Friday, September 13

Never Look The Same



After the (AWESOME) KL Merdeka Trip, some things, I’ll just never look at them the same way again.
1.       Marching cymbal
Of course, I won’t ever look at it the same way. Before this, I only see them as a simple percussion instrument, pretty boring. And somehow, I always associate them with monkeys. (No offence!)
  Now, I know how painful it is to keep holding and playing it even for a few minutes. I know how interesting and awesome the visuals that we can do with it. (I know how cute one of the players is ;P)

2.       Drumline and drum battles
I have always thought that drumline are pretty cool, although sometimes a bit cocky. Now I’m part of the cocky group, haha. To be in a drumline, you have to have that attitude, you know. You have to be confident and sort of arrogant. Drum battles, do I have to say it? It is so freaking entertaining and interesting. I have always been interested in drum battles before. It’s cool that I have been part of it. If I get to join one again, I hope I can play BD or Snare maybe XD? ( one can hope right? I liked playing cymbals, but I think it will be cooler if I get to play something else)

3.       First Aid 
Let’s see, where do I start? Well, I hope I’ll never have to carry that stuff around again. It is horrible. To be responsible for any injuries, scary. Whenever someone’s sick or hurt, they’ll fine you. Well, it’s not that bad if you know what stuffs to give them. But I don’t even know what Pil Blablateon is for. I don’t know how to treat a cut or wound. I don’t have the basics. When someone tells me they’re sick, I’ll be like “Okay, what do you want? You want his one, or this one? What’s the difference anyway?”

What made it worse was that a lot of people weren’t very well at KL. A lot of people wanted Cosmopas(benda paling laku), good thing I brought a lot of it. Zahrah felt nauseous, Kael-In got “cengkam-ed”, all the pitt people who played BD was feeling a lot of pain in their shoulders and backs, Rabi fell down and her knee was scraped(?). Total disaster for me. I really want to thank Jess, for being my assistant (more like being Biro Kebajikan, seriously). If I get the chance, I’ll definitely recommend her for the position.

Talking about injuries, there is another thing that I’ll never look at it the same. This thingy.
When Rabi fell, her pants were thorn at the knee, and her knee was bleeding (OMG). So Sir Syed & Abang Ajiq escorted her back to our tent. Sheera and Jess were there and I went there too. Rafael came by after that. Jess brought the first aid out. (It was pretty chaotic, so I didn’t really remember what really happened) Abang Ajiq told us to clean the wound first, because there were some small dirt around it. I think Jess did that. He also asked who was the medic, and I timidly said I was. Then we had to patch it up. I know what stuffs were needed, so I brought them out, including that thingy. I didn’t know how thick it needed to be, I only saw people do it on TV, okay. So I got a thick one out. Abang Ajiq said to divide it in half. So I did it. He took the other half, and I held the other half. He then took a thin piece of that thing and gave it to me. I thought he wanted to use the one he was holding, so I combined the one he gave me with the half I was holding. I don’t really remember what happened, but he didn’t see me when I did that. And when he turned to look at me, he asked me where was the thin one he just gave to me? And then he laughed. At me. “Orang bagi nak suruh guna, dia gi letak balik.” Or something like that. I was so embarrassed. How was I supposed to know only a thin piece of it is needed? But the embarrassment didn’t stop there. We had to put some Minyak Gamat(another thing I never even knew its function) onto that patchy-thingy. I wanted to let Jess do it at first, but then he said just do it. So I poured some of it, but it was weird, and I didn’t know if I was doing it right. And then he said, “Ni mesti tak pernah buat”. Duh, I have no clue how to do it. I think he then took it and did it himself. Abang Ajiq : 2 , Fatin : 0

After that, whenever I changed Rabi’s patch, I will never forget what happened =_=

4.       Cendol, wedges & cakes

There was this one day, when the Liberators had a pocket show, Abang Ajiq belanja budak2 Invaders cendol. Aimi, Lisa and me were lost and just woken up from our rest. We were searching for the drumlines, and saw them hanging around at the cendol stall. So, kami buat tak malu and went to join them. Nasib baik Abang Paan pun mai tempek gak. Hehe. Budak2 Asma time tu tak makan la cendol. So we ate Pasembor. And then the next day, we were allowed to drink ice, so Najwa pun pi mintak cendol kat Abang Ajiq. And he really wanted to buy us the cendols, even when it was about to rain. But we stopped him and said he didn’t have to. “Takut eh?”, boleh pulak dia kata kat kami. And in the end, he bought us some cheesy wedges. What a kind man :D

That night, he stayed at the Help College too. We bumped into him outside of 7-Eleven.

Me : Jumpa girlfren eehh? *angkat kening*
Abang Ajiq : Takde ah
Fath : Ada girlfren kan?
Abang Ajiq : Ade.
Kami : Woooo….
Abang Ajiq : Jujur kan?
Kami : Jujur jujur..
Najwa : Sebenaqnya tau dah ada gf
Me : Kantoi ah
Rabi : Dah buat research
Abang Ajiq : Stalker!
*note: this conversation has been altered and is not exactly what we said*

So he said he was going to Secret Recipe and he told us to follow him or something. But we didn’t follow him. We were about to go back when he came back. He asked us if we wanted a cake. We were like….

But we said nevermind, thank you anyway. And then he keeps looking at Aimi and Najwa. Sebab muka depa macam teringin kot. Hahaha. In the end we still said no. On the way back, we thought about how generous he was and thought of buying him something. Since it was the last day, we ended up buying some Ferrero Roche, Cadbury, Sneakers and Kinder Bueno (I think). That night we gave it to him (with some difficulties that I am lazy to write about) but we found out later he gave the Kinder Bueno back to Jess and said there was too much chocolate, thank you. It was reall sweet of him :)

5.       Wristband
On our last day, Aimi had some extra wristbands and gave one to Abang Paan. Fath gave one to Papa, Lisa gave one to Sir Syed and I ended up giving one to Abang Ajiq. That is all :)

Monday, September 9

Miss That Moment, When...


1.       We travelled with only CGs and Drumline.
2.       We took pictures, everywhere, even at the R&R’s toilet.
3.       We arrived at Help College, and the first thing we noticed was 7-Eleven was nearby.
4.       We had to share a tiny room, with two beds that couldn’t be combine with three people.
5.       Someone already got locked out of their room on the first day cos they forgot to take the card out.
6.       I had to hold our room card.
7.       The drumline’s room was face-to-face.
8.       We made too much noise until the pakguard came to warn us.
9.       The room would beep noisily if the door wasn’t properly close.
10.   We just kick the door when it beeps.
11.   We had to wake up around 3-5 a.m.
12.   Our room woke up at 6.10 when we were supposed to be ready at 6.20.
13.   It took us around5-10 minutes to get to our destination, everyday.
14.   Each band show off their “warm-up”.
15.   We were the only ones not warming up but making a video.
16.   We ate together in a huge circle.
17.   We were divided into groups of “Villagers”, “Invaders” and “Liberators”.
18.   Aimi tapped for the warm-up.
19.   Anyone yelled “Last time”.
20.   Abang Ajiq lead the warm-up, and we learned a new exercise called :)
21.   Abang Ajiq would give us that ‘look’ and we would correct our position, grip etc.
22.   We all yelled “Nak Balik!!” on the phone.
23.   We learned the drum battle drill. (First and last time I’ll learn any drill)
24.   We learned the cymbal visuals until our hands hurt.
25.   Abang Ajiq adjusted our cymbal strap and my hands have been awesome.
26.   “From the top/march in” was the cursed words.
27.   “You did great. 2 ,3 more rounds would be perfect”
28.   No one understood what Mas Dodi was saying.
29.   Abang Mad would yell “JOHN!!”
30.   Suara Abang Mad pecah. John wasn’t even there at that time.
31.   John merajuk. Abang Paan pun nak merajuk.
32.   John became friends with Asma drumline.
33.   We went to Dataran Merdeka super early in the morning.
34.   We could go back to our hostel and sleep!!
35.   We got our uniforms. (Liberators punya rock :P)
36.   Liberators had a pocket show.
37.   That old foreigner man actually froze and looked at us (Liberators) in awe.
38.   Dato’ Zul belanja KFC!! :D
39.   Abang Ajiq ‘sapu sampah’, ‘gosok baju’, tarian zapin’ and others.
40.   Everyone was nervous on D-Day.
41.   Aimi got teased for “Daulat Tuanku”
42.   Sir Syed “Beta terima daulatnya”
43.   Everyone was having fun and chatting and taking pictures after the show.
44.   Abang Paan spoke Indonesian.
45.   Abang Paan blushing!!
46.   Abang Ajiq naik moto besaq pakai seluaq batik XD
47.   I went to people’s room and complained about the AC (hampa ni bukak aircond ka dak?)
48.   Sir Syed would scream “AIMII!!” or “CUT!”
49.   Sir Syed wore an EOS t-shirt.
50.   All we did was gossip and all the instructors would say “Korang ni kira gossip je”
51.   Abang Ajiq would tease Fath about not smiling.
52.   EVERYONE was smiling during 31 Ogos. (even our instructors)

Miss that moment when, everyone was working together and having fun for one show :)


Sunday, September 1

Cherish The Moments While You Can

First of all, lama gila tak update blogg~ hehe.... nak buat macamana, busy kan~ Banyak gila kejadian2 and event2 yang best2 and syok2 (menang comp, buka puasa, etc.) tapi yang nak update ni pasai event yang terbaru la, Sambutan Merdeka ke-56, Drumline & Colorguards Show.

Okay, honestly, when we first heard of the trip, I was annoyed. We had just finished our two-weeks Raya break and started schooling again, and we have to go to KL for 10 days?? No way.

There was a lot of problems about the trip too. They only want the drumline and colorguards, and only form 1,2 and 4 are available coz form3 and 5 have got to study for the examinations. And so, we, the form4 pitt percussionists, have to fill in for the drumline. Since I have a small (and cute) body, the seniors decided to give me the cymbals. I actually really wanted to play the bass drum actually, but I didn't really mind.

Blablablabla.... we had a few problems before even going there, we overcome it(barely) and then off we go. We arrived at Help College (the place we were staying) and the rooms were freaking small.We had to share two beds for three persons, and we couldn't combine the beds. So I had to share the bed with Rabi. Ingatkan plan nak tukaq2 partner tidoq, last skali xubah pun.

The first day of training, well, of course it was a bit awkward, with all the bands trying to prove themselves, and knowing our instructors. But the first day was a bit fast, we (drumline) were seperated according to our instruments and learnt the last song (31 Ogos, since everyone has got to play that song).

Let me explain what the show is about. First there will be a group of "Villagers" who will be partying and having fun, and then the "Invaders" will enter and capture the "Villagers". Then the "Liberators" will come in and have a DRUM BATTLE!! with the "Invaders". "Liberators" win and everyone will join in and play 31 Ogos.

The "Villagers" were mostly juniors and it was a fun song (Pesta Muda Mudi). The "Invaders" that captured the villagers were only the CGs, and the DRUM BATTLE!! includes all the "Liberators" and "Invaders". I was in the "Liberators" group, which means I got to wear the beautiful Army Uniform.

Back to the training, I was amazed coz we will be learning under the BATTERYHEADZ, okay. I honestly never really followed them, but of course I've heard of their name before. I thought it was pretty awesome. The CGs were learning under a few exes of St.John. But the main person in charge of the whole thing was Mas Dodi, and Indonesian guy, apparently pretty popular. I'm sorry, but really, from the first day I came, I didn't really understand what he was saying, coz he usually uses a mic and it kind of echos, and makes it even more harder to understand.

Anyways~ the cymbal players were friendly, and it turns out that most of them weren't really drumline players too. There were two cymbal instructor, Abang Sod & Abang Ajiq. The villagers were taught by Abang Sod and the Liberators and Invaders were taught by Abang Ajiq (tall, cute uneven teeths, handsome, very kind, not available, gf is with Batteryheadz too).

We practiced really hard. Seriously, I'm not kidding, it's almost the same (or is it worse?) than Asma's bandcamps. Sunburned was absolute, I even got muscles, thanks to playing the 31 Ogos song. The first 3,4 days, me and Fath's hands were burning. No thanks to the cymbal strap being too big (or are my hands just small?). Thankfully Abang Ajiq adjusted it and my hands are better afterwards.

We learned a lot of new skills, which we probably have to teach our juniors soon. It was actually really fun, who ever thought that playing cymbals could be so interesting? The show was great too.On the day of the event, we were all excited and a bit nervous, but we did well. I couldn't believe it was over, coz it felt so fast.

After we finished cleaning our makeups (of course we had make up, ughh), we just relaxed, chatted, and took some pictures, ate ice cream. It was fun. And then we had to go back, to Kedah. I felt a bit sad, and then I felt like, wait, we don't even know if we can ever see these people again. I was really upset. After a final goodbye, we went back home. A few of us cried, but I didn't. I don't know, I wasn't really sad at the time.

But now, looking back at it, I have a lot of regrets. I didn't really cherish the moments when we were there. Even ZI production said "Cherish this moment" but it was already the last day of training, and at that moment I knew I didn't really appreciate what we did. I felt like, it was too short, and I really didn't want it to end. Even right now, I'm thinking "If we're still in KL, we'd be practicing and laughing and get tired and have not enough sleep, and wake up, go back to the stadium, practice and enjoying ourselves."

I really enjoyed the whole trip, and I really would like to do something like this again, even if it's not a Merdeka celebration. I'm not even sure if there will be a Merdeka performance next year, or if I could join it. So I really hope there will be some events that could bring us together like this again. I'll pray for it, Insyaaallah.

What I learned from this experience is, look at things positively, don't just think of it badly, it might turn out better than you expected. And always treasure what you have, and most importantly, cherish the moment. 

130823-130831, I'll never forget :)