Segar

*gambar Pegasus sekadar hiasan

Permulaan sememangnya satu perkara yang menyegarkan.

Agak malang jika difikirkan, berapa ramai di kalangan kita yang takut untuk bermula semula dari kosong? Aku tidaklah terlalu berani, tetapi aku sentiasa jadi ghairah bila aku mulakan sesuatu hal, terutamanya bila bermula dari kosong.

Bagai menjadi kanak-kanak semula. Semuanya jadi permainan tanpa peraturan, peraturan boleh digubah mengikut hati dan logika sendiri, paling tidak pada peringkat awal - sebelum realiti dan limitasi datang menggigit. Tidak selalu berjaya, lebih kerap tergolek dari maju ke depan, tapi itulah kehidupan, ya?

Semakin lama aku perhatikan, rasanya seperti semakin jelas, peraturan nombor satu (order of the day) untuk zaman sekarang ini adalah untuk sentiasa jadi orang baru - sentiasa bermula. Tidak cukup  sekadar menjadi pakar cerita-cerita lama, tapi harus menguasai perkara-perkara baru dan segar.

Nanti kita sembang lagi.

Refractory

Hello there stranger!

I haven't been here in a long while & I have to admit that I feel a little embarrassed by some of the things I've written here - but such is life - it's like returning to your childhood home and find scribbles on the wall of your declaration of love for your crush that you've never really gathered enough courage to talk to.

Being away for a while has given me a somewhat more objective view of what this blog was and how it had affected me, and I would like to make a little note of that observation.

1) In a positive light, it had helped me make sense of my world and thoughts at the time. Friends and relatives may not always understand, and may only be willing to have a good time with you and would rather not deal with your pseudo complex half baked intellectual crises.
So pouring some of this out into the void of blogosfera certainly did help - I had the fortune of meeting a handful of like-minded souls, some of whom are still my friends today.


2) Also in a positive light, I now understand some of the struggles that the smart people within the creative world have to endure - to stay true to oneself.
Even though to you my dear stranger, this place may appear empty, dusty and lifeless, it was once a small ballroom where many balls and masquerade parties were held, and people did come, dance, conversed and drank beer together. (it's blogosfera Malaya, you have to mention beer or allude to your drinking to keep things edgy).

And as such, there was an audience, and with it a realization - am I doing a solo dance for myself or am I putting on a show for others? Am I doing things because I want to do them or am I doing it for the cheering crowd? What if they jeer instead of cheer? What if they go away?

I imagine this is a pretty common struggle that we've all had to deal with, and it's especially obvious within the creative industry.
Extra note:
Even if you're not an artist or a creative, you too have faced/are facing/will face these questions: but they will be bigger and more intimate in nature, so big and so intimate/close to your face that you might not even see them. Eg: Are you where you are today because you want to be there or because you're told to be there? Your personality, you behavior, are you really you or are you putting on an act to meet the expectations set upon you by your family/community? Are your dreams really yours?

Follow the white rabbit?


3) Now, in a negative light, this blog eventually became my place to rant. And let me say this, habit is a powerful thing - and this blog got me hooked on ranting. After some time spent here, I realized that I was becoming quite negative, which I certainly did not appreciate. It seemed to me that spending my time and thought processes on the blog has glued on a pair of negative goggles around my eyes - now (then) all I could look at was what's wrong with people or with my surrounding.
My mind was on a constant lookout for things to criticize or comment about, some of these things were valid, but quite many of them were trivial & being consumed by trivialities is never good my strange friend.


All in all, it has been a good learning process. I hope you benefit from my little note here, or at the very least be mildly entertained by it if that's even possible.
Have a good day & take care.

A Little Addition

Lagi sekali datang ‘catalyst’ yang membuatkan aku rasa terpanggil untuk menulis. Kali ini dalam bentuk post di bawah.

The Boinq, AKAB, Melayu Minimalis dan Lucius Maximus (aku masukkan nama Lucius bagi mencukupkan korum, boleh Lucius?) Mereka ini antara yang ada di luar sana yang menulis secara terbuka. Kadang-kadang ada cerita alkohol, kadang-kadang ada cerita perempuan, kadang-kadang ada falsafah tapi apa pun, cerita mereka banyak mengandungi input dan stimulasi yang boleh dikatakan bersifat memperkayakan . Aku pautkan blog mereka ke blog ini pun kerana isi kandungan blog mereka yang bagi aku bersifat begitu.

Sebelum aku teruskan lagi, aku mahu cakap yang aku tak ingin post ini kelihatan ‘redundant’ atau berulang. Jadi anggaplah, jika post di bawah mengusulkan satu permasalahan dan jawapan, maka post ini mengusulkan sedikit tambahan kepada jawapan yang sedia ada.

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Wisdom and Respect.

Wisdom allows you to discern and differentiate. Values are scattered everywhere, with discernment you’ll be able to choose the ones that you deem appropriate for yourself, when this happens, instead of jumping around with a ‘keris’ in one hand, you would instead be enriching yourself. And how is that not a good deal? Given the choice, would you rather have an enriched life or a shorter life expectancy due to the stress from all that ‘keris’ thrusting action?

Respect the rights of others. These rights transcend all borders, be them religion, race, color or creed. When a fellow sound minded man has made a decision, respect it. I believe Voltaire sums it up best by saying:

“I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it”

Though you may argue that Voltaire was a liberal thinker and you are not, I wish to ask you, even for only an instant, to put aside all the labels/names attached to both him and you. Without the labels, examine the statement just as it is. Is it devoid of practical goodness?

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Aku harap 2 sen aku ini akan dibaca dan dipertimbangkan .

p/s: Aku juga harap pembaca dapat menerima post yang separuh bahasa Melayu dan separuh bahasa Inggeris. Bukan apa, terpaksa menggunakan bahasa Inggeris sebab tak mahu maksud yang aku cuba sampaikan terpesong apabila aku menulisnya dalam bahasa Melayu.