After having pre-birthday supper with my girlfriend (it’s her birthday, not mine) at Palate Palette last night, i casually said to her “Let’s be Melayu and go to Dataran Merdeka for a change”. It was meant as a joke but as if i was on auto-pilot, i drove to Dataran anyway. HA ha! Rupanya ada raptai some New Year concert going on, and M Nasir was singing. Then Mawi was singing. Sigh i wish i have something sarcastic to say about him right now but i’ve been sleeping half of the day today so yeah, kepala agak blur sikit. Been reading John Fante (aku masih tidak faham kenapa lelaki2 Melayu mengagumi Bukowski – oops jangan marah Sayang). We left 15 minutes later, kerana the ppl there were starting to look scary. In fact mawi’s voice was so loud, i had to turn up some drum n bass music kasi full blast sikit to block out his voice from ringing in my head. And to block out lagu tema Sembilu Kasih yang tiba2 menyesakkan minda aku.

To the kids di meja Our Happiness di Kurasa Something ‘do last Saturday, i like my tee shirt very much thank you. Keep up the great work!

I swore i saw Lacoste Posterboy di Neraka on that day tapi by the time I turn around, dia sudah hilang. Magik betul.

Selamat Tahun Baru. Kalau jatuh, bangun sendiri ok.

Dalam bahasa Kelantan, this facial expression is what we call ‘ma-seh che-toong’. I barely passed my phonetics-and-phonology masa kat uni dulu so dont ask me how to show you how to pronounce it here. So what is ‘ma-seh che-toong’ you may ask? Tu, tengok muka suami aku Ahmad Dhani tu, masam mencuka. Keh keh.

Photo stolen from Azman. (Bro if you’re reading this, gw mmg pencurik! You rawkz! Ayuh kita ke Bandung!)

I was trying to sleep on Tuesday night dan gagal (anxiety ni) lalu aku telah mendengar radio. Then a female voice came on, lirik-nya terlalu familiar: “Hawa tercipta di dunia, untuk menemani sang adam..”. The voice sounds familiar too.. hey wait a minute, this is Ella singing ‘Dua Sedhjoli’!!!

WTF. Ella, you fail at life. Stop singing covers. You have no right.
Ohh, satu lagi. An email from Suf:
"Meet Uncle Hussein macam bapoks. Who the fuck says akue, miu, bowneka, ciukuplah?"

Bwahaha. (Kudux jangan marah aku my friends say the darnest things all the time)

Oh Lupe Fiasco, album terbaru-mu sangat best sehinggakan aku telah berjaya menyapu seluruh rumah dengan penuh diligent sekali walaupun aku allergic pada habuk (alasan wanita urban terkini). Funny how I got myself geared up for a rock concert dengan mendengar lagu rap. But i made peace with myself, kali ini i’m gonna go to the concert, sit back and relax.

So yeah, the Dewa 19 concert yesterday. First of all, sedikit disclaimer, segala komen di sini, are of my own. One’s meat is another’s poison yada yada yada. Kalau ada spelling error, that’s because i’m typing in semi-darkness. Aku terlalu gayat untuk menukar lampu siling dengan sendiri.

First of all, I met Pierre Andre. Kami sama-sama berbaju merah. Sama-sama duduk di tepi jalan. Walaupun era fangirl-ing aku terhadap PA sudah tamat tempoh, but i just had to mention it here lah. He has nice ass. Tee hee.

Second of all, aku beli mug Dewa 19. Tahniah kepada entrepreneur2 Malaya yang bijak meng-print ‘merchandise2’ Dewa 19 untuk kami baladewa yang sanggup membeli apa sahaja ini. Workmanship begitu teruk sekali tapi aku tengok sales mereka begitu brisk. Syabas! Apa kata you allz tahun depan jual figurin Dewa 19 pula eh?

Third of all, all you ugly Malaysians yang tak gheti beratur dan pakcik-pakcik RELA yang hangat2 tahi ayam suruh orang beratur macam di kem Auschwitz, aku tak maafkan sampai bila-bila.

The concert itself was great (yes of course i’m bias but still!). If we put aside the endless Xpax commercials, the completely useless Dollah Cantik whoeverhemaybe and the 1and a half hour wait (why does Dewa 19 always have this knack of making you feel like they’re never gonna perform?) the next 3 hours seemed like a nanosecond to me. Our view was great, facing Andra and i think Once was on our side most of the time so that was a double bonus for us.

Dont ask me what song they played because i think they pretty much played most of their hits as opposed to their ol’skool playlist ketika di Stadium Merdeka sebelum ini. I pretty much started crying the minute *cough* si khalifah *cough* Ahmad Dhani started singing (that would be ketika his intro to Sheila Majid’s version of Aku Cinta Kau & Dia). Girl sudah mula menangis ketika start lagu pertama lagi, tetapi dia mmg emo macam tu. Hehe.

Their collabo with SM and Rabbani jived well (really well actually) until that little pijat in baju ala Gwen Stefani muncul – oh Mulan Kwok why do we even breathe the same air. She cant bloody sing, she cant dance, her legs are too skinny, her new single sounds too much like a Dewi-Dewi track (sorry Ahmad Dhani) and who one earth gave her the green light to sing Andra & The Backbone’s Musnah! Memang MUSNAH lagu itu. Aku rasa sel otak aku mati sepanjang ‘pencemaran’ Mulan di atas stage. Nggh.

Sedikit distraction sepanjang concert adalah courtesy of the Indonesians fans (no not you rich ones, the other ones – the headbanging, banner waving topless ones). No, this is not a racial/country profiling here because as we know, Malaysian (legal) concert-goers most of the time are passive. Kami tak akan robohkan benteng besi, kami tak akan lompat benteng besi. In future concerts, please dear Indonesian concert-goers, please have some respect for our RELA officers and the concert crew. Half of the time i was worrying about the older RELA officers, what if things go wrong, what if something happen to them, who will be held responsible for the mess?

I woke up early this morning feeling like baru lepas kena brainwash. Was i at the concert of the year last night? Then why do i feel like baru lepas ditinggalkan oleh seseorang yang aku cintai? Ok ok fine, kejiwangan tolak ke tepi, I hope Ahmad Dhani will come again next year! And years to come! So that my kids will get to see their Mommy’s madness!

Made a last minute decision not to see Andra & Backbone tonight. Am too tired. Have i not learnt my lesson from the previous Dewa19 gig di Planet Hollywood?

Photos of the concert will be directed later to my friend Azman’s fotopages who had photographer’s pass last night.

Shine on!

(kenapalah aku tak ambil cuti sahaja esok)

kenapa aku tak jadi tea lady sahaja

bloomberg training
Originally uploaded by natinski

Sometimes i secretly wish that i’m a tea lady. Semua orang baik terhadap tea lady. Gosip rumah tangga, putus cinta, kisah artis pop malaya, semua dikongsi bersama tea lady. Hey i have skills in buat air yang sedap, i say to myself. Why am here, in the pantry, nodding to the tea lady, wishing for one second aku boleh jadi tea lady. Kenapa harus aku risau tentang krisis sub prima yang melanda Amerika Syarikat? Bank mergers? Sukuk? Kenapa? Kenapa?!?

Emo kejap. Takmau lah jadi tea lady. I love my job too much at the moment to be wondering about how manis my coffee is these days.

i want one (maybe not)

i want one (maybe not)
Originally uploaded by natinski

Di office lama, i’m known as the walking dictionary. Tapi kini, dah lain pula, i am the walking thesaurus! Not sure which one i like the most but mana-mana pun okay. Nobody speaks Malay here. Oh well. Hey, if i can charge 50 bucks per word, i’d be rich by now! Namun begitu, i am still getting emails from my ex-colleagues meminta jasa baik aku betulkan grammar mereka and whatnots. No problem. Super Cik Nate sedia membantu! Cik Nate juga sedia membantu si budak trainee yang half-British itu dengan masalah bahasanya. :)

The girls here would hum “Aint no mountain high enough’ apabila mereka terlalu banyak kerja untuk disiapkan. Memandangkan i cant sing for peanuts, i just crank up my rap tunes on my iPod haha. Release tension sikit. Phlowtron pun layan juga because rap Melayu best juga apa? Tak pun i just go downstairs dan melihat sekeliling dari perspektif seorang wanita yang bekerja keras(!) demi masa hadapan-nya (!). Tak pun kalau rajin aku melangkah sedikit ke Starbux kerana jika Shak ada sana aku akan dapat 30% diskaun. Or some rubbish like that.

Have a great weekend. Kita harus jadi baik minggu ini. Harus!

(not my boobs)

Semalam di persidangan Baladewa di Suzi’s Corner kita telah memutuskan bahawa we will not make the same mistakes we did (non-mentionables) the last time Ahmad Dhani and his soldiers of lurve datang ke Malaisia. Instead, careful planning shall be made to ensure that I we will get the best of him. Hehe.

Am feeling a bit sick today. Semalam apabila i got home, i raided my [nearly expired] collection of medicines (yang disimpan dalam kotak cokelat. How convenient – let’s give them to kids!) and took a spoonful of Breacol and pil yang ditanda ‘demam’ dan ‘sakit’. I slept like a log last night. Woke up, got ready and drove to work. Rasa seperti melayang.

In other words,

I’m high today ok.

Ohhh i thought i was going crazy for a while tadi. I hate being on dial-up.

So yeah, what Cik Nate want Cik Nate always get! (mind the grammar) Managed to reach Zouk last Friday walaupun I was cursing all the way dari Sierramas ke Jalan Ampang hehe. Terima kasih En. Transformers kerana sudi menemani (well i tricked him into believing that I will introduce him to hot German girls - which i did eventually thanks to Ira & Jazmine).

Rasa macam bermimpi apabila dapat berhibur bersama Tompi dan Malik & d'Essentials. Time flew so fast and they were fabulous! The next thing i knew, we were already partying the night away di The Loft (it was Led Zep night) where i bumped into Zedeck (ikhhh kiyoot-nya dia), Sunder, that crazy guy from Ciplak and even my geeky cousin pun ada, haha. Tiba-tiba rasa macam di gig Hujan pula because there were so many boys looking like ppl who would be seen at er, a Hujan gig. Many thanks to Chee (and Sunder) for everything.

I think dah banyak kali I keep forgetting that I'm already 30. I need to stop being reckless wehh (tapi Cik Nate tak puas enjoy lagiiiii!, jerit batin). Am not getting any younger and I'm sorry for hurting the one I love because of that.

Esok ada induction the whole day. I hear the food is good. In case my stupid Internet connection buat hal lagi esok, Happy Birthday to Farrah, Ame and Elin! Love you guys!