Saturday, April 25, 2009

Footprints on the Moon

Today, I was blog hopping.
From friend to friend.
From friend to aquaintence.
From aquaintances to the random.

Through all that, like I've stated in my previous post, that alot of blogs are actually just empty. Just meaningless meager rants. All circulating about superficial stuff. I admit, my blog falls under that category too.

One by one, I read their posts, left a comment on the celebrated tagbox, and exed the tab.

Till I reached the end of the line.

Here I sat, On a green plastic chair, topless, unshowered at 3pm out of laziness that comes on weekends. Mind you, I don't make it a habit to remain unshowered. And My mood a little bubbly, without a care in the world, but if any, it would be my tummy's cries for something to digest.


Then as I read the post on my friends blog, emotion changed. Hunger disappeared, the annoyance for the heat of my room vanished and the earphones blugged into my ears seemed to cease funtioning. I just felt numb.

There in front of me, lay the layout of an old friends blog. There was one post, it was a birthday wish post. But not like any others you've seen on alot of youths' blogs, no.

The first 3 words of the birthday wish post were

"In Loving Memory"

Do you get what I'm getting at?

The birthday girl, passed away the previous year.
I knew not who she is, but somehow the full reality of it bothers me.

Before I get ahead of myself, Give this a thought:
We're living in the 21st century; technology's abundant.
People seem to even complain that broadband connections like Streamyx is too damn slow.

So we've reached that point in time.
So how many of you DON'T have an online profile?
Let it be Facebook, Twitter, Friendster or Myspace,
where I'm from, if you have access to internet, you have one.
And where I'm from, almost everyone has internet.

So now, if you're wondering what feeling came over me, imagine the scenario above. But lets use a little imagination. I would prefer to divert away from the late birthday girl, since I don't know her and I'm afraid I might offend others.

But think, every one of you obviously has an inner circle. A group of friends you hold dear.
But what if this happens: what if one of them,
dies.

Nobody can predict when we're meant to leave this world.
In the event that happens, those who remain, of course would suffer loss.

Then again, would the one who left us, really leave us?
What they left behind:
blogs, facebook, friendster, myspace.

Can you imagine how weird it is to view them once their gone?

The words on the walls, the comments on photos, the imprint of their personality and the rants on their blogs sticks there forever in cyberspace.

They would still sound so alive. As if they just posted that comment yesterday. As if that "What's on your mind" was just "posted 17 minutes ago".

How can those who are in denial truly move on, if once visited, the words their friends or familys on blogs and the rest, given life, sound as if they were right there on the other end of the net, on somebody elses computer. When in truth, "Alam Barzhah", Heaven and Hell, don't have internet.

Their disconnected.

So I'm wondering, how would you go about this?
Would you prefer the to ease the suffering and sorrow of loved ones, by terminating every one of your ties, deleting every softcopy of you on the net,
or to leave them there for all eternity?

You call the shots, it's like leaving behind a will.

So how many people know your username and password?
Even if everyone knows how to access your account, doesn't mean they'll delete it.
Deleting it, in their concscience would be an offense to your memory.
Like throwing away a late loved ones diary.

Honestly, truth be told, even I don't know what I'm getting at.
It just got me thinking, and I felt that I somehow needed to get you guys something different to think about.


Like batteries, my initials are AA.
like batteries, I've run dry.
I'll be seeing you.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

How I Seized Last Sunday


"Aza, are you cold?"
"Sejuk ke Aza?"

If you're curious, put yourself in my shoes, (or rather my outfit) last Sunday for SMK Seafield's IU day, and everyone would be asking you the same thing!


Anyway,


as SMK Seafield tradition has it, if it's April, it's time for IU. Always done by 2 clubs. Leo, and Interact. and almost always with utter consistency a week before hari sukan.

So Leo did theirs last Sunday at Summit Grand Ballroom, like last year. Apa cerita Interact punya IU? WELL, I don't know.

The Ticket to Carpé Diem

I got lovely seats again this year, front row seats. thanks to XingSan for booking so early, and also that everyone had the common sense to pay up early. Not that it mattered actually, since the only instances I actually spent at my table were when it was time to eat, and.. er yeah, when it was time to eat, that's all.

Hmm...

So, would you think it's actually a waste of money, If I said that one of the main reasons I attended was just so I could stretch my Ellie's legs?

Ok, lol. That sounds totally wrong and off topic. Hold up, lemme clear things up for ya.
Ellie, is a lens. Spefically, its a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM lens.



Why I named it Ellie? Because it has an L in it? Duhh.. Umhmm, all praise my genuine creativity! Okay well not to brag or anything, I'm just telling you guys this because mainly all the photos I got during IU was seen through her eyes. or glass. whatever. So in which case I guess the metaphore I used earlier is somewhat inapropriate.

So well I mainly came to just have a good time to with friends. IU's these days are beginning to get rather cliché to me. But whn you go with the right people, anything becomes fun. If you would actually bother to refer to my post on The Dawn of Festivals last year, then you'd see that this year there wasn't that much difference. There's always a comically amusing sketch and dances and performances, food, and ultimately, the very anticipated dance floor.

To me, the only big difference this year was, the bands suck this year. I dunno, maybe it wasn't entirely their fault, just that the audience.. well, I dont't know.. GOT UP AND STARTED WALKING AROUND while they were performing made the whole experience.. Un-.. whats the word. Gah, I can't find the right word. Bottom line not many performances caught my attention like last years Privacy.

It could be that, or it could be that, also unlike last year, I wasn't performing this year. ( Not saying I'm that awesome or anything. BUT- I guess the atmosphere just isn't the same. When you know your performing and you're up next, everything seems tense. Last sunday, just seemed.. Loose.

The most Notable bands of the night, that I actually found entertaining, were familiars from last year,

Last Minute.
Consisting of Debbie, KeeWei, ChietChun, HanShen, and ZhenBon


And the form 4 band, Straight4ward I think they called themselves.
I liked their song choice. Good for a party.


And if you're on the slightly melancholic lovey dovey mood. You would've liked Emirul's performance.



The Slit-Eyed Siblings were, I also liked.


They did Estrella's "Stay", which is one of my favs!

Fir and the guys maintained their state of subtlety.


***

Alright!

Diverting the attention away from the stage, and back to the audience:

Beginilah Suasana pada hari itu.

Audience played a part in the night too, as did I! I totally was caught of guard when my ticket was called up for the lucky draw.

What did that win me? A coupon for free starbucks. WOOh Pee.

As always, let's not forget the best dressed *cough* (most popular) award. You guys remember who won right?

The birthday girl herself. And Justin. (With her help) ;P

And let us not forget that poledance she threw for us eh?

After what seemed like timeless, and ive probably forgotten the sequence of events by now, the lids were lifted off the containers on the banquet table and food was served. Well, it was self service actually.


You guys better be careful, you'd never know when your candid expression might fall under the gaze of my EOS 400D. Like how it befell Leonie!



Well to cut to the chase, mainly people just come to IU dress up fancy and camwhore with friends. Girls wanna show of some skin while applying an inch thick layer of makeup and guys just want eyecandy. Better keep your eyedrops ready, you'd probably forget to blink.

So, like everyone else, I have my share.
(If you want, visit my facebook to view the full album! Link's to the right! W)






As seen in most of my pics, the ones who made my day were buddyboys like Pawan, Pravin, Firdaus, Ariff, and Azzim Jo. As for girls, banyak sangat lah.. you guys know who you are :D



Oh, and for the guys, I'd think most of them would find the somewhat explicit dance group from USJ13, memorable.


As for the ladies, don't get grossed out or envious or whatever you feel like feeling just yet! The tables turned Oh, too soon.

Meet the Pussy Dolls

Vulgarity is their middle name.
Swinging dick's their game.

Well, Seafieldians being Seafieldians; they loved that stuff.
But what else do they love?

A DANCEFLOOR!


aighte, personally, i'm not that much of a party goer, so I didn't even bother shaking to the beat this time around.

Plus, I had expensive gear that needed my attention.
As for those who DIDN'T or forgot to take care of their belongings after being summoned by the spell of the dancefloor.. tough luck. You guys sure had a harsh ending to the night. Losing stuff like cellphones, purses, iPods, wallets. Don't say they didn't warn you. And it was to be expected. It's IU day, and I sympathize with your loss.

Too bad even bouncers like Paviter won't keep do-badders at bay.


p/s:Thanks to Musa for lending me his flashgun speedlite somepart in the night. Helped my photos alot!

Till something else happens over here;

Azhar Ashraf out!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Cuci Mata



How many of you actually READ blogs? And of most blogs you read, how many actually stand out? I mean, out of perhaps, 10 blogs I visit, only about 3 of them them are actually interesting. It's interesting because it's different. The other seventy percent, their just filled with rants and recaps of their days. Not saying anything's wrong with that, I mean it's a blog, its for freedom of speech and to express youself and to serve as an online journal. But sometimes, It does tend to get a tad Dull. To me, there's no point in frequently updating if the only thing a person is gonna talk about run along the same lines as

 "Hey! Today I went to Sunway Pyramid Mall, with my friends! And like, I had lunch at Kenny Roger's and OMG, they ran out of mac and cheese." 

Not pinpointing to anybody. Just metaphorically saying, it's like filling water into a bucket with a hole. You could try filling it, day in and day out, in the end, it'll just end up empty. Void of any contents. Maybe a few droplets decorating the rims.

Anyway, with that said, I'd say this post is actually just ranting. But it has some highlights, I let you see some old places in a new, different way.

Here goes.

***

Just like any other friday, I go to the mosque to menunaikan Solat Jumaat, like all muslim men.
But what to do after friday prayers?

Well, after friday prayers, I normally stick to a weekly routine of attending math tuition at etika. but, today, I just felt totally un-up to it. It's not that I malas belajar or anything. It's just that the tuitions a whole chapter behind, and the chapter just happens to be extremely easy. So studying transformations while it's already Matrices in school, I'm not too fond of that.

I actually did plan on going to tuition, but just as I slung my tuition bag over my neck, Emirul gives me a call. He's the Rugby team captain, and he was organizing a barbeque for the team and I was supposed to come too; and no, I don't play rugby, I just shoot for the team occasionaly. So I decided to help out in the preparation.

First up, we needed to get a barbeque set.
Before leaving home, I had to ransack the whole house to look for my glasses that went missing! In the end I couldn't find them, and I felt bad making Emirul wait outside so long, thus, with vision impaired, I got into his car. 

Puteri had a barbeque set, but she only got out from tuition at 3.30pm, so till then, we loitered around Summit. 




Oddly enough, this whole week I aspired to tribute something to my neighbourhood. Specifically, I wanted to take a photo of the regular place I come from, but make it dramatic. So I brought Emirul to this secret place within summit.

First off, here's to ye Seafieldians! Click the image to see the full view, who knows, you just might see Pn. Ung doing her rounds =P



In my opinion, this mamak has the best Mee and Maggi Goreng.




And for those of you who live in Indera Subang, all I can say is, your house looks like a toy from all the way up here.



And for here's one for your parents. (if they use the federal or NPE highway to get to work) You wouldn't think the road they use everyday with constant traffic jams could look like this could you?


My fav shot of the day!

***

So where exactly were we?

I'll just let your curiousity run loose on how we got up there ;)

p/s: Yeah, lol dudes. For those of you who fell for it, now you know I DIDN'T get Emirul's dad to take us up in a helicopter and fly us over Subang Jaya.

Friday, April 3, 2009

The Cam Expo




Well, around the end of March, my enthusiasm for photography has really peaked. I lug around my EOS practically everywhere I go, untill my some of my friends get annoyed because they're always getting a lens pointed at them. As for the others who don't get annoyed, they're mostly camwhorers, so someone actually wanting to take a picture of them besides themselves... is a good thing!

Anyway, I only recently bought my first magazine. Hmm, okay well thats debatable, since Seafield's Minda and Tunas Sains that I used to buy in primary school were also magazines. Okay well, my first mag from a shop! So it's a Photography Magazine (Big surprise there..) called Digital Camera Magazine. It's affordable.. compared to the others on the rack. That's why I bought it. And so, upon flipping a page in February's issue, I came across this poster.


 So yeah, a noobie photographer like me, tends to get a little jakun. So I couldn't wait. Wanted to go so badly. What do I do? Well, my immediate friends aren't really into this photography stuff. So an alternative, I immediately started texting all the phoggy club people!

Annoying thing is, couldn't anybody give a straight answer? The guys, they're fine. THey just reply : "aku low on cash ah". That's fine, getting a no doesn't feel awesome, but it beats being left hanging. Like all the girls I ajak.
All the words being replied by them, can be cut short into two words, which I never knew could be so frustrating.

"See first"

It gives you this hope, and at the same time, it gives you this sense of insecurity since it's not confirmed.

Girls. Troublesome.

In the end, come saturday, everyone bailed out on me. So here I was worked up to go, and with nobody to go with.  

***



IKEA's meatballs are awesome!

***



I did go eventually, thanks to WeiMunds willingness and curiousity to experience public transports. It was just the two of us. And the experience of public transport, on the way to Midvalley, nice. on the way back, SUCKS. Malaysians have NO MERCY when tryna squeeze into an already overpacked KTM. 

And my opinion of the DCM show: Disappointing.
The so called "models" stationed at the event for photographing.. well let's just say even my friends in school look prettier.
And I expected to meet some young enthusiasts like myself, but all I met were snobbish fat old balding men with super buffed up cameras. I did meet one familiar face though, Harris. And he's a fellow Canon user too. Yay!






What sucks even more, was that there were Sooo many lenses, cheapest I saw was Rm880. And from there on out, their figures just gained an extra zero. No way is a 17 year old kid like me gonna be able to afford any of that.
Well, at least I have something nice to dream about now.


Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March has Doozies.


Well, it's a month closer to D-day. So what would a 17 year old candidate like yours truly do around march? Well, since I somewhat neglected to update my blog, I'll just summarize the bulk of it.

To start it off, on the 5th of March, Leo club of SMK Seafield hosted their auditions at the school hall. I wasn't auditioning, but well, I just bagged my EOS and headed for the school hall anyway. So I'm probably not supposed to say who got the auditions, so you guys would have a surprise when you arrive at Summit on the 12th of April for Carpé Diem. 

Oh yea, I took a pic of one of the dudes auditioning just because he reminded me of Chuck Bass



And I also happened to meet Wei Jean there. Who I found out was a fellow Canon dslr user. She uses the Canon 1000D let's just hope I also found a photography buddy! Anyway, theres a difference. Owning a dslr and buffing it up doesn't make one a  photographer. It depends on whether you know how to create images that your mind's eye sees..  real. The camera's just a tool.





After the auditions, I wandered around the school looking for the most ideal place to shoot my Senior Page photos. Hmm, well, found some. But I won't say it here, just in case anybody wants to steal my ideas. I'm aspiring to make my class' Senior Page unique and most Awesome!
I did also get some shots of the school, have a look:



Okay, this isn't exactly a school shot, I just took it infront of school.. Oh well, what the hell.



***

Skip some days, next I went for a sleepover at Aizad's house.. again. He has a PS3.. and Resident Evil 5. So why NOT?!
And I got to see Ed again! who's just gila manja.



And upon somewhat "raiding" his fridge, I was curious how the contents of this box would taste.
The front cover said: Broccoli Juice.



***

Being on the B.O.D. of SMK Seafield's Interact club, it was made compulsory to attend this Charity Futsal event. It was a joint collaboration between us and SMKSU, SMK Bandar Sunway and SMK SS17. So well, it was held in Sports Planet. I'm not really the athlete type person. And I currently play NO sports. Bummer. So well, at least hanging out watching my school eventually bag the grand prize wasn't all that bad.



Here's a shot of Jay Han, one of the Seafield Team players after getting busted in the nuts.



Megat's back pass































Basically I just ended up taking loads of photo's of schoolboys kicking balls through protective netting. Thus, most of them turned out crappy. But those above are the decent few I managed to get. And after futsal action got dull, I focused the lens on other subjects. Such as John and Puteri, and Leonie's oh so charming victory scream face. In the end, Seafield had to go up against the 2nd Seafield Team. So the one that won was the one with Ashween in it. The one who lost, had Lionel in it. But well who cares, we made it to the finals, and it was a good game.
And the smartest idea to be suggested all day. To WALK back to USJ2 from bandar sunway. Gahh!


***

With the next event up was being MayQin's surprise barbeque birthday, I have completely lost the mood to blog as of 3am this morning. They say a photo speaks a thousand words. Let's use that to my advantage here shall we?







Two Girls One Cup Reaction vid tooken during the party with the birthday girl!
***

Went to Mydin. It had horses.