AT THE SPEED OF NOOR

Update: As of Dec 2020, Carthreena has disbanded after releasing their acoustic ep of the album, which is available in their Youtube channel. The Basics Band: Carthreena Album: Breathe For Tomorrow Release: 2018 Country: Malaysia Genre(s): Post-Hardcore/Emo Language(s): English and Malay [Credit: The band's Facebook] Two versions of album covers for Breathe For Tomorrow Breathe For Tomorrow (BFT) is Carthreena's first album. 12-song strong with a range of tunes in both English and Malay, it is packed with energy served with a small side of mellow songs to balance things out. Here's the album playlist: The Songs Here are my thoughts for each song based on my listening experience, before I give my final thoughts on the whole album. Note: I also added in comments based on listening to these performed live, for comparison. We begin with ' Visionary Ghost ', which creeps in like a whispering apparition before picking up in intensity, especially t...

I found out that Hyde was coming to Malaysia through a Facebook ad that I almost scrolled past. At first I thought it was a scam or that I'd misread the poster until I landed on the organiser's event page , saying that he indeed was coming to KL in May 2018. In fact, it was the only stop he would be making in South East Asia in 2018. No words could explain how gobsmacked I was, but needless to say I have never bought tickets to something so fast in my life lol.

I cosplayed as Hell Girl recently at a comic fest, and a girl (who was probably 14) came up to me all excited to ask if we could take a photo together with her phone.  When we tried to wefie she couldn't even take the picture because her hands were shaking, so I ended up helping her take it hehe. It was THE CUTEST THING. It's so nice to know you made someone happy by dressing as a character you+they love. 💕

If you're not disabled, you don't get to decide what's ableist. If you're from the majority/dominant ethnic group, you don't get to decide what's racist.  If you're not poor, you don't get to decide what's classist. And so on and so forth. Instead of (re)defining what is or isn't discriminatory when you're not on the receiving end of policies/events/sentiments that are harmful to your social group, it's best to share/signalboost the voices and ideas of people who ARE affected by them. Use your privilleges to help rather than suppress those who have been/are still being silenced/sidelined.

I generally avoid ongoing manga because I cannot handle things without closure, but since my friend  N highly recommended this title (with the promise that the chapters can be read by themselves rather than a continuous storyline), I figured I might as well try. Oh boy, what a wonderful read this was!

I keep being proven wrong that shoujo is mainly for the consumption of teenagegirls, because this is one (of many!) that is not only relatable but even enjoyable for even a grown-up like me.  I found the title while rummaging through MangaRock categories, as this was under the 'unlikely couples' category (or something like that) - and I'm so glad I did!

Satoko to Nada was recommended to me by my friend Nana who is also an avid manga reader, so I was not only intrigued by this series, I was genuinely excited to read it. This was the first manga I've ever read with a hijabi as one of its main characters. I coudn't wait to read it as soon as I found it online. It basically revolves around two housemates in America: a Japanese girl and a Muslim Arab girl who became fast friends despite having very little in common.

5 things I learnt from going to Good Vibes this year: VIP tix was worth the price, because front row watching Lorde 😌 I'm much older than most of the crowd So many cute/hot/pretty/interesting-looking people but #2 😂 Genting hotel etc establishment is pretty impressive I underestimated how many people gamble I may elaborate and add more input... we'll see.

6am at a McD. A fairly old staff member sweeps the floor of the restaurant near me, but he pauses every few minutes. I thought he was trying to figure out how to remove stubborn stains in those areas, but after a few times of him doing this, I notice him standing quietly (almost swaying) behind me longer than before, this time right next to a table.  When I turned to look at him properly, I realised that he'd actually drifted off to sleep while standing - had he lost his footing, he would've fallen down or worse, knock his head on the corner of the table. As someone who can fall asleep quite easily and in the randomest positions, it was deeply concerning (and I can also empathise) how dangerous it would be if this happened. I was quickly considering ways to wake him up when he suddenly came to and continued sweeping, probably thinking/hoping that nobody saw him. He is mopping the floor now, which has woken him up some, thankfully. I sincerely hope he is okay.

It saddens me whenever people resort to using religious scripture to justify why we should be kind to other beings. Is receiving afterlife benefits (or avoiding divine punishment) the only reason to be a good person? Is our society so emotionally bankrupt that the only way for people to be decent to others is through religious guilt/personal gain?

My car broke down on my way back home from work yesterday. It was close to 10pm, and it started to drizzle when the engine kept dying after a few seconds of driving. It was a pretty horrible day, haha. When my parents arrived to help me out, we were told by a few people who were eating at some stalls nearby that there is a small car workshop close to where I was parked. And it happened to be open at night. So yeah, miracles do happen. After talking to the main mechanic (who said the problem was with a spark in the engine), we left the car with him so that he didn't have to rush to fix it. He called me around 7pm today to say the car was ready, so at around 8pm, we went to the workshop again. He charged me RM90, which I thought was pretty reasonable as it is... until I realise that he fixed not only the engine, but also a part of the engine frame which had a small hole, the lever to open the trunk, and one of the red rear lights (which I didn't realise wasn't working until h...