Dear Friends,

Before I leave, I wanted to remind you what a pleasure it was talking to you these last 7 years. I appreciated your support and style and feel I learned a great deal here.

I hope we can stay in touch. See you when I see you.

Best of luck to you!

Sincerely,

A. Afiq A. Malik

aafiqamalik@gmail.com

Cc:

Group: Musically Related People.

Ini tanganku untuk kau genggam
Ini tubuhku untuk kau peluk
Ini bibirku untuk kau cium
Tapi tak bisa kau miliki

For me, that was the defining moment of what would become the next six years of our lives together. That was when I knew that this was the real deal, that the magic was about to happen again. Suddenly we could all hear, we could all listen, and instead of being caught up in our finite little balls of bullshit, we could all become players in that great universal orchestra again.

—Anthony Kiedis, on John Frusciante's return after Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

*

Kawan - kawan, ini adalah apa yang cuba kita bincangkan selama ini. Did you guys remember Cikgu telling us to try to capture our surroundings while we were playing?

Exactly. We should listen. We should all be listening.

Ini bukti aku dan Hafidz belum salah jalan. Ini juga bukti perasaan - perasaan kami tentang muzik selama ini belum pernah melalut. Mungkin kami belum faham tentang hubungan - hubungan ini, benar, tetapi sudah terangkatlah sedikit beban di bahu-ku hari ini. Ya, kami bukan Sisyphus, kami bukan pendosa, dan dengan ini - dengan bukti ini - kami adalah penganut muzik yang bebas!

Dan ya, magik hanya akan muncul bersama ahli - ahli yang betul, di waktu yang tepat.

*

When the intellectual part of guitar playing overrides the spiritual, you don't get to extreme heights.

—John Frusciante (Rolling Stone, February 2007)

Erase all worldly worries from your heart. Make yourself calm. If you are having trouble over someone else, ignore it. Just think that nothing ever happened. Try to be in the state of awareness. Try to expel negative feeling or thought. Lightly close your eyes and bring your attention to the region of your heart.

- excerpt from How to Perform the Tahajjud Prayer - wikiHow

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Ini sememangnya adalah penjelasan terbaik berkenaan khusyu' dalam solat. Don't you think?

Hey.

I read this one good story for a sustainable marriage;

A reporter wanted to know how this old sod marriage had lasted for 50 years.

‘Simple,’ he said. ‘We decided right from the start that she would make all the minor decisions while I decide the major issues.’

‘So she decide where we would live, what school the kids would attend, what investments we would make, & I made the major decisions like what to do about greenhouse warming, the Middle East, War on Terror and lifting sanctions on Zimbabwe.’

*

Right on.

Blimey, I am officially 25 years old today!

*

I have prepared an introduction-body-conclusion note for this post earlier this week. Exactly, on a day after my 25th birthday. But as you can see, I could not publish any of those words, because I feel that it's unfair to list all of my one-sided observations about life (and people) here.

So, I myself do not know whether the list will ever be published, but one thing for sure I meant no harm.

*

But, I don't want to be a boring old chap. So here is the list. I have tapered the list, so I can re-evaluate some of my observation for the next 25 years to come.

Oh, I am sorry. Before the list starts off, I want you to understand that these are one-sided observations from my point of view. My personal observations to be exact.

So. Here it goes.

1. Do not by all means, initiate any communication with your exes under any circumstances. Make contact with them only when you're getting on a plane to perform your Hajj. Or the day before your prostate cancer operation. Or in any situation that involves you leaving planet Earth.

2. Short malay men posses an enormous amount of ego. Beware.

3. Leave negativity out from your life, including yes, sarcastic friends. The truth is, being supportive of each other feels really nice, and warm. Be yourself, and be nice to others. Talk nicely, greet nicely, smile nicely, feel good, and eventually good things will come.

4. Move your jelly limbs forward. If your girlfriend left you for another dude, quickly move on. If your working life and social life does satisfy you, quickly, call somebody that can help you, and move on. Do not wait. That is the trick.

5. Typical malay girls are annoying. They make me feel insufficient inside.

6. Face your crisis openly, and quickly solve it. The keyword here is calm. Calmly, face your problems because in order to live happily, you will need minimum amount of crisis.

That is all for now.

Thank you, and happy turning 25 years old to me.