THE FLIGHT TO

I boarded a flight to Singapore in the wee hours of the morning. I got to the Pudu Airport courtesy of my brother who was awesome enough to drive me to the airport at that hour. I checked in, we had breakfast, and off I went on a very quiet and (relatively) empty Airbus A320.

By the way, NO AIR ASIA THIS TIME! If you must know, I travelled on Tiger Airways and JetStar. Anyhoo, I am writing this with a mindset that there are only (at most) 5 people reading this blog (or whatever it may be now). Ok not important. Next!

I reached Singapore at around 9. So, what do you do when you have almost 12 hours to kill in a city that hosts the only night Grand Prix? You drop your luggage at the left baggage, and take the train to the city. By you, I mean I. Ha ha ha not funny.

Train in Singapore

Knowing that I wouldn’t have much entertainment to rely on for the rest of my trip, I decided to get myself a Sudoku book. Yes, Sudoku. I happened to be addicted (somewhat) to it since I first tried it at Anis’s house before heading off to his wedding. Shoutout to the newly weds! Woot woot!

So yeah, I bought a Sudoku book. Walked around the city. Sat by the road side and photographed moving objects/people. Oh, and had lunch too. By 3, I was already feeling a bit tired (due to lack of sleep from the night before). Next destination – Airport.

Panning in Singapore

I went around the new terminal, and it was awesome! I happened to catch the documentary of Singapore’s T3 on Discovery so I was excited to get to see the terminal myself. Trust me, it’s not as geeky as it sounds! But, ok seriously, how long does it take to check out an airport? Not very long.

After completing my un-guided tour of the terminal, I sat near a water feature somewhere in the lower level of the terminal, and started sudoku-ing. It didn’t last that long. Soon after, I was already up on my feet finding a (relatively) quiet place to lie down and catch 40 winks.

Let’s get through the rest of the Singapore stint in a timely manner, shall we. I woke up. Sudoku-ed. Had dinner. Checked in. Boarded flight JQ74.

Flight JQ62 was HORRIBLE. There was a baby that was crying the whole night! Not just during take off or/and landing, the whole flight! It’s obvious that I didn’t get any sleep on board that flight. Pfffttt!

I arrived in Darwin, and I didn’t get the warmest of welcome from the people at the immigration counter. They asked a lot of questions as though I had ulterior motives visiting Australia. Heh! But whatever, I am already in Australia and only one flight away from my destination! I was too sleepy to have been skipping joyously through in the airport. But, I was excited! Flight departed ladidadidaaaa..

ARRIVAL

Flight JQ74 arrived in Sydney. Finally. Sydney Sydney. I zoomed through the airport – from the arrival gate to the exit – using all the available travellators. Sabrina’s waiting! Funny, while zooming my way out, I didn’t know where was the exit exactly, I knew where to go. But, I didn’t know where it’d end. I descend slowly on an elevator, and at the end, there was a door (?) which says “Do not turn back” which I somehow translated to “There’s no turning back now, are you scared? Are you?” And to my surprise, there she was with a little sign that says “AZLAN”. Now, I have arrived – happily :)

SYDNEY

I don’t know where to start. While I was in Sydney, Sabrina and I spent a lot of time sight-seeing, eating and having drinks (not that kind!), watching Friends, talking, and having lotsa fun while we’re at it! Basically, we just did the things we enjoy doing while enjoying each other’s company. The end. Tadaaaa! Jaskidin.

Best coffee in town
ALMOST everywhere I went, I ordered coffee. And the best coffee goes to Campos! Partly because the place is a nice. Small and (not but) nice.

Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Park
That was the first time I saw a dugong. Here’s proof.

Dugong

Making friends
Please note that whatever I write is in no particular order. I made friends with Najib and Nabilah. Although I’ve met both of them before, I never had the chance to really hang out with them. So that was nice. And while I was there, we celebrated Najib’s birthday with the most awesome ice cream cake EVER.

The beaches
I went to Coogee and Bondi. Great beaches. Great food.. especially when you’re talking about the Mars Bar at Bondi. Woots!

Coogee

The selipar adventure
Sabrina and I went around Sydney looking for slippers for Najib and Myra. The boy gets the blue slipper and the girl gets the red one. I don’t know what that has to do with anything. See Havaiianas.

Iced chocolate to die for
Lindt. Nuff said.

Best thick shake
…closed for business.

The Rocks
I love the rocks. Scones and coffee, Rocks Market (where I got a tshirt with a monster roar-ing which looks like me when I am mad [?]), Susannah’s Place, Rocks Museum, Ghost Tour, Foundation Park, Ariel… They’re all great! Very beautiful place to just walk around and enjoy the view. Oh, I almost forgot Pancakes on The Rocks! Woots. The crepes were naaiiseee!

The Rocks

Susannah's Place

Pakcik Baca Buku

Shopping
I got myself a new pair of shoes + a new t-shirt as mentioned above. Things that will make me cooler than everyone around me. Sho Fizzle!

Bookstore
I don’t read. But, I liked Berkelouw Books in Newtown because it looks nice. I felt mysterious [?] while I was there.

The harbour and the quay
It was raining when we went to Darling Harbour. With strong winds, we almost froze walking back home. It was an adventure. Circular Quay is a nice place to hang out. To your left is the Harbour Bridge, and to your right is the famous Opera House. In the middle you have a nice place called City Express (Extra, actually) – a nice place to have a drink and talk. Around the quay, there were trees that were slanting, as though someone had just released a SUPER fart and made them obliqued. Hmmm… makes you wonder, doesn’t it.

The Opera House

The Gap
We took the ferry to Watson’s Bay. The place is beautiful and the food we had there was naise! On our way back to catch the bus, there was a storm chasing us. We ran like we never ran before! It was exhilarating. Okay, that’s not really true. We.. walked to the bus station. But it was a nice view though, looking at the storm coming your way. Hehehe.

The Gap

Luna Park
Woohooo! Rides! Yeay! If only it was opened. We got there and it was closed! But, luckily we got to take some nice photos.

The Harbour Bridge

Museums
We pretty much went to ALL the museums in Sydney. Haha. I really don’t need to list them down though. Checking out the Wildlife Photography of The Year exhibition has to be one of the more interesting visits, I have to say.

MOS

Food – Honorary Mentions
Kura, Provencale, San Churros, UNSW Blue Berry Bagel, this place known as “The French Place” because I can’t remember the name.

Food – WINNER
Eel Pepper Rice at Pepper Lunch :D

Walking to Broadway a.k.a. Myra’s old crib
…was nice, at the end of the journey, there was coffee at Badde Mannors.

Cooking
I rocked the kitchen with my super awesome home cooked meals! I am useful!

Sydney Fish Market
The food was great! The entertainment was even better! There was a guy sitting at a table across from me, he was having his lunch and there were seagulls bothering him. He shoosh-ed the birds away. They kept bugging him till he chased them away. While he was busy chasing the birds away, a huge bird came to his table and meddled with his food, he ran back to his table and SMACK the bird right in the body and the bird flew a good 5 feet with wings closed! Hahaha! That was funny. It was hard to not laugh.

Mrs MacQuarie’s Chair
A picture is worth a thousand words.

Skyline

Myra’s favourite shopping place
McGinn. It was… trendy. Hahaha.

I have more to tell but if I would to write them all, this will never get posted. And I have ran out of excuses to delay the deadline :P Hehehe.

Cheerios!

Say Cheese, Birthday Girl!

To my bestfriend, and my love, Happy 22nd Birthday! :D

(I don’t want to spoil your birthday card. Hehehe)

I shall see you – same place, different time.

Also, warm birthday wishes to Aizat, and Angeline.

I'm gonna get out of here someday

Someday I’m finally gonna let go
‘Cause I know there’s a better way
And I wanna know what’s over that rainbow
I’m gonna get out of here someday 

Someday by Steve Earle

I believe all of us want to get away from something, and go somewhere.

But life is not a jigsaw puzzle where things fall into its own place. Each person has their own idea of how things are supposed to be. Even if two individuals share the same bigger picture, pieces that make the picture may be of different shapes. 

Now, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone can get their way? Wouldn’t you want those little pieces cut to how you want them to be cut? So that they are placed how you want them to be placed? Of course, that would be nice, wouldn’t it? But, that is far from the reality of things because the world does not revolve around you – myself included.

So how do you deal with pieces that aren’t cut the way you want them to be cut? 

Some say ignorance is bliss. You just ignore the fact that things don’t fit, and get on with whatever else that you have going. Easier said that done, no? How do humans comprehensively ignore something? If ignoring is consciously done, we will – however little it may be – think of what it is that we ignore. Hence, I’d say it’s rather impossible to ignore things that have surfaced. I guess that’s why people whom do not have sound faculty of mind are often happy because they are naturally ignorant to things. At times, that seems as though it’s a priceless gift.

So now what? Things have surfaced, you can’t ignore it, what do you do? I suggest you learn the art of moving on. Just like anything else, it’s easier said than done. Here’s my tip on how you go about it – sleep, that’d help. I think Ted’s mom gave brilliant advice when she said “Nothing good happens after 2 a.m. Just go to sleep.” 2 a.m. can be any time of the day, really. When you know things are just not going to go well, go to sleep. Unless you’ve done something about it, finish it before you sleep.

Let’s get this straight, I am not saying by sleeping you eradicate all your problems and rainbows will start to appear out of nowhere. Sleeping gives you time to calm down. You’ll think better after.

These little pieces are like fries at McDonald’s, you get them with any meal you order. Sometimes you get them the way you like them, and sometimes you don’t. Either way what you care most about is your burger, not the fries.

What I’m trying to say is that things don’t go the way we want them to sometimes. We just have to move on. What has be said and done cannot be unsaid and undone. So why worry too much.

Here’s me wishing all of you Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

1. I like to keep new pair of drumsticks clean for as long as I can. I would even put on my drumming gloves to keep it clean. Anal, I know. In my defense, drumsticks are expensive :P

2. I generally don’t drive fast because first of all, my car does not permit such activity, and on top of that, petrol is still expensive. However, see point 3.

3. I get to places on time, i.e. 5 minutes early, unless unforeseen circumstances arise. Generally, I don’t like spending more than 10 minutes waiting for people to show up, so I don’t keep people waiting. Garang tak? Hahaha.

4. I owe a number of people this you-tag-me-I-write-random-things thing. I am sure (if – in the unlikely event that – they still read my blog), they would be more than happy to drop comments along the lines of “Finally!” to this post. Ke ini hanyalah satu kes Azlan perasan di bulan Ramadhan? Mungkin juga.

5. The famous Pepper Lunch is opening in Pavilion soon. I want to deposit some of their food into my belly. It’s a growing investment.

6. I think I am funny when I’m cranky. By funny, I mean evil-mindedly sarcastic.

7. Whenever I see Megat Syazlee, I would bust my Arabic language skills. Typically, the conversation goes something like this:

Me: Khaifahaluka? (How are you?)

Megat: Ana bilghair, Alhamdulillah! Wa anta? (I am well, praise to Allah. And you?)

Me: Ana bilghair, Alhamdulillah! Min aina anta? (I am well, praise to Allah. Where are you from?)

Megat: Ana min al-bait. Anta? (I am from home. You?)

Me: Ana min al-bait. Aruza bi dajaj? (I am from home. Chicken rice?)

(Insert laugh)

Conversation continues in Malay with random Arabic words such as burtukol (orange), tuffah (apple), kirdun (monkey), kittun (cat), and kalbun (dog) thrown in for… reasons that remain unclear. Tengok tu, sempat include tajuk lagu kugiran sendiri lagi! I can be a DJ… Yeah, right.

8. I am competitive, but I seldom join competitions. I wrote that because I think it sounds kinda cool – using an adjective and a noun that is derived from the same root word. Okay, maybe it’s not even minutely cool to begin with.

9. I like Discovery Channel’s “I love the world” and just to make this post that bit longer, I am going to pen down the lyrics.

I love the mountains,
I love the clear blue skies,
I love big bridges,
I love when great whites fly,
I love the whole world,
And all its sights and sounds.
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda

I love the oceans,
I love real dirty things,
I love to go fast,
I love Egyptian kings,
I love the whole world,
And all its craziness.
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda

I love tornadoes,
I love arachnids,
I love hot magma,
I love the giant squids,
I love the whole world,
It’s such a brilliant place.
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda 

For some weird reason, in my head, the first two lines are often altered to be “I love rambutans, I love the durians.” What was that? Loose screws you say? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

10. I like spending nights listening to songs and let them do the talking :)

11. I have a pact with some of my pals to get ourselves a superbike within the next 5 4 years. See Ducati Monster, and Triumph Speed Triple… Just in case anyone has “Hahaha rempit!” ready to be poured out from the brain to the comment box.

12. I turn 10 whenever a tub of Nestle’s chocolate ice cream and a can of Nestum is in the same vicinity :D

13. I wear watches on my right hand. 

14. I get extremely irritated with narcissistic, self-absorbed individuals. Pis!

15. I tried golf.

Disclaimer: I have no idea who wrote this, and I can’t remember where I copied this from. If any of you know who this should be credited to, please let me know :)

When I ask you to listen to me and you give me advice you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that, you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem you have failed me, as strange as that seems.

Listen! All I asked was that you listen. Just hear me.

When you accept, as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel – no matter how irrational – then I can quit trying to convince you and get about the business of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling. And then when it’s clear, the answer is obvious and I don’t need advice.

Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them.

Perhaps that’s why prayer works. God is always there – listening.

So, please listen and just hear me. And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn and I’ll listen to you.

I hope that landed some impact on you – no matter how little it may be.

Good day ahead, peeps!

Listen.. As long as the vessel's not empty

It’s pretty obvious that I am just trying to make myself feel better. You know what; maybe I will rant just a bit. So “now everyone can fly” huh? My ass! Okay, I’m done.

As much as it was disappointing, it was great planning the whole trip, and just being excited about it from the get go. Really, it’s okay. The thing to remember is that everything is going great, even when we’re miles apart, and that’s a lot to be thankful for.

Knowing my flight was cancelled, Ajin invited me to go catch the fireworks competition in Putrajaya last night. I have to say it wasn’t all that amazing, but, it was good nonetheless.

I wanted you to be there, I’ve always thought it’d be cool to catch fireworks together. So, I guess I’ll bring you the next best thing with a smile :)

Take Her To The Fireworks Show

In case you haven’t figured out who’s “her” by now, Facebook it.

Just as I was thinking about the famous “Everything happens for a reason” notion a couple of days ago, the notion was brought forth yesterday when I was having lunch with my bosses. So, here’s the story.

I am nearing the end of my internship stint here, and my bosses decided to take me out for lunch. It was nice that we kinda just hung out and talked about stuff. We went to this pasta place, and placed our orders. Well, that’s only natural, no? Hahaha. Yeah, we placed our orders and started talking about non-work related stuff. It was nice to get to know them for the person that they are and not as bosses.

While we were talking, it seems like our orders were never going to arrive, and lunch time was almost over. Under normal circumstances, people would be kinda pissed because hey, waiting 50 minutes for your lunch isn’t really something you’d fancy. But, it wasn’t the end of the world. So, all three of us were okay with it. But of course, we ditched the place and opted for Carls Jr. instead.

As we were at the counter, just about to place our greasy, artery clogging meal, I heard a voice from a not so distant place (a meter away) saying “Ehh Alan!” Okay you don’t ignore such calling, right? So, I turned around, and I saw a couple, and I know this couple! Hahaha. It’s been awhile since I saw the both of them. One of them just got back from the states for good. So it was great to get see the both of them! I was surprised, and so were my bosses. My bosses introduced themselves, and I thought that was really cool of them.

It was just a quick catch up session since I have my bosses waiting and stuff. So, I got their numbers and joined my bosses for lunch. The first thing my boss said was “Everything happens for a reason, right?” Maybe he was just saying that so he won’t feel too guilty extending his lunch hour but he had a point.

All of us know well enough that everything happens for a reason. But sometimes, I think we’re just a tad hasty. We want a reason, and we want it now. Sometimes, it doesn’t work that way. It needs time. After all, the world does not revolve around us.

It is when we don’t get what we want, that reason, we decide to tell ourselves that it’s not our day, and we lose that little composure we carry around with us. Well, maybe it’s just me. But, for what it’s worth, I am just sharing this little perspective – or whatever it may be – with all of you.

Just take a breather if something doesn’t go your way. Because there will always be something that won’t. It’s great to have someone you can share these moments with. Someone to just listen. That helps. But just know that there’s always a reason. Don’t let it bug you too much.

Good times, too, happen for their own reasons – reasons we are often oblivious to. And that’s okay because these are times that we should just enjoy while they last.

This whole thing, it’s nothing much. I guess I am just sharing a way of thinking that will, perhaps, make things look a little brighter.