My New Year Resolutions

The clock is ticking and as of now it's only a day away from the big 2011. bye bye in advance to 2010, lots of good memories and made a ton of new friends but I'm really excited about the coming 2011.

I have finally thought about my New Years Resolution and here it is.

1)Finish my album - Yeah things didn't go as planned when my band split up but now that I'm going solo I guess I have alot more room to experiment and reshape myself as a musician. As I've mentioned in my moenasrul.com post . 

2)Finish up the Social Networking part of my website- not many people know that I am building my website on my own. I mean not to say that I can't hire a web designer to do the hard parts (which I do when I hit a brick wall) but I believe if it's your passion then you should get your hands dirty. Quite a while back I've been toying with the idea of turning my moenasrul.com E-team and members area into a social network of sorts so my friends and fans can do other things while being stuck in my vain Universe.

3)Finish reading two books- yup I used to be a heavy reader but now all I read are blogs and wikipedia articles. Time to hit the old school reading material.

4)Finish writing the musical score for my Musical- You see I tend to do alot of creative things and one of them was writing a musical. I have finally finished the script but I haven't yet written the music for it. What's a musical without music right?

5)Finish the Graphic Novel- this one is for my own personal satisfaction. You see before I discovered music I was really into comic books and graphic novels along with Magic The Gathering Trading cards and Warhammer 40k. I started a graphic novel complete with written script and all. I just never finished drawing it. I recently found my old drawings and that old feeling just came back. 2011 you might be the year I finish it finally.

What are your New Years Resolutions?

OMG these videos really inspired me.

Ok I know people assume that watching videos on youtube is a waste of time or is a sign that I'm wasting my time. I beg to differ, it really depends on what you watch and how it affects your daily life.

So these videos below inspired me today and in fact lifted the sort of slightly downward emotional slop that I've been facing lately.

Paintball makes you a real man!

ok maybe it's a bold statement but it is true to an extent. I mean yesterday I was playing paintball with a few friends and my younger sisters as you'd know if you'd been keeping tabs on me via facebook and twitter, and here I am covered in bruises and scratches from running through the wonderful rainforest of Malaysia while an array of flying balls zoom through the air.

It was an amazingly exhilarating experience. I mean it actually felt like a real life battle and no 3D pixelated game could ever come close. Even as i'm typing this I'm a talking to my house mate Sashi C. Loco about the whole experience as well as about the whole idea I had about making a social network on my website moenasrul.com. You can read the post by clicking this

http://www.moenasrul.com/projectblog.cfm?feature=1883238&postid=649577

But back to the topic of paintball. Nothing makes you feel more alive than running around getting shot. I wanna do it again sometime :D Anyone wanna join me?

TLC "Promise Me Campaign"--Izzul and Genting Highlands

Let me recount my weekend.

On Friday, I was in Penang as i was invited by my girlfriend to attend "Altera Family Day"--the place where she works. I have lots of fun where i was given a girlfriend-guided tour of the facilities.

It was my first time chilling in her cubicle... 

Check it out. She has dual monitor for her to do her job.

I rock out at the game room..

The game room is equipped with a digital electronic drum set, a keyboard, and a mic for employees to sing the work blues away.

I showed off my button-mashing skills to a bunch of seven year olds...

"Now press this button to run away from my combos..."

I checked out the skills of other employees at pool and air hockey...

and i checked out my girlfriend's flirting skill...

She still has it!

and had lunch like a king at the cafeteria....

*droooolllll*

 

 

 

It was a great Family Day organized by Altera. With soaring spirit, i head back to KL in preparation for the great outing i have been waiting for--fulfilling Izzul's wish to ride the cable car at Genting Highlands.

Thanks Altera!

With less than five hours of sleep, i woke up feeling energized and ready for a full day of fun with the most cheerful boy I have ever met. Encik Azam gave my friends a tour of the orphanage and i was glad to know that children are very well taken care of.

30 children! A glance on Rumah Aman website shows that the kids aspires to be teacher, firemen, and mostly (you guessed it WRONG!) army and navy.

Are you ready Izzul? Urfah (in black) is the guardian and makes sure that there is nothing wrong going on in this trip.

At 10 am, we head out to One Utama to buy tickets to the cable car ride and to have lunch as we were all famished. "Prince for the day" Izzul chose MacDonald's.

Izzul ordered Ayam Goreng MacD. The good boy only ate one and kept another piece for dinner. He even threw away his empty coke cup and fries box. According to Urfah, the boys are thought to not over eat and clean up after themselves. The boys are independent from a very young age. I think it is a valuable lifelong lesson and character building in the world of naughty brats!

After lunch, we decided to take a little "detour" and test out Daytona first.

"I just overtook you dude..."

We arrived at the Sky Park lower station around 1pm. Because it was a weekend AND a school holiday, the cable car queue was out of this world. It was pure madness.

We waited for over 45 minutes....

Izzul's wish: FULFILLED!

I wanted Izzul to feel the blast of cold fog and enjoyed the view. We were at 6,000 feet above sea level! It was a moment Izzul would cherish as we sit and have a nice cup of hot cocoa with a slice of strawberry pie while enjoying the view and feel the cold almost winter-like breeze.

Izzul also had the fun of his young life--going for thrilling rides. We're talking crazy swings and pirate ships!

But it was a shame that we could not ride the roller coaster as Izzul wanted to ride it, but it was already closed. Nevertheless, Izzul head home safe and sound. Oh did i mention that Izzul vomited on the way down from Genting because of the steep road? We stopped by a gas station to buy some minyak angin and a piece of sandwich to hold the stomach, and for Izzul to clean up. Such a brave independent Navy-to-be!

After excluding the expenses for the trip, we managed to make a donation of RM358.00 (out of RM470.00) to Rumah Aman.

I then rushed off to an event at Sunway Giza. At 11.45pm, off i went to Sri Pentas to host 8TV Nite Live from 12:45am to 1:45am.

It was a long, long weekend. But i was happy that i get to go beyond Izzul's  innocent wish of soaring 6,000 feet above sea level. To see his face lights up when he rode the cable car for the first time was totally priceless. To this day, i still recounts his expression as we had our hot cocoa and light refreshment and gazed at the  magnificent mountainview and the rainforest scenery. And how about seeing Izzul's face flushed with happiness after riding the rides at Genting Theme Park? Unforgettable.


A heap of thanks to my manager Julian Lee, my PA Cheryl, and my friends Emily, Alex, Elaine, Danyal, and Ben for your support and time to make the Genting trip more exciting. Thank you TLC for the opportunity to get to know the staffs and children at Rumah Aman, Izzul, and this wonderful life changing experience. With God's blessing, i hope to continue on this selfless journey.

Metal Family Tree!!!

I was randomly searching online because I was helping a friend look for material for her assignment on the Heavy Metal Genre.

I recommended that she watch Global Metal and Metal: A Headbangers Journey by Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen. Both give really good insights into the world of Heavy Metal.

But What I really thought was awesome was the fact that in the documentary Metal they had a family tree for the Metal Genre. I finally found it and here is it is!

Rock on!!!

My Sister showed me this video and I thought it was cool :D

My sister Nasirah or Irah as she would like to be referred to had shown me this video via her phone during a random family dinner. I thought it was cool cause it seems that all Asian groups are hitting the USA market. Hope for Asians all over the world :)

From Moenasrul.com:" Recording Sessions: The Book"

 

You know it has been said that musicians now a days have to be Business men or women. I mean we are all in the business of entertaining people and getting our music out there for all to hear.

So to increase my range of influence for my music I have decided to by the above book. I've been to a few forums and apparently there have been alot of praise for this book. I'll Keep you guys updated week by week on my progress.

When would I start? well how about starting from the week commencing on the 13th onwards. they say that the number 13 is a lucky number... for Vikings graaaaaahhh!!