It's one bad news after another. At the end of last week, the world got the news that Japan was stroked by a 8.9 magnitude earthquake and followed by a devastating tsunami that reportedly killed thousands of people and rendered many homeless.
In times of adversity like these that we see the true nature of man, more easily with the help of internet and social networking. There are sympathizers that offers prayers and help, and then there are the haters, yes, haters who said Japan had it coming for them because of WWII inflictions. Then tell me trolls, what happened to Germany? There are so many more, but I'd rather not focus on this right now. What ever you do, please don't put salt to injury, they are hurting enough already, please provide support.
Although I am thousands of miles away, news and videos on the internet travels fast. It's harrowing to see these images, of cars, lorries and houses being swept away by the tsunami current like it was made out of cardboards. I truly sympathize to those who has lost their family members and belongings in this natural disaster (the irony of disaster being anything but 'natural' is distasteful actually).
I was brought to remember the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. We still have not gotten over the emotional feeling that come to surface every time we think about it, and now this?
It is a very sad news and my prayers for all in Japan, may you all be in the safe guard of God and may He grant you all strength in facing this adversity.
And I do hope they manage to contain the radioactive nuclear plant from meltdown. I really hate to see things go from bad to worse.
I just lost my dear cousin today. When my mother called to inform me the sad news, it felt like happiness and light has been sucked out from me at that very moment in time and the space has now been replaced by shock, sadness and woe.
I can't help but feel sad knowing that I am going to miss my dear 20 years old cousin who was once very bubbly and very helpful person who loves kids very much. Gone too soon is what I think.
She was a very healthy person the last time I met her sometime over a year ago. Then about 6 months back my mom told me she had fallen ill. Something happened to her nerves (saraf tunjang) and had problem with her sight and controlling her muscles. Due to that she fell one day and hurt her back and that worsen her condition. She had to walk using crutches and sometimes her brothers and sister had to carry her (papah bahu). Despite all of that, she was still determined to go to her classes. I have to let you know that she's a brilliant student.
She did went for check ups, did physiotherapy and alternative medicine, seeing an imam, etc. Not much improvements.
Two weeks ago, I heard that her condition deteriorated and was bed ridden. Then a few days after she went into a coma and was sent into an ICU.
The last I heard last week, I heard she woke up from coma and was recovering.
I was secretly praying and hoping that she will bounce back and be well again like normal. But I guess Allah knows what's best for her.
Dear Ya, I am so sorry that I didn't find the time to visit you or give you encouraging words. I know you are in a better place right now. All worldly and physical pain has been alleviated, finally. I truly admire your strength, patience and bravery in facing this big test from Him.
Everybody is going to miss you, but Allah loves you more. Al-Fatihah.
I once (actually many times..) told my room mate half jokingly to get married first because if not, I would be crossing over the sill (langkah bendul). And so she did. Good girl.
Last Saturday was her wedding reception in Kedah and I was there to eat the nasi minyak. Congratulations!
The theme was pink/purplish (is there a word for this kind of color?), which I think really suited her.
We came from the same batch in high school but at that time, I only knew that she was just some girl in class 510 who was a year older because had to go through 'kelas peralihan'. So everyone called her 'kak' and I never gave a second thought. Then she became my room mate and class mate in the tight knit community in college. When we separated to each respective Uni, we still manage to meet up a few times every year for the road trips and suchs. Then after graduating we kept bouncing emails to and fro during working hours just for fun and to pass the time (and because work servers are really fast so it's like 'chatting').
She's got a really big heart and very sporting because most of the time, she would be 'bullied' by ali and me most of the time with internal jokes like 'nomber', pumpong, 'wanite' and 'lari setempat' (teruk kan? sorilah).
Anyway, I am dedicating this song to her. I think this song is very suitable for the occasion. (ps, i'm still waiting for the next big bollywood movie to come by it's been ages since the last good one).
It's been a while since I last took pictures for a wedding, and this one turned out to be below my own standard of quality. I guess I have lost the touch somewhere along the road. As I was doing post processing, I was very disappointed to see there was a color shift when transferring images from photoshop to the web. Now the photos are looking like they've been washed with blue ink and people looked very pale like vampires. I also noticed that the colors are different in FB and in Fotopages. Why? I'm still trying to figure out why this is happening...
anyway, the album is in FB and Fotopages. You know where to find them.
Talk about weddings, this reminded me of a (re)tweet that i saw: RT @FlyFM958: if you had all the money in the world, where would you wanna get married? -Rush Hour-
I was thinking about it (just for fun) and thought of a few places:
5 star hotel (nah, too typical), castle (gives me an eerie and creepy feeling), museum (too nerdy, but the science museum in London might be interesting though, but geeky), by the beach (too windy).
There are other places that are really, really nice like Taj Mahal or Alhambra or Greece and Turkey. Or a mansion with vast garden and different themes like at Powerscourt in Dublin.
Then I thought about what I would really like is actually something simple like on an open roof that overlooks city lights at night that looked like stars. Or perhaps on a rooftop underneath thousand of stars. That rooftop must be somewhere in a desert or an ancient city with cool breeze so that it's not that hot. Or a rooftop in NYC or LA. Or a rooftop in Santorini Islands overlooking the sea. A Rocking Rooftop wedding. (lol as i am typing this).
One word - poyo!
And then I remembered one episode of The Walking Dead, where a guy was left chained on a rooftop with zombies trying to break down the door to get to him. Sure, Killjoy.
This year's Eid was a quiet and rather peaceful affair for my family and I. Unlike last year, we didn't travel back to my parents hometown, but stayed in Penang. Apart from the overdose of Dato siti concerts on all tv channels, Senario slapsticks and the never ending ghost stories on tv, everything was smooth and under control.
Although sometimes I felt worksick (something similar to homesick, but you miss work instead), just because I was simply fresh out of work. Heaven knows that if I was still attached to the company I'd be dreading going to work today. Haha... how life is very funny in a cynical way.
[US OPEN]
US Open has closed it's chapter for this year. With Kim Clijsters and Rafael Nadal tops the women's and men's singles. I personally think that Clijsters- Williams semifinals tops the Clijsters-Zvonareva finals match, but fate has it's own plans. I have great respect for Kim because she's won the title for 2 consecutive years (and being a mother at the same time, great respect for working and succesful mothers out there!). The men's final, on the other hand did not dissapoint, although it wasn't Federer-Nadal finals and the game had to be postponed to the next day due to rain. Nole put up a good front and both men played superb tennis this morning. Nadal made history to become one of the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam (only after 'ahem' Roger Federer, of course).
What I like about tennis is that the players are always modest and humble even when they 'slaughtered' their opponents in the match. Providing consolating words and praised their opponents for their fighting spirit, Kim and Rafa both congratulated Vera and Nole and promised that their time to hold the trophy will come in the near future. 'It must be love' as goes the motto for this year's US Open.
Next up, Australian Open. I do hope Roger Federer will find his way again to the finals.
She was trapped under the crumbled building for two days without food and water. When the rescuers finally found her, she was dehydrated and very exhausted. While they were trying hard to free her from under the concrete rubble, she pleaded to them, "Please don't let me die...". She was very scared because just next to her was the dead bodies of her friends.
The rescuers later managed to break free one of her leg that was trapped between concretes and brought her to the hospital. Unfortunately, her leg was badly crushed and hours later she died at the hospital...
She was only 11 years old. :(
The news, sadly is very depressing.
My heart and prayers goes out to all Haitians who are badly affected by the earthquake. May us be strong in trying times. I pray that more help will come and rescue the people, especially those who are trapped under the rubble in the poor quarters.
Like you guys who visits here much, I'm also tired at looking at my own blog and seeing no updates :s
But honestly, no blog updates doesn't mean no productivity. I'm in progress (towards whatever I'm planning to do), and when I don't feel like it, I swallow the bitter pill and force myself to go the mile even if it means sweat, blood and tears. Like I did, right after coming back from Sarawak last week. Going to work was a real drag and not to mention depressing. Like I said, plough through anyway... with a lot of emotional support from near and far. Thanks!
So... what does the oldest oil well in M'sia got to do with anything about love? Nothing (to me at least). But I wanted to link this post to a short trip I did during the New Year to Miri attending my friend's wedding. So here's the link-> LINK
And also, to be expected in the coming posts, experiences and pictures relating to my adventures in Bandar Sri Begawan and Gua Niah.
Macam pengutip guano (tahi kelawar) di Gua Niah. Notice the dark abyss behind me?
Faza is my friend from college. She's a cute person and fun to be with. Although sometimes I think she thinks too much, but I think that sets her special from the rest :)
1. The ultimate travel adventure. Don't care where I go as long as I can see new places, learn new culture, savor new tastes and meet new people. I still got 12 days of leave that I haven't claimed yet. Will Mr Burns II approve of this?
2. Kata 3N1-10 camera backpack. Because I need one. Easy to carry camera stuff whilst traveling (refer no.1).
3. To compliment the new bag (refer no.2), I will need to add one more lens to my collection.
4. I hope the stock market will show improvements daily. Up, up, up... not down, down, down for the past 3 years :(
M0t0 stock to rise. I hope Droid will provide the push needed.
5. Moving on, i need fresh new ideas to get me going. I hope my head and vision will be crystal clear.
Last but not least, I'd like to wish all my Muslim brothers and sisters Eid Mubarak. And for those who are performing the Hajj, let's pray that it will be accepted as Mabrur Hajj by Allah SWT.
It was a good Ramadhan. Actually, compared to last year and the year before, it was a great one. Alhamdulillah. I feel a bit sad to see this holy month go... but at the same time quite excited to greet Eid Mubarak to all my family, friends and anonymous readers.
Putrajaya Mosque (Putrajaya) and Tj Bungah Mosque (Penang).
Kalau ada salah dan silap, maafkanlah. (Please forgive all my wrong doings) Selamat Hari Raya. (Eid Mubarak). Have a safe journey ahead. Have a great time. :D
Once in a while, we will meet people who are able open our eyes and touches our heart even when we never meet with them face to face but somehow, in the things that they do, it left some impact to our lives.
That's what I thought of Allahyarhamah (the late) Yasmin Ahmad. (I would assume everyone in Malaysia who have a television that could receive the basic national tv stations and those who have the capacity to read this blog, that means you have internet connection, would agree that her works are very familiar to us Malaysians). I think, when you do things not just for the money, the work that you do are more meaningful.
She surpasses the local silver screen stereotypes. Most of all, she's honest to herself. I liked that about her. But I dislike what stereotyped people said about her (and even after her passing).
I watched Tv3's special tribute documentary to honour her legacy. That last bit, when the reporter interview her parents, who were teribbly grief stricken, after the funeral was really heart wrenching for me. When a mother loves her child unconditionally like that, then who gave us the right to judge? Stop all of this nonsense.
She will be dearly missed. And I am sorry that our country has lost one of her brilliant gems.
Well, maybe some preview of Dora and Ikhwan's wedding day. (Click the pic above!). Still more to come. That'll keep me busy till next week and we'll resume back to ogling at Federer during Wimbledon season as normal :P
... but some of them is pure gold (and diamonds too).
Sempena menyambut 2 minggu yang penuh dengan nasi minyak, ayam masak merah. kuah dalca dan sirap. Selamat pengantin baru dan terima kasih kerana sudi menjemput.
Mon Dieu! It's Rolland Garros mens finals tomorrow!!! The first in 5 years that FedEx have to fight other than Rafa. FedEx deserve to win at least one clay court Grand Slam. Go Go Roger!
I'm surfing the net like usual on my free time. After jumping from blog to blog and finished reading all sort of weekly round ups I finally got bored and started googling people's name (bengong tak? klu dah takde keje sangat cam ni la).
I almost gagged when I saw the search results.... 'pom!' came out this picture.... it was for Utusan's Salam Aidilfitri in 2001.
Caption: Pengirim : x-Pelajar IB Kolej Mara Banting 1999/2001
Ucapan: Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri kepada seluruh kaum keluarga dan sahabat handai... tidak lupa juga kepada guru yang pernah mengajar kami......
This was taken in our first 3 months in UK. At Notts game. The first sports annual when uni starts. So you can notice the eager faces... for most of us, it's our first time living in a foreign country and all that you could depend on is yourself and your friends. Gone through a lot of obstacles but everything came out fine at the end.
Kelakar kan kalau tengok gambar lama-lama macam ni? After that, you start to wonder what's going on with their lives right now... orang ni macam dulu lagi ke? orang ni happy ke? orang ni finally dapat jumpa cinta sejati tak? orang ni kat mana sekarang? diorang sume wat ape? apa-apa pun, untuk semua I pray to you all the same, that you are leading a good life with all blessings given from the Almighty.
This is not a good time to want things.... really. Well, better spit it out of my system so I could sleep better at night. Here's a list of things I want:
New handphone. The one where I could blog from it, has GPS navigation system, high resolution camera, awesome speakers that could play tunes, looks sleek and chic. To be precise, I want Nokia N85 or anything better. Total = 2000 at least.
A 17" monitor. I got used to work with 2 monitors now. I feel claustrophobic when using the one monitor of the laptop. Total = 500.
Zoom lens. Seeing other people have one. I also want one. 1500 at least. Then, a flash. Another 1500. Total = 3000.
Bags. Three. First one is a handbag on sale. 200 after discount. Knapsack, easy for me to travel without having to lug around large luggage. 200 at least. Crumpler bag. 200 at least. Total 600.
About 3 days left to complete Ramadhan. So how are you guys doing so far? I hope you had a better Ramadhan than me. I guess this is the worst ever (looking at it at a spiritual angle) for me. I pray that umur masih panjang untuk memperbaiki diri next time around.
Been very very busy lately (that's all I ever say, isn't it?). Don't ask me 'What's up?' cos nothing much has changed and nothing much exciting has happened. Okay, let's not be too moody now, dyanna.
Will be celebrating in Penang again this year. I can safely bet it's gonna be a slow-paced Eid. And I hope I won't be called back in early... again, focus on happy thoughts.
Have a happy 'Eid. Drive safely and please forgive all my wrong doings in the pasts.
Seminggu-dua ni, bila baca surat khabar dan menonton berita di tv, pasti hati akan berasa sedih ketika mengikuti perkembangan berita tentang kehilangan adik Nurin Jazlin dan penemuan mayat seorang kanak-kanak perempuan dalam beg awal minggu ini. Yang paling menyedihkan dan menaikkan rasa kemarahan rakyat Malaysia ialah keadaan arwah yg ditemui. Beliau mengalami penderaan seksual dan dibunuh tanpa rasa kemanusiaan.
Siapalah pembunuh yang tidak berhati perut ni? Engkau sangat kejam, jijik dan keji kerana telah menculik, mendera, dan membunuh seorang kanak-kanak yang tidak berdosa. Engkau memang sangat hina dan patut dihapuskan saja dr muka bumi ni!
Apalah nasib dan dugaan yang terpaksa ditanggung oleh ibubapa Nurin Jazlin diatas apa yang telah berlaku ke atas anak kesayangan mereka. Pastinya mereka berasa amat sedih mendapati keadaan anak mereka yang sebegitu.
Saya berdoa agar Allah SWT kuatkan semangat ibubapa adik Nurin Jazlin utk menghadapi hari-hari yang sukar sebegini. Saya juga berdoa agar pembunuh yang tidak berhati perut itu dapat ditangkap dan dibawa ke muka pengadilan dan mendapat balasan yang setimpal di dunia dan juga di akhirat.
Al-Fatihah untuk arwah Nurin Jazlin dan juga utk anak2 lain yang tidak berdosa.
Congratulations to my two KMB friends (Syef and An) who had recently received news that they had passed their finals. The road to success is now laid before you, so thread is carefully.
And also to all juniors (KMB and Cardiff) who also had passed their finals with flying colours.
I dedicate this song to Fizah and Najib, whose wedding will be held this weekend :) :) :) Semoga bahagia berkekalan sampai bila-bila.
Some say love it is a river that drowns the tender reed Some say love it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love it is a hunger an endless aching need I say love it is a flower and you it's only seed
It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live
When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long and you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose
This song and video clip just melts your heart away. Don't you think so?
(I stumbled upon this song at Yat's blog and thought of looking at it's lyric and video clip.. and found beautiful Westlife people!)
