you see, on the mantelpiece, in the house, right now, there are three kilos of cocaine that they didn’t find

And, now, for something that isn’t about me and my issues.

I went to the KL International Book Fair with friends (love ’em~) and bought myself a handful (four, actually) of (secondhand) books: 1984 by George Orwell (yes, I’m only getting around to reading it now), The Dope Priest by Nicholas Blindcoe (why lie, the title immediately grabbed me), Snowblind by Robert Sabbag (yes, again, the title grabbed my attention, as did the subtitle) and Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac (I’ve been meaning to explore Kerouac, so yeah). Cost me about RM50 for all four, which is I guess quite a nice price to pay.

I’m currently reading Snowblind, and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s incredibly interesting, seems well-researched and is really superbly written. Sure, I like Murakami’s slow-ish, poetic writing style, but I also love the dry, witty and almost hard-boiled writing style of writers such as the aforementioned Sabbag and Ken Bruen. Sometimes I’d even say that I actually prefer the latter over the former.

Certainly, reading Snowblind hasn’t gotten me into that thoughtful, melancholic mood that Norwegian Wood got me into. But I’m reading through it at about the same rate, since it is, as I said, bloody interesting. I mean, what’s there not to like about a book about drugs and cocaine smuggling? Especially when it’s not written from a moralizing, preachy standpoint against drugs.

I also started reading a bit of Kerouac’s Desolation Angels, and it seems like I’ll like it too.

So, yeah, four books to work through, and if I keep this up (166 pages of Snowblind in one night/two sittings) I’m sure I’ll be done with two books before next week is out. Which is a bit disturbing, since I have exams. I should study and all, finish up my assignment for my Language and Media class, prepare my slides for Monday’s English Proficiency 3 presentation. But I’m not, am I? Haha. I’m reading and listening to music and writing this blog post.

Reading does help me, a bit, with getting out of the near-constant emotional pits I dig myself into. At the very least, it’s something to draw my interest and stimulate my mind/imagintion and get me away from that shit. And, trust me, there’s a lot of “that shit” going around in my head right now. :fuattraction:

The other night, while a friend was over at my place and we were working through a couple of xLumbrahx tracks, it occured to me how funnily things have developed:

Turn the clock back to 2005, where I was beginning to get familiar with the local scene, particularly the punk/hardcore/metal scene. I forget how I stumbled upon xLumbrahx’s MySpace, but dear God I rocked their song “Hak Kita” so hard back then. I’d scream along, I figured out the chords and I’d bang that song out on my guitar for a while before I kinda lost interest. Even wanted to try and play that song with my “band”. We didn’t, because we were a bunch of talentless kids.

Fast forward to April 2008, and I’m learning that song (plus another) one again with a friend. I’m going to be playing it in a band, yes. But, this time, I’m going to be playing it as a part of xLumbrahx. Yes. I am one of their guitarists. Now, sure, it’s not that epic, but I guess it is quite thought-provoking how things change and develop. There was a moment that night when I stopped playing and fell silent, trying to absorb that simple fact. Haha. And, yes, perhaps I am playing up the whole “change” thing and how much it actually means to me.

It does mean something to me, though, for sure. I guess I’m a bit excited about things. Maybe not overly excited (I never am, these days, thank God), but I do feel a bit good about it. Won’t lie that I’d like to be able to get more excited about it and look forward to it more, if only to help me get through my days.

It’s like a feel-good Summer movie, except not at all epic and not that “socially healthy”.

But fuck, it is nice.