I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend - The Ramones

As my Proton Aeroback drove on away from the LRT station, the first thing I asked once she sat next to me on the first time we went out was, "you ada duit dalam 200 ringgit, tak?"

She was shocked. And she immediately stiffen up in her seat.

I don't know what questions played in her mind at that moment, being asked such by the bloke you're on a first date with.

But of course, apa-dan-siapa pun akan terkejut bila some one yang baru first time jumpa kurang dari 2 minit lepas dah tanya ada duit ke tak.

"Kalau takde, baik you pakai seatbelt," I delivered my punchline.

She started smiling, eased up a little and put on the seatbelt.

And I fell in love to her coy smile.

Happy 10th anniversary, Nen!

I always love it when you smile.

Another Happy Bob Day!

Hari ni Father's Day.

First time in my life gua celebrate hari meraikan kaum bapa.

Significant event today : morning dip mandi laut dengan Imran & Nen.

First time my lil' boy mandi laut.

He loved the waves and water immediately. Beach boy test #1 cleared. No fear of water.

Looking forward to many more 'firsts' with Imran n Nen.

Can't wait for his first bike.

I still remember mine. Abah got me the coolest bike.

While I'm at it, "Thanks for the bike, amongst many other things. Happy Father's Day, Abah!"

Getting to the Great Gig : Part Deux

(*sorrylah kalau korang penat tunggu this part of my trip to Iron Maiden's concert last Feb. Gua sibuk kerja, bai! Lagipun, untuk menulis, moodnya kena betul.Dan sebenarnya aku malas).


15th February 2011

1.30 pm

We got past customs kat Changi Airport and naik adjourning bus to the MRT station. Aku yang dah lama gila tak gi Singapore mulanya suspen-suspen nak isap rokok bila keluar dari airport, tapi tengok ada satu group brader yang nampaknya akan jugak ke concert isap rokok ramai-ramai, aku pun sempat light up sebelum naik bas.

For this trip, aku bawak 2 packs of Marlboros, since aku tak mahu duit aku habis on unnecessary things, especially since aku yang bengap pergi tukar S$200 je kat LCCT tadi.

I plan to get concert T-shirts for Si Kembar & Malek, sorang lagi abang ipar gua yang rock. Tanpa perlu explanation, of course I'll get one for myself. I keep telling myself, "ini Singapore, Bob, sure kat booth jual merchandise accept credit card."

Kalau card hutang diterima, aku boley beli baju lebih sikit untuk kawan-kawan yang kirim air liur.


2.15 pm


Lepas bertukar-tukar MRT, (Chik is the mission leader untuk part nak sampai ke Stadium, aku dok bodoh ikut je sebab aku tak tahu nak pergi camna), finally kitorang bertiga sampai kat satu masjid dekat-dekat dengan Arab Street tengah2 city.

Kitorang terbalikkan baju rock kami & wore it inside out baru masuk masjid. Rock, rock jugak, rumah Allah kena hormat. Masa semayang, aku berdoa sungguh-sungguh pada Allah mintak ampun sebab: a) aku nak gi tengok show Maiden; b) aku jamak solat sebab nak pergi konsert nih.

Apa2 hal, makan dulu.

Lepas tu, kami went for lunch dan berjalan semula ke MRT station. Next destination: Singapore Indoor Stadium... Yeeeehaaaa!

Lepas naik MRT sampai a few stations, Mission Leader ajak transfer train naik linkchain lain nak ke stadium. Aku & Haziq ikut je.

Sekali sedang kami tengok direction kat satu station, ada dua orang mamat ni lalu dekat-dekat kitorang. Sorang pakai baju Maiden, alih2 sorang lagi pergi pakai baju Metallica pulak.

Aku & Chik baru start kutuk-kutuk cakap mamat Metallica tu tersalah concert, sekali brader yang pakai baju Maiden tegur kami.

"Ni brader pakai baju Maiden nih mesti nak gi concert. Kitorang follow boley?"

So our group now jadik 5 orang.

Mamat baju Maiden nama dia Zouk. Baju Metallica nama dia Rizal, kalau aku tak salah. Dua-dua kerja offshore. Umur baya-baya aku gak.

Mulanya aku tak la minat sangat nak tahu pasal mamat-mamat nih, tapi ada something yang diorang beritahu kat kitorang yang buat aku terkedu sekejap.

Zouk & Rizal told us yang diorang nih datang all the way dari Kelang dengan takde ticket konsert pun lagi! Nature kerja diorang menyebabkan diorang tak sempat nak beli ticket, and they told me, diorang gamble je datang dengan harapan dapat beli ticket kat stadium nanti.

"Kalau takde ticket, dapat dengar sound dari luar pun okay lah, Bob. Ini Maiden, nih," si Zouk kasitau.

Aku terus teramat impressed & automatically suka kat diorang berdua. Ini barulah pengabdian namanya!

Sungguh tak sangka on this trip aku akan jumpa fans yang betul-betul bersemangat 'Detroit Rock City'!!!

Itu jam, kalaulah aku nih Bruce Dickinson, aku akan make sure si Zouk & Rizal nih dapat terus masuk stadium sebelum orang lain, then pastikan diorang dapat lepak betul-betul depan stage tengok gua perform.

"Gua doakan luorang dapat ticket, bai," kataku dengan seikhlas hati.



3.45 pm

Keluar je dari satu MRT station, terus kami nampak concert venue. Dada gua terus berdegup kencang. Sampai pun akhirnya!

Zouk & Rizal bid us farewell as they kelam-kabut went ticket-hunting.

Tetiba aku & Chik ditegur pulak oleh some young ones. "Brader otai, meh join sekali amik gambar dengan kami."

Dalam tak kenal, kitorang mula pose sekali dengan budak2 nih. Otai tak otai, kat sini, semua rockers.

We are amongst friends!

(bersambung)

Getting to the Great Gig : Part 1

15th February 2011


8 am.

Walaupun flight kitorang ke Singapore pukul 11.50 a.m, I was geared up and all ready to go. Lepas subuh, aku terus bersiap-sedia. Maiden t-shirt – checked! Faded jeans- checked! Attitude- checked! Bob’s all ready to rock!

Imagine the anticipation build-up to the concert (since 9/11/10, actually, when the tickets were bought on-line). I waited anxiously for 3 months before this day arrived.

Some preparations were needed before the show.

First, I went to Pertama Complex to check out the concert uniforms. Every rocker in KL knows that's the best place to buy rock band t-shirts.

The trip to Pertama itself is nostalgic to me. Dulu masa kat UM, kalau tak lepak Central Market dengar buskers, Pertama would be the place to hang out.

I was glad to see that Pertama ni macam caught in a timewarp, nothing seemed to have changed. Masih ada mamat2 yang selamba isap rokok dalam the shopping complex like it was back in the 90s. Kedai ting-tong (video games) masih in business, although aku tak berani masuk takut kena paw dengan budak2 sekolah.

Tapi ada yang dah tak sama kat Pertama. Original rock band t-shirts which used to cost between 40 to 50 bucks, now has doubled up to RM100. To my surprise, aku kena fork up an extra RM10 for a size XXL t. Tapi Maiden punya pasal, what the hell-lah!

A month to the concert, I listened to Maiden whenever I could, memorizing their lyrics as much as I could. While very familiar to their earlier albums, I also began listening to songs after the ‘7^th Son of the 7^th Son’ album, although I think they’re much slower and less exciting than the earlier hits.

And there’s also the issue that the concert is held on Maulidur Rasul holiday. Aku diam je bila Nen perli2 cakap, "orang lain time Maulidur Rasul gi masjid, you nak gi konsert lagu syaitan." Part 'lagu syaitan' tu yang aku tak tahan tu... belum pergi lagi dah rasa berdosa!

So it's very difficult not to grin to myself in the bathroom mirror pagi ni. Tonight I’m going to see Iron Maiden play live, bai!

9.15 am.

Chik, Haziq & aku left for the airport.

All three of us clad in our Maiden t-shirts; aku pakai baju ‘The Trooper’, Chik pakai baju ‘These Colours Don’t Run’ and Haziq wore ‘Number of the Beast’~ two generations going to see the great ones in Singapore.

For the record, I think it’s super cool that Chik brought his 14 year old son Haziq to see Maiden play. Imagine, the boy’s first rock concert is Iron Maiden. Gila ah! You’re very lucky to have one rockin’ Daddy, Ziq.

10 am.

Once we reached the airport, to our delight, we saw small groups of guys, mostly in their twenties, scattered all over the LCCT, also wearing Iron Maiden t shirts.

Almost every one yang pakai baju Maiden acknowledged us with nods and smiles, and some even hi-fived us.

Ada one curious Chinese man tu siap tanya Chik, dia ingatkan yang ramai2 pakai baju Iron Maiden nih kerja kilang besi on company trip. Bodoh punya orang.. we're rockers lah!

Tapi one thing I noticed, though, was that bila kami berselisih dengan the young kids, there’s this amazed look on their faces before they called us ‘Abang’ or ‘brudder’. I realized then that it’s the same respectful look I’d given to the otai-otai at rock concerts that I attended 15 years ago. Sekarang, apparently, kamilah the ‘otais’. Come full circle!

Lepas check in, we were joined by my old buddy Azmi Halim & his wife Sabaq. This rocking couple pun nak gi tengok Maiden. The day before Azmi buzz aku through FaceBook, informing that he’ll be going to the concert, too. While the three of us travelled on Tiger Airlines, the couple naik AirAsia. We promised to meet Azmi & Sabaq at the stadium entrance around 4pm.

11.50 am.

Our plane departed for Singapore.

There’s also a group of 6-7 rockers on the same flight. Aku makin hyped-out. Didn’t sleep a wink until we landed in Changi airport.

Then once we have landed, as our plane moves to the hangar, tiba-tiba the other group of rockers who sat at the other end in the airplane started a commotion and looked out their windows eagerly. Curious me wondered what's all the fuss is about.

Rupa-rupanya budak2 tu kecoh at the sight of Ed Force One, Iron Maiden’s official airplane being parked at the airport.

Unfortunately, neither one of us three got to see the legendary plane sebab kitorang dok at the other side. But who's whining, nanti malam kita nak jumpa Iron Maiden in person, bai!

(bersambung)

JAWAPAN MAUT

Aku curik dengar perbualan antara 2 remaja yang sedang bersiap-siap membuka gerai jual jagung pasar malam di sekitar Kampung Lindungan PJ hari Isnin lepas.

Seorang tu agak gemuk (dikenali sebagai 'Gemuk'); seorang lagi muka banyak jerawat (kita panggil dia 'Pipi').

Lebih kurang macam ni la transkripsi nya yang memang aku make it a point to remember untuk disharekan bersama.

Pipi : Final AFF kena pergi tengok kat stadium ni!
Gemuk : Esok kita gi beli jersey Malaysia jom?
Pipi : Aku mana ada duit, ko lain lah, ko anak tokeh.
Gemuk : Itu upah kerja bapak aku kasi la bodoh!

Si Pipi yang sedang cuba memasang payung besar menghadapi kesukaran.

Pipi : (bersusah payah) Oi, camna nak buat ni?
Gemuk : Hoi, pasang payung pun tak tahu?
Pipi : Tolong la oi!
Gemuk : Ko ni bodoh betul!
Pipi : Memang la aku bodoh!
Gemuk : Tahu tak pe!
Pipi : KALAU AKU PANDAI, AKU TAK KERJA UNTUK BAPAK KAU!

Hahahahahaha!

Aku suka jawapan tu! Outstanding, young man!

I finally found THE one good reason to break my silence:

Iron Maiden.

Let me spell it out again:

I-R-O-N M-A-I-D-E-N

the catalyst


I'm going to an Iron Maiden concert next Feb, bai!

Yes, now you may envy me.

My BFF

Muhammad Imran weighted 2.55 kilos at birth.

He slept through his first month mostly.

The first three weeks, aku tak berani dukung Imran langsung, eventhough I wanted to.

This coming Friday, Imran will be 3 months old. And he's almost 6 kilos already.

Not only has he gained in weight, I notice that my boy has develop his senses and is also more alert.

Imran responds when called and has come to recognise family members like Opah, MakSu and sister cousin Kak Fira, besides Nen & me, of course.

While he finds comfort in his Mak's arms, I am his entertainer. I talk to him all the time, and Imran goes goo-goo-gaa-gaa, as if talking to me.

I am reliable enough to feed him, and last weekend I successfully coaxed him to sleep without assistance from Nen.

Strangely, waiting for him to wake up in the morning actually is the highlight of my day.

Without fail, when he wakes up, the first thing he'll do is greet Nen & me both with his sweet smile. No shit. It happens every morning.

I have discovered one level of happiness never experienced before with Imran's presence in my life.

Imran, I know we're gonna be really good buddies.