Saturday, October 28, 2006

No names

Bautiful song with a bautiful composition.

Take my hand my dear
We know that the time it is near
Be strong and be brave,my dear
Let me go now,let me go

How it came to this
It's not clear
Long and lonely nights
Now I fear
Though I need your hand to hold,
My dear
Let me go now,let me go
Let me go now,let me go

Take my hand my dear
We were drifting year after year
When we tried our best to fly,my dear
Let me go now,let me go

How it came to this
It's not clear
Long and lonely night
Now i fear
Be strong and be brave
My dear
Let me go now,let me go
Let me go now,let me go

Take my hand my dear
Love takes us far away from here
Tell me once again so I hear
Let me go now,let me go
Let me go now,let me go

Let me go now,let me go
Let me go now,let me go

Its hard not to feel related to this song.

Underneath the Stars

That's one of the songs from Kate Rusby. Before she began singing she mentioned about how wonderful the stars are and how we sould look at them and thank God for these wonderful creations. Its hard not to like Kate. And by making that statement I love her even more. Some of her songs really made me in the verge of weeping.

The good man he came home one night
The good man, home came he
There he spied an old saddle horse
Where no horse should there be
"It's a cow, it's a cow", cried the good man's wife
"A cow, just a cow, can't you see?"
Far have I ridden, and much I've seen
But a saddle on a cow there's never been

The good man he came home one night
The good man, home came he
There he spied a powdered wig
Where no wig should there be
"It's a hen, it's a hen", cried the good man's wife
"A hen, just a hen, can't you see?"
Far have I ridden, and much I've seen
But powder on a hen there's never been

The good man he came home one night
The good man, home came he
There he spied a riding coat
Where no coat should there be
"It's sheets, just sheets", cried the good man's wife
"Sheets, just sheets, can't you see?"
Far have I ridden, and much I've seen
But buttons on a sheet there's never been

The good man he came home one night
When the good man home came he
There he spied a handsome man
Where no man should there be
"It's the maid, it's the maid", cried the good man's wife
"The milking maid, can't you see?"
Far have I ridden, and much I've seen
But a beard on a maid there's never been

The good man he came home one night
The good man, home came he
There he spied an old saddle horse
Where no horse should there be
"It's a cow, it's a cow", cried the good man's wife
"A cow, just a cow, can't you see?"
Far have I ridden, and much I've seen
But a saddle on a cow there's never been

Far have I ridden, and much I've seen
But a saddle on a cow there's never been

When's the last time you looked at the stars and thank Allah for illuminating the sky for you?

Stewarding

I'm a steward(ess). It's both rewarding and tiring, this job. In spite of the lousy pay which is £5 per live show, I enjoy it all the same. I mean we get to watch shows that are priced at £18 or £25 for free, and all we have to do is check pople's tickets at the beginning of the show, and smile a lot, plus other random things like showing them to their seats and again, smile.

But it depends on what show you sign up for. I have promised myself not to sign up for any random gigs next time. First I don't like loud music, and second I hate it. Is there a third? Oh yes, it makes me hate myself for being there in the first place. And earplugs are not that much of a help, either. They just block a tiny fraction of the poisonous luodbanging notes to enter and damage your eardrums, but I'm yet to find out whether there are still intact and properly functioning. Visit to the NHS will tell me this but we shall see if I'm that keen to find out, or not.

This is the list of things I have stewarded for and seen and their verdicts:

Eric Bibb : Country Music, Hall. Positioned at Door 3. Not too loud, Not too packed, Mainly old people came and some weird people who happen to be around campus. Some familiar faces around campus too. They might not know me, but I see them a lot. (Does that say something about me?) Ehmm. Overall it was ok. Eardrums were not badly hurt by this one.

The Divine Comedy: Standing gigs, Hall. Positioned at Door 2 with two other stewards. Quite packed. terrible sound systems. Eardrums damaged beyond repair. The other girl (steward) was also new but was a real snob. Thanked God Jing was there at the same door. Sat the entire time. Crowd loved the performance but I wanted to be somewhere else. Kept telling myself it will all be over.

The Watership Down: Play for kids, lots of rabbits jumping around and screaming and laughing and haze. Positined at Door b which is relatively a quiet door. Just a few people went through this door. Quite liked it.

The Watership Down again: positioned at Door C this time, the door which one of the casts used to go in during the second half of the show. talked to him, he said Assalamualaikum Siti which surprised me a lot. he's the funny talking bird in the play and he said Syukran to me when I said he was a fantastic actor. Liked it a lot.

Kate Rusby: Folk song, sit-down concert, Hall. Positioned at door 4 with one nice new steward who knows about Malaysia and has some Malaysian friends. Hall is packed, sold out in fact. Sold in-trays Haagen Dazs icecreams, which is a lousy job which hopefully I wont have to do again in the future. I looked like a clown for the whole 15 minutes and prayed hard that no-one I know would be in the Arts Centre at that time. Managed to sell a few tubs before the headsteward realised I wasn't really for this thing and took it from me. Well it was time I went back to the door anyway.
Although the loud music again, damaged my ears, I quite liked it. That Kate is one talented musician and very very funny. The other musicians too, that bald guy who plays almost any instrument there is for the night. And Andy the other one who plays that-thing-I-forgot-the-name-of-the-instrument was also very funny, he was telling how to cook mushroom to perfection with the precise time when Kate asked her to while she was tuning her guitar. Very funny and the audience was obviously having a great time. verdict: Great performance, had a good time with rachel the other steward.

At the moment I still enjoy this job cause its always something different everytime. Will add more to the list as I work more shifts.

Overdue Raya Entry

It's Friday today. At least in this part of the world it is. Raya was on Monday in here, so that means its the 5th day of Syawal. But it barely feels like raya, today, yesterday, or even the day of the raya itself. If I can be totally honest with you, it doesn't feel like nothing at all. Have I lost that raya spirit? Should I feel guilty for not having any? There's guilt, really. Even on the day of the raya itself. Its probably because in my first year here, I was tremendously sad and sensitive of the word 'raya'. I think it's just natural that this time around I got used to it.

Having said that, it wasn't so bad afterall. I did all the raya things that I've been doing every year. But it didn't have a good start. The night before raya I was working at the Arts Centre while they had takbir in the Prayer Hall. Guilty? Yes, a lot.

Took the last bus home, and straight to bed.

Woke up late. The whole house did. Ran for the bus, ran to catch the solat raya, out of breath by the first takbir.

Ate biscuits and took lots of pictures. Fire alarm went off, everyone went out and snapped even more photos outside.

Went for class, then off to Kak Lin's house with Sarah Fizah Siti and Ibrahim. Nice rendang and nasi himpit. Met some other Phd families and their kids. Photos again.

Kak Shida's house in the afternoon. Laksa and nasi tomato. Kak Shida has a very big and beautiful garden. Took photos again. Must remember to make puding cermin next time.

Went to Japanese Class at 5. Both Siti and me couldnt really pay attention to what Miho-sensei was talking about. But Siti was the worst one, mata dragon as we call it.

Didnt go for Abg faiz's open house in the evening. Too tired. Went home after talking to mama. (It was the night before raya at home)

That was my raya. How was yours?