5 minutes and never a title

Just got back from Subang Permai. And with that comes the sudden realization that you're not free yet - you've got some laundry to take care of!

Crap.

And the fact that you have a semi-auto washing machine does not help either.

Major Crap.

And slowly I'd drag my ass off of my bean bag and slowly plunder through the luggage and lazily put it in the washing machine. If only we had them automatic ones I thought to myself.

No pain, no gain. Or in our case - gain first, pain comes later on.

The weekend getaway at A Famosa had gone smoothly I suppose. The bungalow unit itself was..well suffice to say that we got what we paid for I suppose. I've seen better - but I guess to see those better ones, then I'd really have to earn the rights to them I suppose.

So much for relying on freebies...owh those were the days :)

Anyhow, we did manage to have a BBQ by sundown. Which was great I guess. I mean at least we did do something worth mentioning about. At least, for myself-lah. Yasir it seems had the most fun - quoting the words of Abah - "the level of noise that he made in the pool had a direct correlation to the level of fun he is having" - which later brought our conversion to some mathematical equations on how an exponential graph would look like if we were to map his fun level VS noise made. Talk about having an intellectual discussion with your dad-in-law.

The BBQ was nice. The burger by Darabiff was awesome. A whole lot better than your typical Ramly. But then the price would also I guess be in the "awesome" region too - which would mean that I'll happily (forcefully make myself happy) stick to my Ramly as usual.

Managed to get some reading time too - surprisingly. It wasn't as much as I had wanted, but at least I'm moving somewhere. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is quite an interesting read. An interesting read about an interesting topic. Maybe when I'm done with this, I'll get his Outliers too (and rest assured - my 360 Degree Leader would remain untouched for another day...hurm....maybe I should finish that first...).

All in all - the weekend was great. Ate some good food. Spent quality time with family. Spent quality time with self. Not too shabby there I suppose.

Though I'm still waiting for my "ideal" weekend getaway (picture a person sitting lazily on a couch watching his favourite movies while eating junk food all day long..) - which I don't think would be a reality anytime soon..not with my wife having lots of creative ideas every now and then.

Next week is Raya Haji. And on the next week we'd probably be off to Malacca for some wedding reception. And the week after that is my friend's wedding reception. And probably some time in the middle we (my wife and I) would probably be asking ourselves "When in the world are we going to paint this lounge of ours?"

When indeed.


p/s: Yasir, if you're reading this - please build that pool ASAP.

Here's a bunch of stuff that I've thought of writing into this blog whilst walking the streets of NZ.

1. Remember to bring you polarizer lense should you be an avid photographer. The skyline here is gorgeous, and failure to bring that particular lense would in an over-exposed pics the while time you're there.

2. Don't feed the Kea (some species of parrot there). They're an endangered species, and they certainly don't need your junk food as their diet.


3. Bring along your windbreaker should you visit Wellington. It's windy almost all of the time. So not only do you have the cold weather to look after, now you have the wind added to the equation as well. It sums up to a pretty chilling experience.


4. If you want to buy an All-Blacks jersey, go buy them at the Auckland Airport. They're much cheaper there.

5. When someone tell you that stuff in Queenstown are expensive, do take it with a grain of salt. I mean i'm not saying that they're wrong - but there's some shops there that have prices better than all of New Zealand (excluding the airport). You really got to walk around to compare the prices.


6. Try DF Souvenir outlets in either Christchurch or Queenstown to get a good bargain on souvenirs. Don't buy at Aotea of Queenstown - as my wife later found out (damn expensive).

7. If you like books - you might wanna have a go at Arty Bees Second Hand Book Shop in Wellington. They're like the best second hand book shop you're ever gonna see in NZ (heck, it's the best i've seen in my life so far). They're not your typical second hand book shop - more like a library when I come to think of it. They've got wide ranges of books to choose from; all sorts of fiction, facts, history, arts, self-help - even dictionaries. Check out http://www.artybees.co.nz/ for more info.


8. For a relaxing visit of NZ, you might wanna stay at Lake Taupo. Basically a crater filled with water, the scenic view of Lake Taupo is simply breathtaking.


9. You can't really compare the prices of things in NZ with its counterpart in Malaysia. They're friggin expensive. Even more so should you decide you want to try out the outdoor activities that they've got to offer. There's bungy jumping, horse riding, sheep shearing, heli ride (for LOTR fans out there), jetboating, kayaking, etc etc. Nice to see, but they're a bit pricey for me. So if you want to experience NZ to the fullest - bring with you a whole lot of moolah.

10. For the ladies, do bring along a container of some sort. This will help you so much when nature does a calling. I even dare say that it's the 2nd most important thing (the 1st being the passport) that you can have with you while your in NZ.


11. If you enjoy having coffees or its variants, NZ is your place. The country has a whole lot of them. Nothing beats having a hot coffee in a cool weather while under the blue blue sky. :)


12. If you ever get the chance to go salmon-tasting at it's farm in Mount Cook, don't miss it. The smoked salmon in particular is awesome!


13. For halal food, you can either get some turkish kebabs or try some indian cuisine. Most of the time the meat used are halal (always ask first).

14. If you intend to stay for quite awhile, stay at room with a kitchen (if possible, get a washing machine + dryer too). And if you're following a tour, make sure at your last stop, you get to stay at a hotel with a washing machine + dryer (because we hate having to think off the stuff we need to wash once we get back home).

15. For the adventurous type - make sure you come with your good walking shoes (and that shoes doesn't have holes on them like Crocs sandals). You got a lot of distance to cover, and the wind might be coming down hard on you (hence the no-holes-in-your-shoes thing).

16. People back home mentioned that I've got a good tan now. For those who aren't going for a tan, bring along your sunblock. (and no, I didn't expect that I would get a tan. It just turned out that way)

I guess that pretty much covers everything. If I remember anything else though, I'll sure be adding back to the list.

...i miss NZ already :)

HDC has recently introduced a halal-widget for us to use as reference when in doubt.

Nifty stuff - altho the design really sucks.

Anyways, for those interested - you can get the codes at 'tinyurl.com/ktcomw'.

To read more on the matter, you can go to http://founder.limkokwing.net/blog/editor/widget_for_finding_halal_products1/

* Just added his blog to my reader. Inspiring and great write-ups overall :)

Okay, a little explanation is in order I suppose,

Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Armi and Viljo Ratia in Finland and became a fashion icon in the 60’s when First Lady Jackie Kennedy included seven Marimekko dresses in her wardrobe.

The FatBoy Marimekko

Last Friday I had the opportunity to meet with one of my tabligh friend at Sri Petaling. It has been quite some time since I've talked let alone meet with him up-front (i think the last I saw him was during my wedding reception).

He has since then went on to do his industrial training at some TNB vendor company, doing installation if I'm not mistaken.

Right now, he is waiting for his Visa application to be processed. He'll be going out for some 4 months to do dakwah and personally I wish him all the best and a safe journey to and fro.

We discussed about stuff ranging from the importance of doing dakwah, what his tentative will be once he get there, and the feasibility of doing it whilst being married (like yours truly).

It is sad nowadays that whenever you mention the word 'tabligh' or open up a topic on the matter - the images that would appear in most women's mind are men going out together someplace while leaving their family behind not taken care of. Personally I have heard the story as well from one of my friends who's cousin was used to paying the price of being a tabligh-man's wife. No monthly allowance, no help in raising the kids, and no job too at that. She was quite left all alone while her husband was in his merry way to go on his mission. Great idea, bad implementation was what I had in mind.

The truth is, not all of the the guys who went into tabligh is like that argues my friend (my tabligh friend which I'm meeting). Undoubtedly, some of them are - but only a minority (whether it's a minority or majority is kinda hard to prove I guess at that moment). He personally knows that there are also some guys who haven't neglected their responsibility in their roles as husband and father.

So I guess all in all, it all comes to being able to striking a balance with your life. In my opinion, if you want to go on a 4 months mission or something of the like, make sure you've left something behind for your dear family to hold on too. Know that your kids and wife and mom and dad are being well taken care of. To do otherwise would be in my opinion quite selfish and unresponsible.

As for myself, well we'll just have to wait and see. My wife can be a bit over-protective if you know what I mean. wink wink. :)

Just saw Sleepless in Seattle at ASTRO.

You got to love the ending. They're soo damn cute!!

Dalam keghairahan meniti alam pekerjaan ni, tidak dapat tidak kadangkala kita ditemukan dengan rakan-rakan di kolej, kampus, housemate, dan lain-lain yang membawa peluang sebegini. Lagi-lagi setelah berkeluarga, the importance of money in one's life takes on a whole new meaning altogether. Especially me I suppose - since I have the tendency to prepare for things that still years to come (financially speaking).

"Member aku buat bende ni brape bulan je da pakai Evo.."
"Cube ko cerita kat aku dalam hidup ni ape yang ko nak?"

Antara dialog-dialog paling cliche dan melucukan when you think back during those days.

I went back to zaharuddin.net to look for articles regarding these MLM stuff (MLM stands for multi-level marketing for those who didn't know already). It was quite sometime since I went there, last time I did went in; I end-up converting my conventional savings account into an Islamic account and took out all of my ASB savings and just recently put some of them in unit trust (syariah compliant of course).

Go here for futher reading on the matter: http://www.zaharuddin.net/content/view/567/#comment83202

The following is taken from the same link, but I guess I'd like myself to be reminded from time to time about it - hence why it is pasted in my blog

Ingatan saya sekali lagi buat semua secara umum

Nabi SAW mengingatkan kita bahawa :

إن لكل أمة فتنة , وفتنة أمتي المال

Ertinya : "Sesungguhnya bagi setiap umat itu cabaran dan ujian, dan ujian bagi umatku adalah harta" ( Riwayat At-Tirmizi, no 2337 ; Ibn Hibban , Al-Hakim : Sohih menurut Al-Hakim dan disepakati Az-Zahabi. Hasan Menurut Tirmidzi)

Al-Qaradawi mengatakan, godaan harta bukan pada mengumpul dan mendapatkannya melalui cara yang halal dan menjaga kewajiban agama, tetapi adalah dalam ke'gila'aan mendapatkannya, mencarinya dan menyimpannya walaupun dari jalan yang haram. Selain itu, ia juga tidak endah untuk membelanjakannya walaupun dengan cara yang haram asalkan berbaloi menurut aqalnya, tiada pertimbangan halal dalam hatinya.

Sebagaimana yang digambarkan oleh Allah, salah satu tanda kehilangan keberkatan dalam perolehan harta adalah :-

أَن كَانَ ذَا مَالٍ وَبَنِينَ , إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا قَالَ أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ

Ertinya : Kerana dia mempunyai (banyak) harta dan anak, lalu apabila dibacakan kepadanya ayat-ayat Kami, ia berkata: ""(Ini adalah) dongeng-dongengan orang-orang dahulu kala.( Al-Qalam : 14-15 )

Inilah sikap kebanyakan hartawan dan jutawan Muslim (yang bukan Muslim sudah tentu bukan fokus kita) di seluruh dunia. Apabila mereka berada di puncak kekayaan, ramai di antara mereka tidak memandang penting kepada unsur keberkatan, halal dan peraturan dan hukum yang telah ditetapkan oleh Allah, kerap kali mereka anggap perbincangan seperti ini adalah kuno dan ketinggalan zaman.

Allah menegaskan :-

الْمَالُ وَالْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَالْبَاقِيَاتُ الصَّالِحَاتُ خَيْرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًا

Ertinya : Harta dan anak-anak adalah perhiasan kehidupan dunia tetapi amalan-amalan yang kekal lagi saleh adalah lebih baik pahalanya di sisi Tuhanmu serta lebih baik untuk menjadi harapan" ( Al-Kahfi : 46 )

Menurut Syeikh Ibn Asyur ayat dari surah Kahfi di atas mengingatkan kita betapa perlunya kita menyedari amal soleh dan keberkatan adalah lebih perlu diutamakan dari harta banyak tanpa halal. Jadi dalam konteks ini, walaupun anda mendapat untung yang banyak ia belum pasti lagi menggembirakan anda di barzakh kerana ia mungkin sesuatu yang haram.

Jika pertimbangan keduniaan menguasai diri, ia adalah suatu tanda dan bukti umat Islam sudah semakin hilang sensitiviti terhadap kebenaran alam barzakh dan akhirat. Sesuatu yang haram dan syubhat amat zalim kepada Allah SWT walaupun amat menarik di sisi mata dan hati manusia.

Allah mengingatkan kita lagi bahawa :

انظُرْ كَيْفَ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ وَلَلآخِرَةُ أَكْبَرُ دَرَجَاتٍ وَأَكْبَرُ تَفْضِيلاً

Ertinya : "Perhatikanlah bagaimana Kami lebihkan sebahagian dari mereka atas sebahagian (yang lain dalam perolehan harta). Dan pasti kehidupan akhirat lebih tinggi tingkatnya dan lebih besar keutamaannya." ( Al-Isra : 21 )

Tonight I finally get the chance to join in (came in rather late actually) on the tazkirah session held in my neighbourhood surau. It has been awhile since I planned to do so, and tonight I finally was able to. According to Abg Omar (the street rep so to speak), the tazkirah is quite an everyday thing here, where they would invite some ustaz from the outside to come and give a talk after maghrib - on all days except for Tuesdays.

Now on Tuesdays, the slot is kinda reserved for the tabligh fellas, and they'd come from all-over the place. I've even met some who came from Sri Lanka the other day. They sure get a lot of air miles on their card. :)

Today's tazkirah was about (from what I can make up based on my brief period there) the importance of being present in a "majlis agama/ilmu" (and vice versa the importance of NOT being present of "majlis yang fasik") and being nice/close to religious people. This "being close to religious people" really hits me at heart since I do firmly believe in that. I never think of myself as a religious person (or as religious that I should be). Hence, I always make it a point to always find or try to mingle around people with strong understanding of Islam (maybe hoping that it would rub-off on me somehow). I strongly believe that who you befriend would reflect what type of person you are. Alhamdulillah, I've met with quite a few (alim friends) along the way to this date.

Enough of that, here are some other points mentioned in the tazkirah:-

• The ustaz said, "Ada 3 jenis orang yang dapat memberi syafaat pada hari akhirat kelak. 1 - Para Nabi dan Rasul, 2- Orang yang mati syahid; dan 3-orang yang alim". Now I know about the first one, but not quite sure about the latter (maybe should check it out with some of my 'alim' friends). Speaking of which
  
• The ustaz told us a story about how he views the guitar being not haram as a musical instrument, but it also depends on "when" it is being played. Let say for example if you play it during the 'azan' - it is then considered haram since it's not appropriate to do so. Even drumming on a 'baldi' at that moment would make the 'baldi' a haram thing. Then he continued by telling us a story about at what moment the guitar was usually played during the ol' days of the Arabs - it's usually played during a nude dance kinda jig. Now "that" is something you don't get to hear everyday. Those Arabs sure know how to have fun don't they...

From the depth of the Arabian desert - comes forward the 99!!


It's interesting to see that Muslims now also have their very own "halal" superheroes (albeit some of the gals aren't wearing any veils).

I guess the name "99" comes from the 99 names of God - I've browsed through some of the characters in their website http://www.the99.org

Check this

The Guardian reports today that Teshkeel Media's halal superheroes The 99 will be appearing in a crossover mini-series (to hit shops within a year) with the classic American heroes of DC Comics, including Superman and Wonder Woman. The 99 is the first superhero comic published in the Arab world, and its heroes and storylines fall within Islamic parameters (magic isn't allowed, for example). It has a heavyweight art team -- comic book stalwarts Fabian Nicieza, Stuart Moore, June Brigman, Dan Panosian, and John McCrea, who have all worked at DC Comics and Marvel -- and you can see some of their art in this gallery or at Teshkeel's site, where you can buy issues (in English) as downloadable PDFs. Current headline: "The Justice League of America to Stand Cape to Shoulder with The 99." Kapow!

And 99 creator Dr. Naif al-Mutawa appears on BBC Radio 4's It's My Story tonight at 2000 BST, talking to DJ Bobby Friction about why the opening of The 99's first theme park, and his quest to become known as 'the Walt Disney of the Arabic world'.

Today I got to play wedding photographer for my sis-in-law wedding.

Gotta admit, I was having fun out there. Though tiring - it was an interesting experience I must say.

Hence following that, I guess I'll be returning back the D90 that abah lend me. It was good while it lasted. Learned quite a bit on how to use a DSLR, about the type of lenses available etc etc. Might encourage me to get one of my own later too perhaps. But that will have to wait I guess. Wait till I can get other important things sorted out first.

For those who has my facebook, more pics is available there.

Selamat pengantin baru A'tiq n Batul :)






{Updated: 30/6/09} Here the link to some edited pics that I managed to conjure up so far

Maryam's Wedding - Part 1

Last weekend we spent the night at Abah's, for some dinner and get together. It was quite awhile since I spent a night there - if i'm not mistaken.

Me and my sis bought dad a BVLGRI (if I got that right) perfume (owh, just remembered that I hadn't paid her yet..hahaha). It was not much - but hey, better something than nothing.

Mom cooked us udang masak lemak. Quite sometime since I had one of those big udangs. Got to control on my seafood intake though. Else I'll get bubbles on my fingers again. It had been awhile since i had those too - but better be safe eh.

Watching Aqeel and Aqilah play around the living room and wrecking havoc the whole night was really something. The next generation. Time really flies when you least expect them to. I guess it's their time now. Feeling older now I guess. I guess you really can't be young forever (don't give me that cliched young at heart thing :P )


Thanks abah for all the lessons, the tali pinggang, the pokok betik, the lectures, and the rest of the stuff. I'll make sure my kids will get some of those as well - hehe...


Happy father's day abah.

And here's the latest addition to our house - the sewing machine.

But this is no ordinary sewing machine I can tell you that.


Pictures are taken with the D90 my other abah lent me. Close-up is made available using the old SLR lense I took the other day from abah. Huhuhu. It's quite a challenge actually to use this old lenses I took. As can be seen, the pictures do seem a bit dark - but nothing I couldn't fix with Photoshop (just hadn't installed it yet).

A couple of weeks left till my lil sis' wedding - and I hadn't chose what to wear yet. Hohoho..

Just got back from Alamanda. Me and wife went for a late nite screening of Star Trek.

I have to admit - being a bit of a sci-fi geek, I was curious as to how this movie would look like, since I've never really been properly introduced to James T. Kirk and his crew. I'm familiar with Picard of The Next Generation, Seven of Nine from Voyager, and of space station Deep Space Nine - but not of Spock and the rest of them. I have to say I was quite excited.

In the end, it was a good movie I must say - had the trademarks of J.J. Abrams (the director), but still fell short of his Cloverfield. And not even close to set standards set by Wanted and the 300. But still OK. :)

2009 is a year filled with great movies. There's actually soo much movies that I'd like to see that I'm afraid the date of screening might overlap between them.

Among the movies that I've marked as a must-see are:

1. Watchmen - saw this one earlier in March. Highly anticipated. I've actually been waiting for that particular movie since last May 2008. Kudos to the director for managing to direct a movie considered by many to be un-directable. It follows closely to the novel, much to my liking. :)

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - just had to keep up with the whole Harry Potter sequels.

3. Terminator: Salvation - it has Christian Bale in it. This guy can really act in my opinion. Those who'd have seen The Machinist would agree with me without a doubt.

4. The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - well the first one was awesome. I wonder if the sequel can do better.

5. Star Trek - it was nicely done. Great character development, even a non-Trekkie would be able to enjoy it (i think).

Maybe some of you might be wondering how come Wolverine is not up in that list. Well to be honest with you, after the last 3 servings of X-Men, I've become quite dissillusioned with theX-Men-related movies. Not that I hate the characters. Maybe it's the director or maybe it's the plot. I don't know...but what I do know is that it does not have that much of an interesting story as compared to um..the Spiderman movies perhaps. Spiderman movies (all 3 of them) has all been done perfectly in my opinion. Great plot, great casts (but it get a bit tiring to see Peter constantly having to deal with his personal dilemmas/issues).

Just saw the ads to G.I Joe. Looks like a cool movie, might be checking it out too. We'll see how that one'll turn out.

Selamat Hari Ibu(s) - now that I have two of them. Hehe. They sure did great in raising me and Amat. Look how well we turned out to be. All cute and cuddly. Must've done something right somewhere.

I'm not sure what kind of mother Amat would be tho. Not sure what kind of dad I would be like. Sure hope that she can maintain the level of funkiness that she has right now when we get our babies :P.

Sometimes we talked about whether or not she'll quit her job as a lecturer when we get our first kid - and be a stay at home mom. Not even sure whether or not it's feasible - due to financial reasons. I guess it would all depends on how much I'm making at that particular moment. We kept on saying that once I got to that 7k level, then she could opt to choose to quit her job and stay home. Ahh..such naive thoughts for newly wed couples. :)

In any case, Happy Mother Days to all the mothers out there. And mom, sorry I didn't get you anything. Like the wise sayings of Boys in the Backstreet, "..and my love is all, I have to give. Without you I don't..think I could live. I wish I could give, the world to you~ but love is all I have..to give..to you..." (to be followed by some fancy dance move)

p/s: now that is what I call a boy band..

Tonight, will be my first night sleeping alone for quite some time now. My wife is currently in Port Dickson, dozing off at some hotel with her netball friends. These couple of days she's been going out for netball practice every evening at MIAT, which is good for her I should say - I do envy her at times. It's not everyday that you get a chance to break out a sweat nowadays.

So tonight I have the house all to myself. But it does get a bit dull - it's too damn quiet, nothing to spice up the atmosphere. Owh well.

In any case, lets just move on to other things (before I get all mushy and break a tear now..)

Life in Salak Tinggi is quite OK I guess, judging from what I've seen this couple of weeks. We've got the usual shops, some neat facilities (which includes a mini stadium nearby, and if I'm not mistaken there's also a pool at Putrajaya which is just a few clicks away), and mos importantly - no traffic jam. If only my office is relocated to Putrajaya, then that would've been awesome.

Sad thing is when your house is like a kajillion miles away from office is that now you can't go on waking up THAT late anymore. But kinda think of it, I still do wake up late. Hurm...I guess I don't have a point there. Hehe.

My house now looks more like a home. Took long enough.

the livingroom. i LOVE that couch!

the "study room",..if you can call it that..

the kitchen (courtesy of mom and dad :)

and my dinner, fish fillet prepared with italian herbs and olive oil,
with a little salad leaves on the side, and some thai sauce.
served with cool apple juice. a healthy diet i must say.

OK, so it's not much, but considering that we're still considered newlyweds and been in the workforce for less than a year, I guess it's not half bad eyh? Lucky even, if I kind of think of it. Well, from now onwards we're gonna have to be cut back on the spending and start on the savings - I do think that I've been slacking off this couple of months in that deparment.


Worklife
=======

Late last week I had the opportunity to join a training conducted at Kelana Jaya by Mikko Koskinen, a trainer from Upknowledge (some finnish company). The training was basically about an overview of the whole telecommunication network, intended to teach us "programmers" on how the telco world works and familiarize us with all the jargons and technologies currently available and those that are still under development.

I have to admit, coming from where I came from, I was really interested to hear what he has to preach - since I myself am quite curious to learn how it all was interconnected in the end.

SGSN is used in the packet switch core network, while MSC is used in the circuit switch core network. During the presentation, I find myself at times asking why in the world did join Comptel in the first place, thinking I might be much more happier working in the packet core network - putting my CCNA skills to the test. Actually, kind to think of it, I DO would like to jump should he opportunity presents itself - if only that job could match or be higher than my current salary.

But money is not all there is to it, is it now. Now that I'm married, job security has to considered as well.

I recall today's Friday prayer sermon, the khatib mentioned something about those who keeps asking for more money would never feel that he has enough money, but those who appreciate what he has, would always feel that he has enough (aka happier).

That one kinda hit the spot right there.

My manager meanwhile advices that it is better that I focus on doing what is at hand, and do it good; instead of busy thinking about what is to come and preparing for the future that much. She thinks that if you do your job good enough, you'll eventually be set for the future.

There is some truth there I guess.

These days I find myself not being up to par compared to what I was like a couple of months back (aka before the marriage). My work currently is almost all the time "just enough" and never "exceeding expectations", or at least it does not exceed my expectations. Talk about having low self esteem huh. Dang.

If only I got enough time in my hands.

A: Abih tu ko buat ape je tadi?

B: Ala,..buat bodo jek.

The above is some excerpt of the usual typical Malaysian. But how does one actually buat bodo?

Or in its English translation, " How do you make/act stupid?"

For those clueless people, who have no idea macamana nak buat bodo - here's a manual that I recently got from IKEA.



They sure does have manual for everything don't they? :)

It's been close to a month now that I've been married. And I haven't been blogging much since. Haven't got that much time on my hands actually. Being married really does take away ones time. Sometimes when I think back about it, I do miss those carefree days of going back from work and just laying my ass there on my bed - and later turning on my PC and watching some newly downloaded episodes of Lost or movies.

Aahh..those were the days.

But enough of my ranting for now, let me just write what happened during the days I was away.


The honeymoon
-------------

Me and my significant other went to Indonesia for our honeymoon . Spent a couple of days at Bukit Tinggi, and later Padang.

Our flight departure from Malaysia was on Sunday 2 weeks ago, at around 7:50am. You know people normally would get up early and get to the airport a couple of hours earlier than that time - but as the story goes, we actually woke up from our slumber at around 6:15am (thank you Pak Erwin for the wake up call). Pak Erwin was our chauffeur for the day. Hadn't he gave that call, we would've happily continued sleeping and eventually missed the flight to our honeymoon.

You can imagine how our face looked like when we woke up. And kudos again to Pak Erwin for his skilled driving on that fateful morning. We manage to get to LCCT in quite a record time from our home in Sepang. Luckily we stayed in Sepang.

From then onwards everything was smooth sailing I guess. Sleep depraved, we managed to drag ourselves from Malaysia all the way to Bukit Tinggi. The first thing we did upon checking into Gran Malindo was get to bed. It was quite overdued.

We spent around 3 days there. Most of the times we get around places by walking, or getting an "angkut". Sometimes though we fetched a "kerete kuda".

taking a break at Puncak Lawang

At last, we're finally tied the knot.

Currently we're busy preparing for a lot of stuff. Cleaning the house and all that.

For now though, here are some pics from our photographer Shasmanizam.

Perkahwinan Hafidz dan Amatullah

Last Sunday alas I finally got to sit on my Ektorp couch. Waited a whole week for that. Found it at IKEA a couple of months back - and I've been setting my eyes on it ever since. It got that cozy look, and a nice cushion to go with it that simply screams "this a couch for you to sit your ass in and watch a movie!".

Along with it, came the rest of the furnitures for my new house in Sepang.

bersepah giler...

time to build something...

awh..my couch in a box..

comes with few suprises too...

akhirnya da siap pun satu...

now this need a cover...

pasang meja plak. btul lah Ah Hoe cakap, kan elok kalo gune mesin skru jek. lenguh gile...

meja makan yg bakal dicat...

warrgghhh...abes dah

What a weekend that was.

Had quite an interesting chat with my old friend from college days. It has been quite a long time. Really long actually since I've had a good chat with. He's quite an interesting guy, somewhat like me, but our path diverges a bit in a sense that he went into 'tabligh', while me and most of our friends did not.

We chatted about life, stuff in the past and such. But what I wanted to share is not about those things. It's about faith. It's about 'iman'. It's about working to strenghen your 'iman'. Happy reading. :)

hairul azri (3:04 AM): owh..

hairul azri (3:05 AM): ilmu agama perlu ada kekuatan iman untuk dapat amal ilmu yg ada

hairul azri (3:05 AM): ko perlu hidupkan usaha atas iman kat umah ko

hairul azri (3:05 AM): kalu x...org blaja agama pon akan hanyut

Hafidz (3:06 AM): cube trangkan sket ape itu usaha atas iman

hairul azri (3:06 AM): iman kita naik n turun

hairul azri (3:07 AM): kadang2 kita solat on time

hairul azri (3:07 AM): kadang2 kita lengah2 solat

hairul azri (3:07 AM): kadang2 kita tinggalkan solat

hairul azri (3:07 AM): bile kita buat dosa kecil....iman kita luntur

hairul azri (3:07 AM): bile kita buat dosa besar...iman kita tercabut

hairul azri (3:08 AM): ini semua godaan syaitan yg cucuk nafsu kita

hairul azri (3:09 AM): nafsu yg buas dpt dijinakkan dgn akal yg berpandukan iman yg sahih

hairul azri (3:10 AM): hati yg sentiasa ada kebesaran Allahakan dapat melaksanakan perintah Allah dan tinggalkan larangan Allah

hairul azri (3:11 AM): hati yg ada kebesaran makhluk(wanita,pangkat,harta dll.) akan lebih mengutamakan dunia daripada agama

hairul azri (3:11 AM): oleh itu kita perlu keluarkan kebesaran makhluk/dunia daripada hati kita

hairul azri (3:12 AM): dan kita perlu tanamkan rasa kebesaran Allah dalam hati kita

hairul azri (3:12 AM): sebab tu la nabi suwoh para sahabat utk sentiasa perbaharui iman walaupun iman mrk da mcm gunung

hairul azri (3:12 AM): bagaimana?

hairul azri (3:13 AM): dengan perbanyakkan percakapan lailahaillah

hairul azri (3:14 AM): *lailahailallah

hairul azri (3:14 AM): bukan dalam zikir shj...

hairul azri (3:14 AM): pasal selalunye kita lalai dlm zikir

hairul azri (3:14 AM): x khusyuk...

hairul azri (3:15 AM): so kita perlu mudzakarah kefahaman kalimah lailahailallah

hairul azri (3:16 AM): lailaha=tiada tuhan(yg layak disembah)

hairul azri (3:17 AM): ilallah=(melainkan hanya)menyembah Allah

hairul azri (3:17 AM): maksudnya

hairul azri (3:17 AM): lailaha=kalimah yg menafikan segala kekuatan makhluk

hairul azri (3:17 AM): ilallah=kalimah yg hanya mengesakan kekuatan Allah

hairul azri (3:18 AM): kita perlu nafikan kekuatan makhluk dan hanya mengesakan kekuatan Allah

hairul azri (3:18 AM): api xbole bagi panas

hairul azri (3:18 AM): sebenarnya yg bagi panas adalah Allah

hairul azri (3:19 AM): buktinya dalam Alquran...kisah Nabi Ibrahim dicampak ke dalam api oleh Raja Namrud

hairul azri (3:20 AM): Allah tukar sifat api jadi sejuk dan sejahtera

hairul azri (3:21 AM): kita perlu menfikan segala kekuatan makhluk yg kita nampak secara zahir kerana hakikatnya semua perkara berlaku dengan izin Allah

hairul azri (3:21 AM): barulah kita yakin dengan kekuatan Allah

hairul azri (3:22 AM): inilah cara kita dapat taat perintah Allah kerana ada rase keagungan Allah dalam hati

hairul azri (3:23 AM): so tiap2 hari kite perlu mudzakarah perkara nie bersama anak isteri n jiran2

hairul azri (3:23 AM): supaya sume org dpt taat perintah allah

hairul azri (3:24 AM): tapi nak memulakan mudzakarah mmg malu n tebal muka

hairul azri (3:24 AM): pasal xde suasana iman..

hairul azri (3:24 AM): kat umah ade TV

hairul azri (3:24 AM): ade radio

hairul azri (3:24 AM): mcm2

hairul azri (3:25 AM): so suasana iman ade di rumah2 Allah

hairul azri (3:25 AM): sbb tue kita perlu kuar 3hari tiap2 bulan utk recharge iman kita

hairul azri (3:26 AM): dengan cara ni kita dapat bawa kehidupan beragama dalam rumahtangga

hairul azri (3:26 AM): lahir anak2 yg soleh

hairul azri (3:27 AM): isteri yg taat suami

hairul azri (3:27 AM): kita jadi mcm keluarga nabi n para sahabat

hairul azri (3:27 AM): yg jadi asbab hidayat

hairul azri (3:27 AM): asbab agama tersebar

hairul azri (3:28 AM): di seluruh dunia

hairul azri (3:28 AM): sampai kat malaya

hairul azri (3:28 AM): kita skang pon dpt nikmat iman n islam

hairul azri (3:28 AM): kalu sahabat xkeluar dr mekah n madinah...

hairul azri (3:28 AM): kita masih sembah pokok n matahari

hairul azri (3:29 AM): so kalu kita xfollow mcm diorang..

hairul azri (3:29 AM): satu hari nnt cucu cicit kita akan tinggalkan agama

hairul azri (3:29 AM): ...na'uzubillah

hairul azri (3:30 AM): so ok x?

Hafidz (3:30 AM): panjang lebar penerangn ko ek

Hafidz (3:30 AM): haha

hairul azri (3:31 AM): ye la...aku xbole bagitau pendek2 nnt salah faham

hairul azri (3:31 AM): ini pun aku da ringkas kan

hairul azri (3:31 AM): sebenarnya kalu ko betul2 nak faham...mmg kena keluar jemaah

Hafidz (3:32 AM): bole x aku cut n paste ape ko taip tadi masuk kan dlm blog aku?

hairul azri (3:32 AM): it's up to u...

Home loans.

Last night me and buddies talked about managing our wealth. Basically it revolves around how all of us can get rich.

Money makes the world go round they say.

My friend Symofz has recently got enlightened with the idea of financial freedom. I came across that word like 5 years ago. But I guess sooner or later we all would be thinking about that. As you get older, you responsibility will be higher. Got people to take care of, things to buy.

One of them is a house. Or many houses should you fancy that. But people don't have those ridiculous amount of cash when they got out of their university. Nope - they can only depend on whatever meagre salary they can get from their first job.

So people like that who wants to buy a house (like yours truly) resort to borrowing money from the bank.

I've read some articles..got into forums, trying to understand the nature of the subject matter.

Conventional loan VS Islamic loan. Which is better? Can Islamic-based loan still be as competitive or better than the conventional types? These are the question that dwells deep in my mind as of late.

Of all the websites I've been through - this one in particular deserves a mention in my blog. It provides a wealth of information and a good place to cross reference most if not all the home loan packages that currently available in the market right now. A great site for a newbie like me.