Spontaneous prose by Jack Kerouac

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

toast

Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives… and to the ‘good life’, whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.
Hunter S. Thompson

100 days of change

It's been 100 days since your passing and so much have changed. I've been met with betrayal, friendship and death. The weight of the world is too heavy for a girl like me to carry on her shoulders; but I'm no longer the same girl ten years ago.

My uncle said you paid a visit to my little cousin. He bid you 'goodbye gong gong'. My aunt also saw your shadow in the room you used to occupy. I was hoping to meet you but I've not sense your presence. That also includes my sister.

But I know the cosmos has ways of telling me; during that span of time, I've met a couple of elderly people and somehow I could sense your presence in them.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting you. So much to tell.

KL Sing Song Day Two

Loud night out or quiet night in? The phrase was playing in my head the whole of yesterday because I had to decide if I wanted to stalk All-American Rejects in the evening. I chose the later and rushed back from a friend's place to pick up Muscle Man. We braved the rain and traffic and made it in time at Central Market sans dinner.

Ah, such a quaint scene at Annexe. Unlike the previous years which was held at Klpac, Annexe proved to be intimate and warm, but the turnout was terribly poor. Could it be because of the rain? Malaysians actually celebrating Halloween? People flocking to Bukit Jalil for a free-for-all concert? A formula of all of the above?

Back to KL Sing Song. Yvonne played 'door bitch' and jokingly said she was contributing free slavery because of Azmyl and we chatted for a while before making our way into the gallery. As host Fahmi introduced the first set, musicians Slowjaxx, Edwin & Albert and Wani made their way up on stage.

Now, why have I not gotten into Slowjaxx any sooner? The combo of saxophone and Jeff's voice were enough to blow me away. I took a liking to 'Liberty' and another song, I can't quite remember, when he burst in with a flurry of finger nimbling artistry. Edwin & Alvert reminded me a lot of Michael & Victor, who are now popularly known as erm, Michael and Victor individually. Muscle Man actually liked their first opening track 'Monday Blues'; I can see why, they sounded a bit Jason Mraz-ish. Now, Wani came on next. Lecturer with UiTM in Creative Writing, her voice made me sit up and I paid attention to her like a dutiful student would do. I wouldn't say she has a great voice but it was soothing and her lyrics were poignant. 'Lampu Jalan' was one of them.

During the 15-minute break, Muscle Man and I had to go to the loo but they closed up Central Market and I had to brace the mamak's. Then we headed right back up and lingered around. He also wouldn't let me near the stalls, which were selling the artiste's cds because he knew I'd be erm, wasting my money on some good' ol quality stuff. Azmyl was there and er, is it me but his hair seems to have a life on its own? I giggled to myself. I still like you and Yvonne very much, okay?

Meor walked by and I waved at him. Introduced him to Muscle Man for a bit. And made small chat before we were ushered into the gallery again.

The second set was made up of veterans in the indie scene, namely, Pete Teo, Karen Nunis and Meor. Meor kickstarted the set with 'Hari-hari Autistik', which is another fave of mine. The song, which is based on his autistic son, tells a story of how the little one is living in his own world and the father often wonders what is he thinking about. It's really poignant and touching and of course, honest. Other songs he covered that night were 'Sofa Biru' and my all-time favourite which he sang during encore: 'Yang Terlintas Di Fikiran.'

During Karen's set, she was good at keeping the audience's attention as she conversed back and forth, making small chats. I liked that her set was bewitching and mesmerising. My fave song from her has to be 'Oh My World', and I believe she did say it was downloable. Will go search for it.

Pete was his usual confident self but you could tell he was still upset over the passing of his dear friend. He kept to a 'suicidal mode' so he said. I thought he was going to shed a tear during 'Blue', but he kept it strong and managed to finish it. I love 'Blue' and all its blue-ness. It's a tender, intimate song and the venue was perfect, for the song resonated wonderfully within the walls and the high ceiling. And yes, I was laughing at you, Pete, because you made that joke about your finger - how could anyone not laugh at that?

It ended about early 12am and I bid farewell to the familiar faces. Made my way to Tung Shin, where I gobbled down some beef noodles. I didn't regret missing AAR for this; the sombre weather and the pool of talented musicians reminded me how much I've missed catching gigs around town. Will get back on it soon as I'm planning to check out Lepaq cafe.