I don't know.

2 and a half months into 2016. Almost 4 months since my last day as a school student ( but it could change though... I don't know).


Truth be told, I don't know what to make of myself and my life right now.

There's times where I feel like my life is the best that it has been; I'm doing my passions, I have friends, I feel like I'm... me.

But there are also times where these exact things also make me feel otherwise;

I can't ACTUALLY study in the fields I wanted the way I wanted.

My friends, the ones I can actually stand, are all at least 150 miles away. And I can count their amount with the fingers on my hand.

I feel like there's something missing, making me feel unsure of myself, which makes want to just put my life on hold for a couple of years to find it and improve myself all at the same time.

But I don't think that will happen, though.


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Mostly, my recent life is comprised of looking towards the times ahead, where I hope to get out of this cesspool. ( If you count 33 months as recent, of course)

33 months ago, I was looking forward to for a chance of... being different.

16 months ago, I was looking forward to exact same thing yet again.

6 months ago, I was celebrating my 18th birthday by eating dry crackers, looking forward to get out the crappy dorm and school life. And looking forward to the exact same thing. All at the same time.

I still do today.




I don't know why am I still doing this, honestly.

I don't know why am I willing to put up with everything that I've been through.

I don't know why do I still want all of this.

I don't know why am I so sure of myself and yet so unsure at the same time.


Truth be told, I don't know why don't I know.

And that scares me all to all hell.

2016. (actually it's 2015)

Happy very late New Year everyone. Kind of late for a New Year blogpost, huh?

Thanks to a very, very packed schedule, I haven't been able to write leisurely.

Up to this moment.

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So, happy 2016...! I hope everything is going, and will be fine for any of you reading this.

2015 was a crappy, crappy year for me.

For the first 3 months, I was shuffled between 2 government and state departments in order to confirm my pre-university enlistment status which cost me and my parents money, energy and time.

For the next 7 months, my enlistment was secured, but I was cooped up in a hellhole  boarding school which nearly drove me nuts, degraded my musicianship, brought me new health problems and worsened existing ones. And to top it all off, I didn't learn anything from that particular course. I forgot everything I've learnt a week after the leaving exams.

The only things I learnt was how stupid, immature, unreliable and cocky I was. I also learnt how much of a Blue Falcon ( slang for buddy f**ker, a person who is willing to screw over those around him/her just to save him/herself) I was.(I did, however miss a handful of people). There was this ONE awesome day, though. (sigh)

The last two months though, were the worst; I ended a 3-year (almost 4) commitment that I wasn't supposed to. I cried the night it happened. I wasn't able to function for several days after. After several days, I backtracked. But by that time, I was already drained all to hell.




And I don't know how 2016 is going to be like.

All I know is that I want to improve myself this year.

Improve on the fields that I'm passionate in, improve my living skills, improve my social skills, improve my attitude.

I want to find myself, figure myself out; who I really am.

Seven months of living with people who I couldn't stand (no matter how much I tried) made me want to study somewhere I can gain knowledge that I can utilize and find out more about myself and improve on it.

Being in a situation that I'm not used to taught me what to be and not to be.

The result? Now I know.

2016? Let's go.

Extremism.

In wake of the Paris attacks, I've decided to do this post due to my own reason which I need not to disclose.
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The Islamic State, or Daesh, is a terror group that originated in Syria and Iraq, which began gaining traction in mid-2014.

Last Friday, they've murdered and injured scores of  people in multiple incidents around the world, with the two most notable incidents being the Paris attack and the Lebanon attack.

The main question is, why are they so popular among conservative Muslims?

First of all, they play right almost into every religious Muslim's fantasy of re-establishing a grand Islamic empire (which will never happen, and even if it did, it wouldn't be good). I was deployed in a religious school for 6 months - I've lost count of how many times the issue of a re-establishment of an Islamic empire was bought up.

Add to the fact that many, too many conservative Muslims are dissatisfied with the governments of the countries that they live in - this is the main reason for the Arab Spring among ME countries - and you have a movement that has sown its seeds at an alarming rate the world over.

( I follow an anti-Arab tyrant, anti-ISIL, anti-terrorism and pro-democracy activist named Iyad el-Baghdadi. His excellent tweets regarding such topics can be found at [ https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi ]  )

Secondly, they aim to establish Islamic supremacy and eliminate the grayzone, which is the co-existence zone among Muslims and non-Muslims. They aim to polarize the two communities to the point there will be nothing but bloodshed, war and resentment.

They want a world in which the non-Muslims can only live as long as they submit to every will and order- even it is detrimental to them.

Which is what conservative Muslims want. I remember a religious teacher commenting on a racial-incident here in Malaysia  (All such comments are paraphrased - I didn't write them down as I didn't keep a journal like I always did every school year, which I regretted) "We have to put down the Chinese- they're starting to fight back... As long as they submit to us, they're fine"
(All Malay Malaysians are Muslim according to the constitution, and the Chinese, traditionally are predominantly Buddhists with a sizable Christian community).

That is one of many, many inflammatory comments that reflect an alarming number of Muslims.
Despite the fact such mentality is quickly eroding among urbanites, it can be found in areas or communities that are of a single race and/or religion.

Thirdly, they aim to establish a strict and unjust interpretation of Syari'ah law. I believe I do not need to explain this any further.

To summarize it up, their aims are : 1)Establishing an empire based on "Islamic law" 2)Wage war on... well, "others" (because listing out their enemies is just too tiring for me)

How to solve the problem? The answer is simple : Root out their ideology, while at the same time dismantling their armed wing to the point where they can barely do anything.

The solution, however is not. I've heard calls from both sides to bomb them (the West and IS) back into the Stone Age.

 THAT IS WRONG. THAT IS WHAT EXACTLY IS WANTS.

They want to make both Muslims and non-Muslims believe that there is no way out except for war.
They want to make Muslims believe that the West is out to get them.
They want to make non-Muslims that we are out to get them.

The conservative, shielded, isolated Muslim view is that there a grand anti-Muslim conspiracy to get rid of all Muslims.
The shielded, isolated non-Muslim view is that the Muslims want to get rid of them.

Bombing IS without careful consideration and planning, muddies the water that is trying to be cleaned even further.

Combating foreign terrorism without considering multiple factors, which include but is not limited only to the local history, culture, geopolitics, among others is going to create resentment and anger among the Muslims of the Middle East.

Which plays into the IS game because it strengthens their worldview and justification altogether.

The thing that is most important to us Muslims right now is combating extremism from the inside. We are the best people to talk to our own.

But how do we do that, exactly? Now, I'm no expert, I'm just putting out suggestions based on my experiences, as I have dealt with a lot of Muslims ranging from hardliners to freerunners. I will be talking of these suggestions in a Malaysian context, however, the general idea could be put in other countries and communities as well, adapting to their own cultures, demographics and problems.

The first is to break the invisible wall that is dividing Muslims and non-Muslims.

One thing that I noticed is that the more mono-ethnic an area or a community is, the more likely it is for its people to harbour anti non-Muslim tendencies. I noticed that in northern Malaysian states, as well as rural areas in other parts of the country with an imbalanced Muslim to non-Muslim proportion, as well as religious schools.

I was lucky to be born and raised in a great part of Malaysia with a balanced demographic and open minded people (the two largest races are Chinese and Malays at 44 and 42 percent respectively).  Too many others are not as lucky.

However, breaking the wall wouldn't be so easy; some provinces in Malaysia consist up to over 90% of Malays. I do not think that relocating them would be the best choice. This is the hardest solution to carry out...

The second is to open up any religious schools. A lot of people suggested shutting these down entirely, but I disagree, as it would bring about problems in Muslim communities, which I will not touch on in this post.

I was deployed to a religious school for half a year. I was appalled at what a large number of people there think of "others". That's when I realized that their system is really problematic.

By opening up, I mean to start doing more exchange programs with non-religious and start bringing non-Muslims along into these programs. (These programs exist; during my 6-month tenure in my school, there is about three exchange programs, as far as I can remember). The latter could be modified as to let only neighbouring schools let in non-Muslims, not due to cleanliness or accommodation issues, but due to the evening activities in the dormitories, which mostly consist of religious activities; however, it is a good starting point.

The second is to post non-Muslim/Malay teachers at religious schools. Of course, certain dress should be adhered to, but I won't touch on this. Conversely, all religious teachers specializing in religious subjects should be posted at an SMK for at least 2-4 years.

Another way to open up these schools is to allow greater access to information. When I stayed in the dormitories for 6 months, I was shocked at how I was forced to go by for days without much information on current events. With only teachers or newspapers providing outside news, this can stifle thoughts and are prone to misinformation, and thus, form the wrong mindsets.

Third is to stop teaching Muslims that violence is justified by any means except for self-defense. Growing up, I was taught by my religious school teachers to never harm anyone, except for when you really have to. The word "kill" was never uttered except during topics related to slaughtering animals and the usual reminder that harming others is wrong.

Going into a secular school in secondary level taught me the same thing, even as I went into the religious stream.

Until I went into a full-time religious school for pre-university.

The contempt and hate for non-Muslims in unreal.

I remember my teacher (the same one above...!) saying "If others want to accept our ways of love, then they're most welcome. If not, then, we'll just kill them." Sigh.

Another one is , "Islam must go up no matter what. It doesn't matter if you're a minority. How you're going to do that? I don't know. YOU think of it." A push-poll styled question to sway us into acts of chaos, terror and war as a justifiable act. Nice...........

And we need to teach that EVERY single human being is... well, human. A Muslim that I follow on Twitter summed it up this way : "Muslims love everyone... except if you're gay, black or Shia." Or a non-Muslim. Or a so-called deviant.



Muslims love to play the victim game when it comes to Palestine and the Myanmar Rohingyas, among others, but are apathetic  and even cheers for the deaths of "others".

It is NOT a competition. No life should be snuffed out like that, not even under religious reasons like "but oh, they insulted our religion...!!!11!!"

No life should be taken unless it is done in the direst and gravest of situations.

The "others" are human. We Muslims are humans.

As long as we play victim without helping each other and break this crappy cycle, we're going to be eventually screwed.

Fourth is to root out anyone who has these ideologies. If we can't combat them with arms, we fight them before they get a chance to lift them.

If you know of any and are in a position to do so, talk them out of it by any means necessary as long it doesn't involve harsh or condescending words towards them (two types of speech used by Islamophobes and extremists while talking of each other  - DO NOT USE. You're no different than them if you do).

A lot of people suggest to report straight away, but I partially disagree, as sometimes overly harsh action will only, again, strengthen their views of oppression and victimization, and thus, serve as a justification.

Only report if they start making creepy comments about seizing power and murdering "others", and especially if the person is in a position to influence others, and has clear proof of involvement in any extremist groups.

This is the only way to eliminate those who are ALREADY stepped in such ideologies. The way to prevent the hold of them in others is described in all the former solutions.

Again, these solutions are ultimately suggestions, and such need not to be taken too heavily or seriously as I am no expert on the subject and only rely on my experiences and readings.

And now to wrap this all up...  Not all Muslims are terrorists, but the amount of extremism lingering among us is actually higher than we thought.

DO NOT DENY THAT WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS.

 Disowning them(NOT ALL MUSLIMS...!111!!) means we aren't taking responsibility for this.

We are NOT responsible for terrorism itself; terrorism spans across borders, religions, races, cultures, ideologies and a lot of other banners.

We are, however, responsible for creating an environment for tyrants and terrorists to grow and represent us.

As long as we don't take steps to eradicate extremism, we'll see new terrorists pop up after we destroy one, like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.

As long as we let them represent us, this will never end.


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This entire post is just my expression of the current situation. Any constructive comments and opinions are all welcome.

Singapore 2015 (again????) Part 2 - FRIENDS....!

We reached Mustafa Centre slightly tired. (Little did we know what was ahead of us...)

I bought souvenirs for my schoolmates and teachers (24 pieces of chocolate and 18 keychains), a box of blueberry tea ( THAT WAS JUST BECAUSE IT'S IN A WOODEN BOX OKAY HAHAHAHAHA HELP ME), and 4 bottles of these interesting-looking milky drinks that I saw on Twitter, and a small bag which I use to keep my wallet and passport ( It has A LOT of compartments. The largest one could fit a dictionary inside of it...! Worth the 24 dollars, IMHO)

My aunt bought 3 boxes of tea, a pack of cinnamon sticks, some chocolates (as per usual), some Indian snacks and some pastry puffs.

After we were done shopping, we decided to head to Masjid Sultan so that my aunt could pray- and I could rest for a while.

We reached the Masjid Sultan- Bussorah St. area. My aunt decided to have a drink first before praying, so we did so at the shop closest to the mosque. I didn't finish mine, so we tapao-ed it. And I snuck it into the mosque and back out again after I'm finished. It's a wonder that I didn't caught.(Although I believe I was on the mosque's CCTV...)

I sat down, stood up and walked around the women's prayer area as my aunt prayed. I started taking a couple of pictures. I checked the time - It was around 1:40.

After she was done, I told her that I was going back to Madrasah Aljunied to take a photo; she was mad for a while, but eventually relented.(I didn't take a photo earlier because there's a million students during my first arrival) .I took the photo and decided to go to Joo Chiat Complex to buy... something. Yeah, something.

I went to Bugis MRT and disembarked at Paya Lebar; my aunt stayed up on the platform since she was still tired.I started heading off when I realised that it IS actually quite the distance from the MRT station...! I wonder why didn't I notice this the first time I went there last year.

I reached my destination, but unfortunately, I didn't find the thing that I came for. I left and started heading back; it was almost 3 o'clock... I was supposed to meet up with my friend at 3:30...!

I went back to Paya Lebar MRT via a cab - when I first got in and told my destination, the taxi uncle told me, "Huh? So near one, can walk...!" Well, if I could I wouldn't take a cab, would I?

I reached the station and boarded the train. We got off at City Hall in order to get to National Library.When we got off the train and went out on the street, we took yet another cab because my aunt was tired. We got the library and I tweeted my friend in order to inform her that I have arrived.

I waited for her to arrive at the main lobby while my aunt went to the toilet. I saw her arrive and stood up. I smiled from ear to ear- I haven't met her for a year... and haven't talked to her much since I was deployed at a boarding school since March. There's a lot of things to catch up to...

We hugged and shook hands, then we sat at the lobby to wait for my aunt. When my aunt arrived, she beckoned to go downstairs so that my aunt could rest. We found a place and my aunt put our stuff down near a chair while we went off to chat. We went off to the children's area to look around there. She started cracking jokes. I was laughing and looking around when I realized my aunt was following me. I raised my eyebrows. "Hmmmm?"

We exited the children's area; my aunt apparently wanted to read a novel. My friend pointed out the novel section. We then headed off to do our own thing. We took the lift to the highest floor. From there, we explored the entire library while chatting about a lot of stuff, our studies, our schools, student comparisons (I was curious).

I found out about that she once stayed in Melaka for a month or so after Primary 6, and that if I were to go to Egypt, I have to go earlier than normal... (nope not going ever nope)I talked about my studies, my crammed 6-month course, and my enlistment delay. (I've lost count of how many times I've told her I'm going to go NEXT YEAR I'M SO SORRY DUDE)

Sometime while we were going back down, she beckoned me to take a few selfies and do some of sort of a skit for her Snapchat. It was a heck of lot of fun to see someone actually having fun interacting with me.

By the time it was 4:55, we started to head back to my aunt, who we found to have dozed off. We woke her up, checked our stuff, then the three of started heading off towards Bugis MRT so that I could meet another friend of mine. We bid each other farewell at Bugis Junction while she headed off to Masjid Sultan to pray.

I sat down at the MRT station's Guardian store and tweeted her that I have arrived. I sat down and waited.

I didn't have to wait long; I heard a voice, looked up, and...lo and behold, she was there...! I stood up to see that she had bought another two friends with her. I greeted them and shook their hands. My aunt did so as well, and she asked us where do we want to eat for dinner (it's was 5:30 ok I used to have dinner at 6 at my school so there's that). We told them it's better for them to decide since we have no idea where to go.

She brought us to Kampong Glam Cafe, which a place that I've heard many times but never got to go due to time constraints, so it was quite a nice place. In fact, I couldn't think of a better choice...

Anyways... we started chatting on our way there, talking about our studies, she is currently studying at Madrasah al-Maarif; she recommended to me to take A-Levels. I also learned that like me, she also plans to take language studies; the only difference is that she's going to study Malay, while I'm going to study Arabic. I also learnt that both of her friends were former Aljuniedians, with one being transferred to a secular school after primary school.

We sat down at a table at the outdoor area and I ordered a roti john and a blue cola drink (it tasted like cola - and I forgot the names of the things I ordered, so yeah...!). We ate while talking about comparing madrasah students (again, yup), life in Malaysia and Singapore, some more stuff about our studies, our futures, and her time at Madrasah Aljunied.

One story from her time was about some sort of guardians that are there at each floor of the school. (I forgot the origins/backstory, but I think it has something to with the earliest people who ran the school). You can see them but they won't do crap to you.

Unless you're a jerk.

Apparently there was this stuck-up kid who slept in the classes during qiam (school camp [they usually sleep in the hall or in the prayer room]); he was sleeping on a table when that floor's guardian gave him a rude awakening and shouted at him... he then ran scurrying off back to the others.

I also learnt that even the pre-u Aljuniedians are pretty chill for the most part. Which makes me want to go there even more... because I (almost) heavily disliked the uptightness of my batchmates, which indirectly hampered my learning experiences there.

My friend's current school is quite the unique one : Madrasah al-Maarif is ironically located in one of the seediest areas in Singapore, Geylang - infamous for for being an area for drinking and prostitution(IRONIC RIGHT??). and due to that they have a unique ( is it?) rule- no student is allowed to be in the school area after 4:30 pm (school finishes at 3:30 for Singaporean madrasahs), so no after school project completion staybacks for them...!

According to my friend, people can be seen drinking as early as 5 p.m - and as such, no one is allowed to stay back for extended periods of time to avoid students from being in the general area around during such dangerous times. She remarked how odd it is that how in all Geylang's lanes, which is full of seedy establishments, there can be a religious school propped up in one of them.

One story she told me of her teacher is that once this teacher once took a cab to school, and the driver, unaware of her identity, started badmouthing the school. ( I forgot why).

(Madrasah al-Maarif is pretty unknown compared to Madrasah Aljunied; even a local might not be aware of it's existence unless he or she is well versed about the madrasahs there, or have a friend, relative or acquaintance there. I myself wasn't even aware of its existence until about 2 months of befriending the madrasah students almost 4 years ago.)

So when the cab arrived at the school, she revealed her identity and stormed out of the cab in anger.

We later then finished our food, paid up and left; we started heading towards Masjid Sultan before going to Bugis MRT. We stopped at Sultan for a while;  I didn't remember why.

We waited outside the ablution/bathroom area while my aunt went in and my friend and I talked about getting a license and driving vehicles. After she  was done, we headed straight to Bugis MRT. I found out that she was going to accompany us all the way to the airport around this time. I was surprised.. "Wait... you sure??" "It's OK."

We almost passed the station gantries when I remembered that my brother told us to buy some Yellow Submarines subs. I told my aunt, they overheard it- and bought us there. I followed , feeling a bit guilty that we've probably made their journey a whole lot more tiring.

I ordered our subs - my friend recommended that we chose beef over chicken as the meat choice. We waited for about 20 minutes before I took our orders. We then went back into the MRT station. We waited for the train, and when it arrived, I remarked : "It's like a bloody sardine can...!" "Welcome to Singapore", my friend said.

Ah nein. If there's one thing I'm going to hate about studying here, it's the daily morning and evening sardine can, errrrr, I mean.. train!!!... commute.

We boarded the train and headed towards the airport. We continued to chat some more, but unfortunately I forgot what were our conversations here... (SORRY...!)

We got off the train at the airport, boarded the skytrain towards Terminal 1, and headed towards the departure area. Before we parted ways, her friends and I took some photos together. We shook hands and bid each other farewell before we started heading off towards the departure area. After clearing immigration, my aunt needed to go to the toilet, so I waited.

We headed towards the boarding gate after that; when I saw the line at the boarding gate, I realised why it is so important to be really early for the flight. When we passed through customs, the customs officer asked us to dump all bottles with any liquid on them. The result? I have to finish all four bottles of those water I bought at Mustafa Centre that afternoon. I finished half out of each bottle. I think my bladder grew 25 percent because of that.

And I wasted about 20 ringgit on that too... man...

We boarded the plane, which took off at 9:45. I slept throughout the flight. When we got off the flight at around 10:55, we rode the buggy towards the customs and immigration area. That was a blessing; we've been walking for almost 18 hours, almost all of it non-stop. We reached home at around 12.



This trip was a wild one. I did so much in one day, which made me realise, that maybe, there ARE enough hours in a day after all. I also realised that each trip made me want to enlist overseas even more, which means there's no time to waste if I wanted to do so. And apparently, I COULD hold a half-decent conversation after all, despite the boring topics that I bought up.

I just CAN'T WAIT to go again.

Singapore 2015 (again????) Part 1 - HAR. HAR.

October 28th, 2015 was probably the most tiring day of my life.

It all started when I woke up later than intended at 4 A.M. And we were supposed to go at 5.

I hurried to get myself ready, and set off for the airport with my aunt at around 5:20.  While we were trying to exit Subang Jaya and enter the highway, we accidentally entered the wrong lane and almost ended up at Kajang instead of KLIA.Thankfully, we went back into SJ shortly thereafter and went back into the right lane.

We arrived at KLIA2 at around 5:50, I believe. (I didn't record the time before going on the flight)

My aunt went to pray, but since I couldn't, I decided to go buy some breakfast at KFC while waiting.

The time passed by.

6:00.

6:10.

By the time it was 6:15, I started to panic - the boarding gates have opened...!

At around 6:25 my aunt came and we started to head towards the departure area.

But before we went in, my aunt decided to buy a bottle of water before going on the flight, and she went to a nearby convenience store.

And so I waited.

6:30

6:40

What the heck is taking her so long? It's just a bottle of water...!

6:45

Ten minutes before the gate closes...!

6:50

I said "Screw her, I have my essentials anyways...!" and went into the departure area.After clearing immigration, my pant hook came loose while lining up for customs checks.I let everyone bypass me while trying to fix everything as quickly and discreetly as possible. Bloody hell...Thankfully everything was fixed in a jiffy, and off I ran to the plane once again...

...before it came loose again halfway to the boarding gate. Thankfully, there's a private place in the hall in which I could fix it, and I did. I scurried to the gate just as it was closing ( AND IT'S ALL THE WAY AT THE END AS WEL KXBJDFSKDABN)

I stepped into the plane to see my aunt standing in the aisle.

I sighed and sat at my seat, during which I got an earful from my aunt. (Really, how could she NOT see my standing like an idiot in front of the departure area???)

The plane started moving off towards the runway. When the plane started to speed up during take off, I didn't experience a massive headache like I did during my first flight (to Langkawi) last year.

The plane started flying towards Singapore at around 7:20. I got bored during the flight, so I decided to alleviate my boredom by doing a 5 over 4 polyrhythm exercise (shoutout to Matt Gartska for this...!).


When the plane started approaching the southern Johor area, it started to rain. Thank God, because that means that there's no haze, and no flights will be delayed. We landed safely and started making our way out of the airport. We made our way to Terminal 2 via the airport's skytrain in order to get to the MRT station (I thought the MRT station was accessible from there...!) .

But when we got there to clear the immigration counters, the officer told us to clear it from Terminal 1 instead. We reluctantly turned back to Terminal 1. After we cleared immigration, we stepped out only to find out the MRT station is at Terminal 3 instead.

HAR HAR. Stupid me.

We took the Skytrain to Terminal 3 and boarded the MRT to the city there.

I looked out to see Eastern Singapore being drizzled with rain.

We exited at Bugis MRT and my aunt decided to eat before we set off for Madrasah Aljunied. I decided to have breakfast at Burger King, because... I have no idea.

I ate the Ham and Cheese Omelette Platter. It was very underwhelming. I finished the omelette after the croissant so that I didn't have to leave the restaurant with a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe it's because I don't like nearly liquified eggs. The sausage and the hashbrowns were awesome,though...!

We packed the one drink that we didn't finish and started making our way to Victoria Lane. The guy at the Burger King counter told us it's going to take us 15 minutes to go from there, so he recommended us to take the bus.

We took bus number 12 there and disembarked at the Stamford Primary bus stop.

I walked down Victoria Lane and saw that the students were having their recess.

I went in and walked up to the receptionist's office.

I asked for the enlistment forms and told them I wanted to go into their pre-university program.

"Umur berapa? (How old are you?)"

"18... Ada had umur ke nak masuk pre-u??? ( Is there an age limit for enlistment for the pre-university level???)" She gave me the forms.

"Ada... (Got/Yes...)" My skin prickled and all of my hairs stood up. My heart started beating 16ths at 250 bpm. I'm surprised I didn't get a heart attack right there and then.

"Untuk pre-university... had umurnya... 21..." I calmed down. That scared me...! I thought I'm not going to ever enlist until the end of time...! (Although I'm not sure whether that meant that 21 is the age during enlistment or age during the first year of the program)

I told them I will possibly enlist next year if I had to repeat the year at my school. (Actually there are no repeats- I just asked to see what they're going to say) They asked which school am I from, and I told them I'm currently studying at Shah Alam.

I stayed around the front area and looked around. A lot of the students were sitting on the floor near the mess hall, studying.  I started to ask them whether the Secondary Five students are at school or not (One of the people that I'm most close to at Madrasah Aljunied is a Sec. 5 student).

Most of them said no or either "don't know". But there is one slightly interesting incident.

I asked a couple of female students who were sitting at the front area like we were.

"Menengah Lima sekolah tak?" (Are the Sec 5s in school right now?)

"I'm not sure... Kenapa?" (Why?)

"I... nak jumpa... seseorang." (I... want to see... someone)"

"Siapa?" (Who?)

I mentioned her name.

I saw their facial expressions change, but I couldn't read it- did they knew her?

I found out that they were her brother's classmates.

"Oh, I see."

I excused myself and started to exit the school. (I've been there 3 times. I've never went past the receptionist's office on all three. Hahahahah.)


We both started making our to Mustafa Centre when I realized I forgot to ask them another question.

I ran back and asked them :

"My school's final exam doesn't have marks, just grades, so...........what is the minimum grade for enlistment??"

The receptionist and one of the teachers (whom I suspect is a very high ranking one) looked at each other. I asked, "Jayyid (Good) ke... atau... Jayyid Jiddan (Very Good). They looked at each other for another moment before the teacher said "Jayyid". I audibly sighed in relief.

"Thank you."

I went off on my way once again.

I walked near the school fence; I saw some two groups of students playing at the back area : male and female ( they're not playing together, though). I was slightly shocked when I saw the girls being all hyperactive in the presence of boys; such behaviour was basically non-existent in my school - I couldn't even run without my classmates telling me off.

And once I caught up to my aunt, we headed off for Syed Alwi Rd.

My musical influences

I have no idea why I decided to do this. I just do. Maybe I could use this as reference if I need ideas. Or if I forget which bands I haven't listened to in a long time.

Bands :

• Linkin Park (these guys are the people that got me into music. Thanks for making me waste my money and time, guys.  Especially you, Robert....jerk ;-) )
• OrkeStar Trio (Singapore) (The first band I ever liked. Surprisingly, they didn't inspire me enough to pick up an instrument, unfortunately... Never knew why.  They were "newer", maybe? They do inspire my sound a lot, though...)
• The Reign of Kindo (If it weren't for this band, Snarky Puppy and OST, I wouldn't have thought to mix every single genre in my playing. And their 8-bit stuff. Wow.)
• Dropkick Murphys
• All Time Low
• Blink 182
• Animals As Leaders
• August Burns Red
• Tesseract
• 30 Seconds To Mars
• The Word Alive
• Black Sabbath
• Megadeth
• King Crimson
• Porcupine Tree
• Pink Floyd 
• Metallica
• 5 Seconds of Summer
• Imagine Dragons
• OneRepublic
• Issues
• Dream Theater 
• Periphery (to OUUUURRRSEEEEEELLLLVVVEEESSSS)
• Twenty One Pilots
• Foo Fighters
• Ventura Lights
• New Found Glory
• Bad Religion (Oh, the irony.)
• Rancid
• +44
• We The Kings ( not a fan of Charles Trippy, though...)
• A Day to Remember
• Atomic Mosquitoes 
• Queen
• Led Zeppelin
• Green Day
• The Beatles
• The Dear Hunter
• Avenged Sevenfold
• Snarky Puppy
• The Offspring
• The Bellerophon Project
• Styx
• Bunkface
• Deep Purple
• Pomplamoose
• Royal Crown Revue
• The Police 
• The Transplants
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Alestorm
• All American Rejects
• Flogging Molly
• The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band*
• Fall Out Boy
• Neck Deep
• Sekumpulan Orang Gila
• Alvarez Kings
• Black 47
• RED
• The Black Mages
• Rush
• Muse
• Radiohead
• Pierce The Veil
• Dance Gavin Dance*
• The Dillinger Escape Plan*
• The Apemen
• The Shadows
• Hawaii Samurai
• The Pogues
• The Dubliners
• The Venopian Solitude
• DragonForce
• Scale The Summit
• Korpiklaani
• Of Mice and Men
• Incubus
• Royal Blood
• Walk Off The Earth
• Twenty One Pilots
• Metallica
• Toto 
• The Script
• Kyoto Protocol
• Enterprise
• Pitahati

Solo Artists, "Boy/Girl Bands", Composers, Orchestras, Ensembles and others that are not rock bands  :

• Steven Padin 
• Jake Bowen
• Chick Corea
• Vinnie Colaiuta 
• Alhafiz Jamat
• Russ Miller
• Virgil Donati
• One Direction ( not so much, but still... it counts)*
• Michael Jackson
• Ellie Goulding
• John Williams
• Hans Zimmer
• Karl Jenkins
• Steve Jablonsky
• Brian Tyler
• Junkie XL
• John Mayer
• takaharasuiko
• Some random Kpop bands that I periodically listen to
• Luca Striganoli 
• Omar Faruk Tekbilek
• Dave Brubeck Quartet 
• Buddy Rich Big Band
• London Symphony Orchestra
• Patrick Williams
• Andrew and Simon Hale
• Alex Rudinger
• Nick Glennie-Smith
• Vibrasphere*
• Jack Arel
• Phil Collins*
• Salatin El Tarab Orchestra
• Yasin Sulaiman
• Various Arab, Brazilian, Japanese, Italian, Scottish and Welsh composers and orchestras ( the names are mostly unknown since I listen to random mixes on YT for stuff like that)
• Vitamin String Quartet
• Eric Calderone
• Yuna
• Sting
• Steve Jordan
• Two Steps From Hell
• Johan Skugge
• Juka Ritamaki
• Nobuo Uematsu
• Ryuichi Sakamoto
• Richard Wagner
• Keith Carlock
• Steve Gadd
• Jack Conte
• Jordan Rudess
• Aphex Twin
• Weird Al Yankovic
• Nino Rota
• Fort Minor/Mike Shinoda
• Noisecontrollers (dammit)
• Lincoln Brewster (instrumentals) *
• Marty O'Donnell
• Bill Conti
• Robert Glasper
• Lars Erik Fjosne
• Steve Vai
• Steven Wilson
• Jon Licht
• Daniel Platzman
• Dick Dale
• Madrasah Aljunied al-Islamiah Angklung Ensemble ( do you know how weird it is to take inspirations from a group that your friend is in? .___. )

OK.

_________________________________________________________________________________

* - This means I've only probably listened to less than 5 of their songs.

Singapore Trip 2014 ( Day 3, Part 2 : I Regret...)

I rushed all the way back to Victoria Lane and I think I got there in... 5 minutes. Halfway there, I saw some Aljuniedians coming out into the street.

"Oh no no no."

I doubled my pacing (I think?), crossed the road and started checking everyone's faces for familiar ones...

I started asking everyone whether school is over or not, then I reached the gate and entered the school...

I looked at everyone while walking slowly, and I recognized one; she looked at and recognized me shortly thereafter and I walked towards her.

"Awak nampak lain gila,"

"Uh...." I really have no idea how to respond to that.

We talked about a few things; where she lived, among other stuff... but I can't remember much, because I was tired.

After we departed at the Victoria St./Ln. intersection - she was going to Geylang for something - I decided to go back to Bras Basah again... for more drum gear. Plus, I need to use up my Ez-link balance... heh.

I went there, bought my gear, and returned to my hotel at around 12-12:30 pm. Since I already packed earlier in the morning, I rested for an hour before checking out at 1 pm. I took a taxi to Queen St. to take the 170 bus again; I checked the time. I still have some time... I could go to Bugis and walk around. Well, SOME time.

I decided against it; the bus ride took me 2 hours the last time... and I have to be at the station by 3:30; otherwise I run the risk of being left behind.

I waited for the bus which then arrived shortly after, and boarded it at around 1:20-1:30.

Damn, I was wrong about the duration of the bus ride.

The bus ride reached Woodlands Centre Rd. when the clock had not even struck 3 yet. Darn it, I could've went to Bussorah St. or somewhere else...

I should've taken a plane ride home instead. Less travelling time back home = more time in Singapore. Maybe taking a 6pm plane would've been nice. I could lepak for 3 more hours.

Ah... nevermind. At least now I've learned.


I put my luggage at the waiting area of the checkpoint, and went out into Woodlands Ctr. Rd. I was hungry... and I'm surely not going to eat anything they serve in the train...!

I walked towards a nearby food court, and had a some chicken rice and some sort of a blueberry drink. It was a nice way to end my time in Singapore. I walked around the buildings and looked around, but didn't buy anything. I even walked into a grocery store.

Darn, everything here's expensive. Well... almost.

By 3:20, I took my bags and lined up at the Train Checkpoint. I got everything checked, and boarded the train. I saw the last of Singapore's shores at around 4pm. I reached KL Sentral at around 11:00 pm.

All in all, it was a nice trip, although the final day was a bit too rushed (hence the reason I forgot all the details). I didn't get what I actually came for (my enlistment), but I learnt a lot, and I got awesome new music gear, met new friends and had lots of awesome food (I'm soooo going to bring more money for food the next time...!).

I'm not going THAT close to any exams anymore. And I'm not going to spend 6 hours on a train, either... unless, I'm really broke.

Someone remind me to pick a better time and plan better for the next trip, darn it.