You can’t bargain with the truth
‘Cause whether you’re right or you’re wrong
We’re going to know what you’ve done
We’re going to see where you belong – in the end

Kano recently sent me an e-mail attaching a rather shocking article featured in N** in 2000. It is one thing that the writer chooses to disobey the Hukum, but to mock others who do so?! And to be published by a leading newspaper for that?! Astaghfirullah. I am in no position to judge her, because only God shall do so. I must also say that I am ignorant to whether or not this issue has been raised before. Anyways, read on; maybe you will understand my sentiment. May Allah bless us all. Have a good day, God-fearing people.

Dari puncak ingin ke angkasa
Berkalungkan bintang berkelipan
Menyerlah jauh dari yang biasa

If you’ve been waiting and searching for fresh outstanding talent to fill the void in the music industry, look no more. Faizal Tahir is it.

Yes, I've bought his album! Listened to it all day long yesterday, in the car, at the office, in the car again. Wow. Surprisingly, my favourite track is Track #8, a fun, batu dan golek kind of song, with Marion Caunter lending her beautiful voice. Shown is Track #7, Sampai Syurga, Faizal's own favourite track, at his favourite number. Beautiful song.

Go listen to Aku. Muzik. Kamu. (sila beli yang asli, give credit when credit is due), watch his live performances, scrutinize the way he handles interviews and you will understand; Faizal Tahir is definitely it.

Photo Credit: Little Bro.

Mungkin aku pernah juga merasakan cinta
Tapi tak pernah seindah ini

Dear readers, I’ve added a few people/things to some of my lists recently:

(1) After his heartfelt, powerful performances at Semi Final AJL 2007, Faizal Tahir deserves a place in my Must Buy Original Album List. And honestly, I have nothing bad to say about his power slide. What's the hullabaloo?

(2) Drew Barrymore is now in my Obsession List, simply because after watching The Perfect Catch (which by the way, is a must watch), I realized that I am a fan of almost all of her works. She is a doll!

(3) Rafael Nadal is recently added to my Eye Candy List, joining the lots of Timothy Oliphant, Ryan Reynold, McDreamy, Clive Owen, Mike Delfino, Ebi Kornelis, (Take That Era) Robbie Williams, Ryan Gosling, Vivek Oberoi and too many lah to be listed. Ngeee.

(4) Cecilia Ahern’s A Place Called Here and the controversial novel Girls From Riyadh are in my Book Wish List. Tiada sesiapakah bermurah hati?

(5) Do you know Aliff Aziz? I bet you don’t. This Singaporean singer’s song Sayang Sayang is now a hit on Suria FM; and while I was searching for that particular song on Esnips, I found his whole album there; man, I was hooked! He is now in my What A Lovely Voice! List.

Have a good day, people! Permulaan saya untuk minggu ini bagus sekali; went minum-minum with Nijoh, Elin etc after our Court cases and now am feeling good :D Yeay. Oh, and, congratulations to Puan Chics! Yeay!

Our lives are made in these small hours.
These little wonders. These twists & turns of fate.

In life so many things to do
And, yes, so many things to say,
I know I can and I really wish
That I also do a simple thing today.
Let me help quench thirst of someone -
Be it a friend, a stranger, or even a dog,
Let me help carry someone his burden:
a box, a load or log.
Let me bring comfort to someone
Or be a helping hand, perchance,
From the road, if I come across,
Let me remove a thorny branch.
Let me speak a hopeful word
Or help someone find his way,
All the things that I do in a day,
O my Lord, let me do a simple thing today.

Photo Credit: Sweetheart.
Poem Credit: Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq

Simple things bring me pleasure. As of this week, they include: Wedding invitations from friends. My Court applications being allowed. Mr. Irritating on medical leave for almost the whole week. Early morning calls from the Sweetheart. The Boss being away for 2 days. Watching good movies on ASTRO with Little Bro. Chatting with Ibu after a long day at work. Good books/magazines. Clean toilet. Reading positive people’s blogs. Other people’s wedding pictures. Meeting Kano twice for lunch. Funny comic strip in the newspaper. Jobs finished in due time. The arrival of Friday :)

Have a blessed Friday and a good weekend, people!

Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

Jaja sent me an e-mail entitled How Did We Survive? recently. I am sure most of you dah pernah dapat. It is a power point presentation on how we, the children of 70s, 80s and 90s survived as a kid.

We need no hand phone or chat rooms to stay in touch. We did not need video games or cable television; kami main sep tiang or tepuk batang ais krim (Sharel was a champ) or judi pemadam or teng teng (to name a few) and we had lots of fun. Nobody I know was ever sent to meet psychiatrist kalau result teruk; just buck up lah. I even have a lot of friends yang tak masuk tadika; and they are all now successful people. Oh and we were fearless! My friends and I walked to school masa sekolah rendah for sukan or persatuan and balik rumah naik bas Len Seng without the fear of being abducted and raped. It was so much fun growing up in the 80s/90s.

Kids nowadays, I pity them. The fear of rampant psychotic offenders. The need to be schooled dari umur 3 tahun. The endless tuition classes and extra-curricular activities. The need of puluhan ASTRO channels and latest PS3 games. The need to spend monies on hand phone prepaid. And so on and so forth. I pity them and wish them all the goodness in the world. Heh.

Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?

The Journey: Part 3

Pheew. Alhamdulillah, telah dapat menarik sedikit nafas lega kerana wedding preparation kami telah bermula, for real.

(1) Telah bertemu Encik Andam dan berbincang tentang reception attire and mekap; decided to cari kain to cater to what I have in mind. Juga perlu cari kain untuk aqad attire. Saya sangat fussy. Masalah betul.

(2) Reception souvenirs for hadirin, bunga pahar, souvenirs for Marhaban group, penghias hantaran, kesemuanya telah dibeli di Nilai 3. Tetapi perlu digubah/dihias semula. A lot more to be done. InsyaAllah dapat diselesaikan dalam 4 months +++ ini. Although the fiance is away, ibubapa saya amat membantu and very involved in the preparation. Allah saja yang dapat membalas jasa ibubapa saya.

(3) After meeting 3 photogs, akhirnya Green Apple Design & Photography telah berjaya menidakkan my fickleness. Sedikit compromise has to be made to hire them tapi saya puas hati kerana amat menepati citarasa saya. Thanks Ayin dearie for recommendation/persuasion. Yihaa.

LIMA BULAN Checklist:

(1) Menempah tok kadi untuk majlis pernikahan anda dan menghadiri kursus pra-perkahwinan [Substantial stuffs will be done in January. Ngeee]

(2) Menempah videografi atau jurufoto untuk merakamkan detik-detik indah majlis perkahwinan anda [Done. Puas hati. Yeay]
(3) Membeli cincin kahwin [Done, and I love love love it! Yeay]
(4) Jika ingin menggunakan khidmat katerer, bincangkan menu hidangan untuk majlis serta harga yang ditawarkan [Will be done soon]
(5) Menyediakan senarai tetamu yang akan dijemput [In process]
(6) Menempah kumpulan pemuzik atau DJ [In process]
(7) Lakukan rawatan muka, badan dan rambut [In dire need!]
(8) Tentukan tempat dan bajet berbulan madu [Will be done soon]

One Year Ago, Today:

I was called to the Bar! It was a memorable day :)
Happy 1st Anniversary, AM!
There is no finish line, indeed.

This backdated entry is inspired by
Nijoh's Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah entry.

If you're willing to change the world, let love be your energy
I've got more than I need, when your love shines down on me

Hari ini kita bercerita tentang penyataan yang comel dan genius, penyataan tidak comel malah tidak genius dan memualkan tekak serta penyataan yang comel dan menggelikan hati.

Comel dan Genius
Anda kenal Robbie Williams? Beliau adalah cinta pertama saya. Statement beliau yang ingin saya kongsi ialah acceptance speech beliau ketika memenangi MTV awards. Pada tahun 2000, ia berbunyi: “I'd like to thank MTV for my 3 houses, my 5 cars and my supermodel girlfriend. Long live the dream" dan pada tahun 2001, ia berbunyi, “Last year I was very arrogant with my acceptance speech. This year, it's completely different. The supermodel girlfriend turned out to be an anorexic lesbian. As far as the houses go, I couldn't keep up with the mortgage payments. I'm living in a caravan now. And the cars, I ran them all off. Live the nightmare.” Comel!

Tidak comel, tidak genius malah memualkan
Moving along. Anda tahu buku Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things? Di dalamnya terkumpul banyak penyataan tidak genius, tidak comel malah menghasilkan gelengan kepala kerana menerbitkan rasa mual. Termasuk penyataan bocor yang menjadi topik perbualan hangat suatu musim yang lalu. Tapi tidak, penyataan terkini seperti mengenai pembangkang berkerusi roda, penyataan Witness Protection Act yang nampaknya terhasil akibat too much of watching American TV serta the latest, “you can even see their tunnel” - statement yang merujuk kepada the shortness of Air Asia stewardesses skirts. Kita tunggu volume kedua. Mual, bukan?

Comel tetapi menggelikan hati
Anda pasti kenal abang Ayuni, Encik Federer. Beliau mahu Brad Pitt melakonkan wataknya. Ya anda kacak tetapi tidaklah Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom mungkin? Someone get him a mirror, please! Ayuni? Anyone? Peace!

For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.
It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Kids, when adults tell you to “enjoy your student life because it is possibly (one of) the best time (s) of your life”, sila percaya. It possibly is. So you complain about having to go to classes early in the morning, having to do tons of assignments, with constant nagging and pressure from around you to excel in exam etcetera. Guess what? It is the same in working life, cuma, triple the workloads, triple the pressure and minus the fun. Unless of course, you really, really enjoy what you do. Ngeee.

Antara perks nya (to name a few): (a) Walaupun perlu bangun awal pergi kelas, lepas kelas boleh hang out dengan kawan-kawan, pergi Midvalley tengok wayang, teh tarik-ing at mamak (to name a few fun fun fun activities). (b) Letih buat assignments? Kalau salah, the worst that could happen, dapat low marks, when in real life you could be sued for malpractice. (c) Walaupun letih exam, you are guaranteed (at least) a one month holiday di mana anda boleh buat nothing at all. See, student life is fun!

Updated: Eh eh. Check out Nijoh's blog. Coincidentally, she blogged about the same issue yesterday. Oh I sure miss my friends :(

I know mine is one of the best times of my life (so far, that is)

I feel drunk but I'm sober
I'm young and I'm underpaid
I'm tired but I'm working, yeah

Eurgh. The first Monday after a 4 days leave. What a torture simply to wake up this morning and having to drag myself out of bed to get ready for Court. I logged into Blogger to blog about my terrific weekends (except that I burned a good few hundreds on the car, thanks a lot, Minami!) but suddenly grimness strikes. Eurgh. I can’t even afford to laze around. You’d understand if you catch a glimpse of the piles and piles of files on my table, waiting to be attended with some TLC. Yuck. Chill pill, please!

You light the skies up above me.
A star, so bright, you blind me.
Don’t close your eyes. Don’t fade away.

The weekend was fun! Fetched Sweetheart from the airport on Saturday, spent the whole day in Low Yat, went to Bon & Zimah’s reception at night, to Huzaimi’s grandeur open house on Sunday, visited Jas & Din’s newborn then after, watched Stardust, sahur at mamak and slept at 3 a.m. after Naem & I finally got tired of gossiping. Now I am feeling so dizzy at work.

Stardust, oh my. Having read the book, I was skeptical to watch the movie because, as beautiful as the book is, the storyline seems very complicated to be adapted into a screenplay. But it was brilliantly done. The movie is enchantingly beautiful, the screenplay is way beyond my expectation and the casts fit the characters perfectly. Especially Claire Danes; she is exactly how I imagined the Star is, with her angelic face, glowing blonde hair and smart mouth. Stardust is now without a doubt one of my favourites. Listen to the beautiful soundtrack, Rule the World by Take That here.

And oh! Ngeee. After much discussions, deliberation and expert opinions, Sweetheart and I finally made the purchase! We are now the proud co-owner of a Nikon D40, and it feels real good! Ngeh ngeh.

Saat malam menjadi terlalu dingin.
Hingga pagi tak seindah biasanya.


(On speaker: Tombo Hati by Opick)

Aznil posed a question to a caller on ERA this afternoon, “Apa yang Kak Leha fikir mula-mula sekali masa Kak Leha buka mata pagi ni?” and Kak Leha answered, “Kak Leha bersyukur sangat Tuhan masih hidupkan Kak Leha”.

Aku jua. Semalam dari jam 1 hingga 3 pagi, hujan terlalu lebat, guruh terlalu menggegar, kilat sabung-menyabung. Aku kerap terjaga, terkejut. Lalu fikiran mula merepek meraban, ‘Macam mana kalau kena sambar kilat masa tengah tidur?’ ‘Kuatnya guruh. Takutnya Bapak sakit jantung sebab terkejut’ ‘Macam mana kalau sedar-sedar nanti rupanya tengah lemas sebab banjir’ dsb. Lalu apabila disedarkan oleh phone alarm pagi tadi, terasa betapa nikmatnya diberi peluang untuk masih hidup, seindah biasa.

Fear factor. Di atas itu adalah one of mine. I've got a lot of fears yang mana sesetengahnya adalah ridiculous (so I was told), antaranya:

(1) I fear wartawan yang berkeliaran dengan video camera dan mikrofon mereka (di bawah Pertama Complex selalunya). Aku tidak mahu ditemubual untuk 'Apa pendapat anda tentang Ramlah Ram?' atau 'Apa harapan anda untuk Rosyam Nor?' dsb. Lari!

(2) I fear menaiki elevator bersama lelaki tidak dikenali, terutama selepas waktu pejabat. Scary! Bukan aku tidak percaya lelaki. Then again, yalah, memang kerana aku tidak percaya.

Tapi aku yakin, ramai berkongsi Fear Factor ku ini: Ditarik nyawa dalam keadaan tidak beriman. Nauzubillah. Have a good day, God-fearing people!