Maulidur Rasul and Me

As I'm typing this, I'm listening to Dr. Ary Ginanjar Agustian speak on tv (Astro Oasis, channel 106). He is narrating the story of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in conjunction with the Maulidur Rasul tomorrow.

It's quite a surprise that anyone could actually tell the story in a way that i would actually enjoy listening to so much and be affected by it. The way Ary Ginanjar is telling it is so moving that it almost brought me to tears. This reminded me of the ESQ course he held few years back that i went to. the things he say connects so much to your heart that you truly feel them (as if you were there witnessing with your own eyes).

He's speaking without script, and this is a one-hour program. to add to the awe, the language he uses is very poetic..just superb. As he is speaking now, i can see his eyes glistening with tears and his face turning pink. i thinking he's restraining himself from crying. im going to go watch him now.



note for self from the show:

1. tahap pencarian (spiritualitas) - Nabi Muhammad mencari dirinya dengan mencari kebenaran hakiki.
2. pembangunan jiwa tauhid - dengan mencintai Allah, baru boleh mencintai diri sendiri.

3. Jangan jadikan alasan tidak mampu mencintai Rasul kerana kita tidak mengenalinya, kerana beliau bisa mencintai kita tanpa perlu mengenali kita (perkataan terakhir beliau sebelum menghembuskan nafas terakhir di sisi isterinya: "Umati, umati, umati") begitu sayang beliau terhadap umatnya, walau beliau tahu umatnya tidak berpeluang mengenalnya ketika beliau masih hidup.

4. kenali lah dirimu dengan mengenali Tuhan dan Rasul mu.
5. Rasulullah mengajar dua benda: al-Quran dan al-Hadith.
6. Beliau buta huruf, tetapi bisa membaca selepas turunnya surah Al-Alaq. (Malaikat Jibrail menyeru beliau: Iqra'!) betapa penting menimba ilmu dan membaca.

Mortal Kombat

ahahaha this is pretty funny. a parody of the famed mortal kombat. check it out.

sony world photography awards 2009/2010

last week, there was a photo exhibition and my friend and i went to see it. it was refreshing. the Sony World Photography Awards (Global Tour 2009/2010) was held at the Galeri Petronas klcc and it was free. there were lots of photographers, new and seasoned, amateur and professionals. our most favourite has to be dylan collard from uk. his photos are all superb! Here are some of the photos. Copyrights of Sony.

Dylan Collard (UK)

Commercial - Advertising, 3rd place 2009

Julian Abram Wainwright (Canada)

Photojournalism and Documentary - Sport, Winner 2009

 

David Watts (UK)

Amateur, Fine Art - Architecture, Winner 2009

sadly, there were no photographers from malaysia. there was one from singapore (who took a photo of an endangered species of bird in malaysia's rainforest) but none from malaysia. maybe next time there will be more participation in this kinds of competition from malaysian photographers. good stuff.


note: the exhibition is from 04/02-28/03 2010. it's still on, go check it out.

the remains

i empty myself of the names of others. i empty my pockets.
i leave my shoes and leave them beside the road.
at night i turn back the clocks;
i look at the family album and look at myself as a boy.

what good does it do? the hours have done their job.
i say my own name. i say goodbye.
the words follow each other downwind.
i love my wife but send her away.

my parents rise out of their thrones
into the milky rooms of clouds. how can i sing?
time tells me what i am. i change and i am the same.
i empty myself of my life and my life remains.



p/s: this poem was used for my contemporary literature test few days back. i thought it was brilliant.

untitled

un-a-feel.
unknown.
unrepeatable.

.

song by sigur ros.

most played track of the month.

that face

when a face reaches you, what do you see?

do you look at the smile, the lines that tug it at the corners?
do you search deep into the eyes, swimming in its sorrow?
do you unfold the wrinkles, understanding the years it lived?
do you see it for what it is, or for what it could have been?
do you look at it with your eyes, your mind, or your heart?
do you want to touch the face, with the dryness of your palms?
do you want to keep that face, and put it in your heart?

and keep it in a corner, for you to always remember?

little ms. misery

ah misery, misery.
they never let me be.

it's always the same forray;
only on a different day.

or

different kinds of shit;
sent to me on repeat.

blimey

oh misery, misery.
a friend to me you'll be.

what do you want from me

"now here we are,

so what do you want from me?"

p/s:  how convenient it would be if i were to be the one to answer it instead of you.

attacked.

down with fever. and had a wth moment with an asthma attack. i hadnt had it since school, but yeah, things work in circles. i was too comfortable with the air-cond, the cold drinks and walking out in the rain at night, i guess. it all accumulated and came back to haunt me. well what can i do, im just a free spirited girl who thinks life's too short to just sit home and tend to my sickness. carelessness, is pretty much it, if you look at the glass as half empty.

dealing with a lot of things from my bed these days. or sleeping, is what i do most of the times. getting this typed is pretty impressive. i would rather die out of anything but boredom.

been helping out with my sis' cheer stuffs too: the chants, routines, uniforms etc when im awake. hmm got some inside scoop on how its done.

been trying to bond with the bro since his back from uni for the hols. such a waste, he brought his friend home instead. good backup for not listening to me yapping bout what a great life i have. hah. smart boy he is. such an adult now.

another sis is charting out her life pretty much entirely to strategizing ways to get my parents to agree for her to go out and "hang out" with her friends. poor girl, im wayyy pass that (though i still need permission sometimes ugh).

mom is really busy these days. she tries to get her hands into anything, no everything. she's taking painting classes, taking orders and painting for clients. exploring new things, girls' day out, movie dates with dad, anniversary date with dad, hanging out with dad, intruding her children's privacy, investigating her children's lives, visiting friends...the list goes on. all that with in between cooking up a storm for the family, making sure the house is squeaky clean and torturing us. she continues to surprise me.

dad is busy too; with mom, with us children, with the cars, with his channel, with all things work, sleeping, andddd eating. he's such a big eater now! he eats anything, anywhere, all the time. he gets cuter as he gets older. thats my ol' man.

and me; im always in bed. even if im not sleeping, i cant really get anywhere. ive got breathing problems for heavens sake. and fever to add to the suffering. thank god the cyber world is just a click away. even then, i cant really look at the screen for a long time, i'll get headache. so basically, my life these few days revolves around the things between me and the bed and the rest of the house.

but from the bed, i get to appreciate the one thing i always forget to pay more attention to:

my family.

paper bikin gua panas

to be honest, i friggin hate reading the bloody papers nowadays. news they put on the covers are shit and dont even get me started on the exaggerated tabloids. whatthefrankestein are we being fed these days? the news somehow reflects on the readers and i sure dont want to be deemed as some bimbotic who love to take note on whose pants the politicians have been into, or which celebrity has dated whose ex, or this and this VVIP has "melamar" who. i dont bloody care. just like how i dont care who they give the Datuk-ship too. well, if Shah Rukh Khan and Jean Todt who have very little (to none) impact on Malaysia can get the title, than i couldnt be bothered. what a waste.

im now just waiting for my first gray hair to come out, just thinking about all these things! come Chinese New Year, it's all about David Teoh! since when has he been the ambassador for all chinese citizens of Malaysia? he made malaysian movie-goers look like dumb people watching some shitty obvious-dubbing dialogues and wig-wearing casts, and saying "saya buat film (in that weird way he pronounce it) yang permintaan orang ramai, yang orang mahu tonton. di samping itu lah saya dapat profit". whatthefunk. you thought about us first, then the money? how sweet of you. maybe that explains why the media love you so much and granted you that center spread huh. (or maybe its the huge ang pow you give them). and i cant help myself from being reminded of that "small" feud he had with Norman KRU about whose film made it top in the charts. teoh claimed it was his, and Norman was so meticulous and enraged, i think, that he found it a need to demand teoh to prove his numbers. norman did the right thing. cakap gebang la lu.

and there's just so many things i need to let out of my chest, but i just couldnt.  here are some random things.


1. Le Tour de Langkawi demanded by Tun to be returned to Langkawi after some nitwit thought it could be a good idea to bring it elsewhere (coz there's a reason why its named the tour of Langkawi for heaven's sake lahhh. to promote langkawi and since its in kedah, to be at par with the penang tourism, which now has turned into a mini hongkong or singapore)

2. penang plans to open a quay residence, i have no idea where else they plan to build all this, but i have a feeling guan eng is going to approve yet another tambak-menambak project. and then the chinese will buy all these luxurious property, and because the malays cant afford it, they will move to seberang perai, or kedah, but out of penang. penang then achieved 100% chinese citizens as they dreamed. then penang will sink, because tanah tambak jadi lembut sebab air pantai yang semakin deras and too many high-rise. tak counter balance dowh. good luck guan eng and co.

watching in glee

i know i said i didnt like the so-called better version of HSM, Glee after i only watched the first episode. but after i watched some episodes in between, i quite like it. i realised i only hated the show, coz of the main cast, whatever her name is (oh she played rachel i think). i peeved her shrieking annoying voice, and just the way she plays the character. sheesh. quite a spoiler considering the rest of the cast is pretty cool.

here's what really drawed me to the show:



my ever favourite song in the entire universe. and thumbs up to the choreography. not bad!


p/s: for the full song click here. the clip is mirrored, cant find any other version. but good all the same!

Uda dan Dara

 

Uda dan Dara adalah naskhah pertama teater muzikal yang dihasilkan oleh Sasterawan Negara Dato' (Dr) Usman Awang pada tahun 1972. Bermula dengan puisi Gadis Di Kuburan, puisi ini dikembangkan menjadi cerpen, drama radio, drama TV dan drama pentas.

Kini setelah 38 tahun, UA Enterprises Sdn Bhd buat pertama kalinya membawa Muzikal Uda dan Dara kembali. Kali ini ianya akan dipentaskan di Panggung Sari Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Nantikan kemunculannya...

(taken from FB events from Haslina Usman)

p/s: penolong produksi adalah fasyali fadzly, yang pernah menjadi penolong pengarah kepada adlan ramly untuk produksi Whoa! Willow!! the musical januari lalu.

takut

takut.

seperti berperang

tanpa senjata.

things i learn in class 3

i was an hour late for asian lit class today. entered the class casually, and sat listening to the discussion. it was comforting that the rain is pouring like no tomorrow so i had an excuse to be late. though i need not explain anything, i bet the lecturer made her own assumptions based on what she saw: me holding an umbrella, kain wet, hair slightly dishevelled, a pair of flip-flops, i-am-not-guilty expression on face. she must have made an inference that i was late cause of the rain, and i let her. i didnt say a thing.

i have to admit, i am not the kind of student who is always early. i occasionally come early, most of the times by accident (absurd, i know). but i dont think that makes me a bad student, entirely. i have always believed that it is better to be late than never. i know a lot of students are like me.

my record of coming late would be 2hours late for a 3hour class. so i still got 1hour's worth of lesson, didnt i? (though the last 1hour was allocated for class meeting, but whocares). i once came late into a class (4years ago and i still remember), and the lecturer looked at me, furious. she said "you're late". i said nonchalantly "oh, it's ok" and she snapped "but i'm not". pergh, that was a knife stab! that gave me the motivation to come (slightly) early for few weeks after that, before i started to come late again. bad habits are hard to die!

me and coming-late-to-class have been partners for years. i understand the nature truly, and have mastered the fine art of it. this is so, until i've heard testimonials from fellow friends saying things like "alah, biasa la dia tuhh kalau datang lambat". who are they to judge right? they dont know shit what i had to go through prior to that late-coming. maybe i was too tired and had to sleep? that doesnt mean i overslept, i just slept more. in fact it's the most foundation of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. what if i was too sleepy until i cant focus in class. wouldnt that be redundant for me to come to class and sit with my eyes closed, my minds elsewhere? i truly support those who feel that they want to come late to class, with valid reasons (verified by own). if they think in that circumstance it's ok for them to come late, i think "just do it!"

like if you come late to try to complete the assignment due in that class. i know its procrastinating, but maybe you're the kind of person who are inspired at the last minute? i believe it's ok if procrastinating is your game, as long as you know how to get it done on time (or not, depends on situation), and to get it done as best as it could be. dont lah procrastinate, and reflects in the quality of the end product. you gotta make it look as if you spent weeks/months working on it. end product is most important.

that's my two cents for today. hah. look who's talking right? lol yeah i speak from experience :p

kesal

aku hanya bercakap

dan itu hanyalah kata-kata

aku tidak maksudkannya begitu.

Mimpi Sang Realis

Mimpi Sang Realis (atau realisation sang pemimpi) ketika kaki dibasah air laut pada jam 3 pagi.

Sentiasa ada kau yang aku fikirkan

dan kau yang sebenarnya

sentiasa ada diriku yang aku tunjukkan

dan aku yang sebenarnya

sentiasa ada dunia seperti yang kita lihat

dan dunia yang sebenarnya

dan matahari dan bulan dan bintang-bintang di angkasa

dan pasir pantai dan ombak laut

dan gerombolan awan yang berarak

boleh jadi sedang mengikuti hati kita

dan menyanyikan perasaan kita

atau sekadar objek-objek mati yang memenuhi ruang.

- ledisordre '09

[Sajak Salun Eksotikata]

p/s: thanks chip (:

not very glad

.

what's fantastic about life is that nothing seems to really be what they look like.

that's a bonus, or disaster.

for now, a disaster.

.

indonesian's best exports

first saw it from dianarikasari's blog, then my interest was reinforced by zafirahanis when she showed me their cover of beyonce's telephone. and then, tatieta and i stalked them on youtube and they were just amazing! gamal, if you're reading this, we're huge fans of yours! come to malaysia!

here's gamal performing just dance by gaga.



watch gamal, his sister, Audrey and their friends on youtube. they've covered a lot of songs and written some originals. just search for gamaliel. absolute love!