Ghuffran

and Sofia....

The Avalanches - 'Since I Left You'

I found their CD last night, by accident, while I was looking for a book. Forgot I even had it. Brilliant album. Almost forgot how good they actually were. This is my favourite track, which is also incidentally the title of the album.

DONE

I have handed in my resignation and how appropriate that this book should arrive the same day as well

DEAR GOD, PLS KEEP EVERYONE SAFE

7.7 quake hits Sumatra/Mentawai Islands

8 'S wonderful

Thinking at half past

Everyday comes closer to the moment that I have been anticipating for. Sometimes I feel like I'm ready to go now, though I know patience has its rewards. It's both long and short, this waiting game because in no time at all, time will pass and it'll be over even before I realised that it had even begun. I will still definitely leave, though my plans keep evolving. I know I want and need to be by the ocean, but I'm unsure if it'll ever be enough.
Part of me just wants to disappear and maybe that's the even bigger reason. Sometimes I wonder what do I really want to achieve with venturing into the unknown by myself- "for the lost to get lost", per se.
Maybe achieving is even the wrong word to use, who knows? Though I think the ultimate goal is to be happy. I was never a believer of the phrase "Money can't buy happiness", and I think I read somewhere, someone said that whoever coined it "obviously did not know where to shop" (was it Liz Taylor? I forget)
I'm starting to understand it now. That depending on where you are in your life, that it takes very little to be happy. My mom said that it begins with being thankful for all the blessings that you have, even the smallest ones, like the ability to breathe or see. That ultimately, you are responsible for your own happiness, in any which way you perceive it to be.

The Drifter - OFFICIAL Surf Film Teaser - HD Taylor Steele

I'm not sure why, but I'm incredibly moved by this. 

check, check, check aaaaand.....check

Maybe I'm on the right path after all? All that's left to do now is to just go.

Uluwatu sunset

Soul Surfing

Am really fond of this article which discusses why people started to surf in the first place.

My other board

For now my fantasy quiver will have this new addition

This is a 6' 10" Yellow Tail II, Fish from  9:Fish surfboards. USD 539.

So that's the laguna bay noserider and this. In total USD 1800. Anyone?

On a side note, Padang Surf is now on facebook! Do join in for whomever it is that reads my blog

Post Padang

As we flew over Malaysian airspace, 10 minutes to touchdown, Simon looked out the window and said "Shieet, kelapa sawit, man! Where's the wave?!"- jokingly of course.
I sniggered but I understood the feeling. Back in KL now- to the traffic, the noise, the pollution, impersonal relationships, chasing money, waiting for weekends....
I celebrated my birthday just the way I wanted to....on the board and in the ocean and thankfully enough, the surf was awesome that evening- everyone was super stoked! I had switched to a smaller, more proper board as well, so no thigh rashes and if nothing else, that was enough reason to be more joyous. It was so much easier to stand on that board, surprisingly, so I think I will get myself both a mini-mal and a longboard.
Pantai Air Manis is part of a small kampung so everyone basically knows everyone. I love it that the kids approach us from curiosity, for some light banter and simple conversations. It's nice to be remembered and accepted, though I still need some time to get used to being called "Om Ali". Some of the kids are as young as 12 and already surf like pros! but it's a shame that they aren't given the opportunity or proper exposure. Ideally, I would like to give something back to them. Help them to help themselves, to create their own opportunity and I think that will give me a greater sense of accomplishment.
I took a walk by my solitary self around town whilst everyone was asleep one morning (the surf was a bit choppy then) and had a tiny taste of things to come. Of course, I wasn't treated much differently by virtue of how I looked, but having never set foot in town before, I still felt like a tourist. I bought praying paraphernalia for my mom, which impressed this old woman who was there buying something as well. She said "Bagus, anak yang soleh. Sorga itu di telapak kaki ibu nak" which translates to "What a good son you are. Heaven is at the sole of your mother's foot" or something like that and I couldn't help but feel a little flattered. Maybe flattered is the wrong word for it, but it made me feel warm inside, elevated, knowing that despite being miles away from my family, a stranger could relate to the most sincerest of acts.
I'm blabbering..haha
Point is, I did not do much on this trip.....surfed, ate (great food), talked and walked....and I've never felt happier. It's always the small things that matter most....

Pantai Air Manis July 2010

Check out my new gadget y'all! A test shot of Pantai Air Manis

Padang Pt II

I'm just a little sad that it's over. Will talk about it some other time. Enjoy the pics first.

OFFICIAL body's a temple music video!!

POOL PARTAY!

PD PICS

Talk about a room with a view

....and you thought it was only a joke..

Finley Quaye - Even after all

soundtrack for sunday morning drive down to PD

Where fore art thou ocean?

I woke up super early yesterday as I went to bed at 10 the previous night. I had planned to watch some TV to pass the time but that went down the drain as the maids had monopolised it with sinetron after sinetron. I could've played Nazi and ordered a complete wipeout of the TV room anytime I walke in there, but I'm a pussycat when it comes to my maids and pretty much let them have their way with what little time they have to chill out. (and my sisters wonder why Kak Enti is fond of me)
It was a beautiful morning, slightly cloudy and cold, mind you, because it had rained the night before. I sat on the front porch, being in the moment when I realised that I miss the ocean. Mornings like that would be perfect if I could hear crashing waves and look far out into the horizon, not knowing where the sea ended and where the sky started. I thought to myself "If you miss the ocean so much, why don;t you just go to it"....and so I did. In the next 15 minutes, I got dressed, got my camera, Ipod and cruised down to PD. Although PD isn't exactly the sort of beach I had hoped for, but hey, a beach is a beach. Besides it was the journey which was what I was most looking forward to. I'll post some pics up later as I have stupidly forgotten my memory card. In the mean time, enjoy the soundtrack...

A Brokedown Melody - Clipe(Jack Johnson - Home)

GONE

I saw a cat got run over this morning on  the highway. It was literally right next to me, on the merging flyover. It wasn't even a cat, it was a kitten. It sat there clearly distraught, not knowing what to do. Cars weren't even moving fast because of rush hour traffic and still it died. I stopped my car to try to get to it, but a huge jeep ran over it before I could even open my door. I
I'm sure he and a few others who had passed it saw it. How could they have let that happen?
I cried...over a kitten....all the way to the office. If only I was a little bit quicker....over a kitten

The traffic jam was in a way related to my emotional state. I just can never get Malaysian traffic. Monday- clear, Tuesday building up and come today, chock full of cars. It's almost like people don't go to work on Monday and then just barely pulling themselves out of bed on Tuesday and only in full working mode in Wednesday.
I slumped in my car, thinking what all this is worth? Why do we put up with it day after day? Where are we getting to? and for what?
That got me to think of a slew of other questions.....
I'm tired of living in a place where people have no respect for other living beings and I'm tired of wasting my life in traffic jams......it's just ridiculous....
I need to get out of here...
10th July.....

Name Change

I thought it was appropriate to change the name of my blog to something shorter and much more identifiable- something that snaps at people's tongues.
Curious because I'm often looking for the who, what, where and why of things. Hobbit because I'm only 5' 6" in height....well, 5' 5" actually....

Wanted

AUD 1250....sigh.....

Longboard Habit Dvd... Matthew Moir surfing HB... music Brandon Bristow

35 second mark.....f**king awesome

Work Trip- Redang

The more time I spend by the ocean, the more I know I should live there.....I'll drive a buggy or something...