by passing vehicles as we walked. Maybe we theorized that it would chase them away hence adding a bit of the “illusion” of safety. So imagine two girls walking and laughing while swinging an umbrella given free by an insurance company the one that resembles like a cane in the middle of crazy Friday night trying to make it home safely. All this while still trying to have a good time chatting and enjoying the sky with clear stars. Not yet the full moon…

And I quote “Any woman will ovulate with the full moon if she’s exposed to enough moonlight” – Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (a book that I’m reading)

p/s: Sorry if my words get a bit long and confusing. It’s just how I like to write them. Don’t really like “fullstops”

Jamming + Other Sweet Wonders

It had just started to rain as I went out of the house this evening. Yes, I'm finally moved to Shah Alam! Today ada jamming session with The Pips at Sunway. Some thing interesting caught my eyes as I walked pass the field, I saw about a dozen cows! They were chewing away the grass while some kids played football on the basketball court near them. It was a really funny sight..

A friend who lives here called this part of Shah Alam as the ghetto. Migrants, factory workers, run down flats, crowded streets. I like it. It gives the place its signature compared to the lonely quiet middle class suburbs. There are "guerilla" gardens everywhere. I think I kind of get it when my friend said he's proud of this place. Haha.

Wahh.. dah lama tak join jamming. Cem taught me my first drum lesson. I have an unresponsive leg. My motor system needs practice to synchronize with movements of my hands. Nasib baik ada cikgu! They practiced a new song. Wait for it at the next gig on 19th at Noisy Studio, Ampang. Best!

After the session was over, we had a quick chat about how it's uncool to held a collective convergence during CNY. Some of us wanted to go but couldn't due to the celebration and the poor public transportation condition there. I wanted to go but i celebrate CNY! Both my parents are Chinese now... Used to be half. Don't know lah...

Hujan je baru baru ni.. It’s a good thing.. for my room doesn’t have a fan yet. I sleep on the floor. Not so good to go out coz I don’t own an umbrella. I’m cool with using just plastic to cover my head for now although I hate the water for soaking my sox+shoe and being splash by cars/buses as they drove by gila laju through the puddle! Another thing I like is when it’s an excuse to search for nice hot soup….. Nyumm.

Okaylah enough for tonight. Nak tidur. zzzzzzzzzz