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| Sunday, 2-Nov-2008 01:04 |
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So What Are We Afraid Off?
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The topic nail it to the coffin!
I'm living my worst nightmare!
Allah Kareem!
But it is nothing to do with financial matters.
It has everything to do with the lost of one's prized possession.
I've lost my tranquility.
I'm sad and depressed.
I keep telling myself that God must have some useful lesson for me in all this.
Thinking all things over, could it be that Allah wants to teach me the real lesson in accepting the Qada' and Qadr from Allah to which for someone who have submitted her whole soul and life for the working of Allah's grand plan should be able to be at peace to whatever comes her way?
Ya Rabb! Indeed I find this test as really hard for me and the burden has become really unbearable. Forgive me if in the course of my thinking to justify the reason, I err and questioning your right and wisdom for will it so.... Please give me strength so that I can be strong once again and can find my lost treasure. Ameen!
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So what are you really afraid of?
NO matter how hard we try, we will -- at some point or other in our lives -- come face to face with the very thing we fear most.
That's just the way life works. My friend Lotus says it is so we can learn.
I laughed when she said that. After all, we were not exactly having a deep philosophical conversation at the time. She was having dinner at a restaurant we often go to and I... well, I was trying to write, when she messaged me on the phone.
We very often check in on each other's day in the evenings and somehow that day, she said something about how life throws the very thing we fear the most at us so we can learn. That really got me thinking.
So what are you afraid of the most? In these uncertain times, I think most people would answer that question with just one word: loss. We all fear the loss of security that comes with the loss of a job and money.
Over the last few days, I have been party to many, many conversations about the "bad times" that are sure to hit us soon.
"Make no mistake about it... you may not feel it now but it's coming," said a retired banker.
But, of course, nobody can predict just how bad those "bad times" are going to be. And that is something else most of us fear as well: the unknown. There is simply no telling the future, is there?
What is the big collective lesson we can learn from this fear? That nothing is permanent? That everything changes?
For a friend of mine who lost his job during the last financial crisis, the lesson was gratitude.
"I feel so grateful that I have a job. I'm not sure how long it will last as jobs in advertising are notoriously precarious in economically challenging times.
"But for now, I am happy and grateful for the late hours, the weekends sacrificed and even the jams I have to go through to get to the office," he said.
Already I can see some good coming out of these "bad times".
Looking back through the years, I cannot say I was a particularly fearful child. Sure, I had my share of nightmares and childhood anxieties, but nothing really excessive. The one distinct thing I was afraid of was being on my own.
This is not to be confused with being alone. I wasn't afraid of that. In fact, I sometimes craved it. After all, I grew up sharing a room with my sister so yes, I did long to have my own room... my own space.
But I wasn't sure I could be on my own. Without the support of my family to help me get through things. Well, going away to university sorted that particular fear out.
I had to learn how to make every decision -- even mundane things like what to eat, when to eat, where to eat -- without someone to consult.
Still, that particular fear was not totally conquered even as I thought I had this being-on-my own thing down pat.
Then I went to live in Germany for three months and learned the REAL meaning of being on my own.
I had no friends, could not speak the language fluently -- I was there to study German after all -- and I didn't have much money.
The loneliness in the beginning was overwhelming. I hardly spoke that first month, I almost forgot the sound of my own voice.
The lesson, of course, was how to reach out to other people. To make friends.
By the end of the three months, I had made some really good ones: Alex, who told me his family's story; Mehmet, whose family owned a small hotel in a Turkish seaside town; Kato, who loved rock music and played me Janis Joplin songs on his electric guitar.
I came home from that sabbatical a little less fearful of life's unknowns.
Of course, there were new challenges thrown my way... some fears I never thought would be mine: losing a job and not knowing what to do with my life.
Lotus tells it best: "I am one fearless person. Not scared of heights, fire, reptiles, bugs, the dark or even enclosed spaces. But I am scared of boredom and working with idiots.
"Guess what? Now I work with one. I am learning how to cope... to exercise patience. Every day."
She is not bitter when she says this and that is when you know she really is learning from confronting her fear.
So yes, there may be things out there waiting to unbalance us. To throw our tidy lives into disarray. But the lesson that comes with each is what makes us stronger. Our lives richer.
We cannot control what is ahead of us but we can choose not to let them get the better of us.
I read somewhere that it is inevitable -- as we live out our lives -- we will stumble and fall along the way. But it is what we take from these experiences that makes us stronger. More interesting.
So what are you afraid of? Growing old, being alone? One is inevitable while the other is a choice. And when you think about it, much of what we fear can be dealt with.
You may not be able to control your future but you can choose how you want to live it.
NST Online » Columns
2008/11/02
joanlausc@gmail.com |
We went to the airport the other day for last minute ticket. Booking online requires 48 hours lead time so when you need immediate ticket, normally you just go to the airport, willing to pay any price and wait till the last minute and get in if there is empty seat.... Jr n I once camped at the TGG airport and thankfully, they were willing to accommodate us... we got the last 2 seats...
Here are some scene from the newly renovated TGG Sultan Mahmud Airport.
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| Wednesday, 29-Oct-2008 09:08 |
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The State of Terengganu Public Library
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There has been such a controversy over the name.
Which one is grammatically correct?
Terengganu State Public Library or The State of Terengganu Public Library?
Those of us who grew up learning English by grammatical approach and had been drilled with the grammatical rules probably flipped when we see the sign on the building.
My experience traveling across USA though doesn't really make me puzzled over it.
The old Jefferson county courthouse in the middle of Illinois still use "The Jefferson County Court House" label written on the stone.
But I've also seen some labeling that says "Florida State Something-something".
In addition, I've read on websites where this particular problem is addressed and the explanation seems to be that there has been some changes in the grammar rules as it i not written in the stone. But perhaps, the usage as such is more common in the USA than in the Great Britain.
Just that I have to do the search the net all over again in order to cite the particular sites that say as such.
What do you think?
Pusat Bahasa Terengganu is now located at the Public Library. The Centre has moved three times. First, It was at fomer Sri Iman College at Jalan Sultan Mahmud (current site of UDM's chancellery office). Then it moved to the building (the former Nur Fresh and Frozen Supermarket) on Jalan Pasir Panjang. Now, it is at the public library.
Before it was under the yayasan terengganu and now since it is at the public library, it is a unit under the public library.
I've been doing a "social work" teaching Social English to UDM, public library staff and The state every Saturday since August. The class is coming to an end soon. The 20 hours class is divided into 10 meetings for 2 hours on Saturday morning.
Jr called the place as "Momma's new office"..... He's been telling me to take him to Genting Highland Resort to play the merry-go-round and I kept telling him to wait untill after momma's Saturday classes is over. 
Not many would think the building it the library. Some think that it it is a masjid because of the dome in front of it. I'm very proud of this public library. The look is very different than the typical biblioteca all over the world. The norm for the library building is like any other government building, fortly looking and perhaps have traditional look to it. This one though begs to differ.
The interior is something else. The ambience I get walking inside the library is just like walking at the shopping mall. It look like one too! The plus is that it also has the garden feeling to it with plenty of green, flowers and natural sunlight.
To my surprise, the library is much more alive than what I remember. All different sections are full of people and the place is buzzing with activities. That Saturday I went in, they had painting exhibition on the foyer and "Transformer" the movie shown for teenagers.
Here are some more scene from the library.
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| Monday, 20-Oct-2008 19:22 |
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Raya Open Houses
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The month of Syawal is still here and so are raya open houses....
The faculty open house was on Thursday,
Ours was on Friday,
The university's open house will be on Wednesday.....
one of a close friend's will be on Wednesday night....
another on Saturday....
and so many others that we didn't have a chance to go at all....
Here are some photos captured at the faculty and the house.....
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| Wednesday, 15-Oct-2008 01:46 |
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First Boeing 747 landed at Sultan Mahmud Airport - a TEST FLIGHT
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the newly renovated runway, extended to accommodate Boeing 747 landing undergone the final hurdle - the test flight - a Boeing 747 from KLIA.
We plan to be there and have a picnic as well.
But when we arrive, there were a few hundred people were already there. So, we just try to find a shade to park the car and wait with the rest of them. Plan for a picnic there had to be relocated to the beach.
Not long after we arrived, the plane was approaching the airport....
Here are some scenes on that Saturday afternoon.
Then we were off to the beach and had our picnic there...
on the menu that day...."upside-down, salata, fruit salad, and... the only one I get to capture is this.... almost burnt and could use more syrup as the top layer is still looking dry... 
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| Friday, 10-Oct-2008 07:45 |
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The Missing Link
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Finally I managed to bring the little bike to the bike shop for the missing chain link.
Jr was ecstatic! Khairy did too!
yippeeeee!!!!
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| Tuesday, 7-Oct-2008 11:41 |
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Minyak Guasa dan Tanduk Kerbau
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Papa Abdrahmaan had a really bad bout of back pain a day before Eid .... He picked Jr up and felt a sharp back pain.... he could hardly get up the chair by himself.
I tried to give him a massage but it didn't really go away!
His brother, Sham gave him a massage using the guasa oil, one of the elken product. But he didn't use his fingers directly for the massage. Instead he used a piece made of buffallo's horn. Cows' horn is not appropriate because it doesn't have the ability to absorb moisture.
I was shocked when I saw his back turned bloody red.
The theory is that the different part of the back represent different internal organs: the back bone is for the colon, the left and right lower back are the left and right kidneys, the mid rift on the right is the liver and slightly upward on the left is the heart... I forgot what the shoulder blades areas represent.... As the way it is, the body get rid of the toxins produced daily either by perspiring, passing stool or urinating. Anyway, at any rate, the study showed that the concentration of these toxin left in the body for more than 3 days and injected into the lab rat proven fatal on the spot.
The bloody dots are the toxins released by perspiration by the body reacted with the absorbed guasa oil on the skin...
Thus, papa abdrahmaan went through a detox, had a plaster heat pad brought back from Bangkok onto his back, Mak Kiah came to give him a head to toe massage to make him feel all better...
I somehow can't dismiss that it's might be his gall bladder stone acting up again!
Perhaps, it's a combination of all the above..... improper weight lifting, poor diet, lack of water during Ramadhan month, ..... ... you are free to add to the list...
The old fashion way applying the heated "tungku" or heated stone quarts wrapped in layers of thick cotton clothes onto the back area probably be best if used consistently....
So guys... make sure you have your 8 glass of water today!
Now, go to the kitchen, grab a glass, pour some pure water, preferable reverse osmosis filtered water, if not any boiled water will do and drink it!!!!
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| Sunday, 5-Oct-2008 16:40 |
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Ramadhan Stories
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Miss Ramdahan so much already. Perhaps next year will be a better Ramadhan....
This Eid, I made some cookies and biscuits for a change. Kuih tunjuk pun ada....
I managed to make some dahlia biscuits which didn't get to see Eid because the kids (shakirah, Jr and the geng) decided that it was so delicious and it was all theirs. Kuih siput resepi curry powder pedas, peanut biscuit, bunga durian, buah rotan....
Unfortunately, we didn't get to raya at home since papa abdrahmaan decided to raya at Taiping.... a last minute plan since at the beginning, none could make it home but since Sham got a car to drive balik kampung from Uni.... we all decided to go and raya at Taiping too.
Thus, kuih raya banyak tak habis...
In the course of baking cookies and cake, Jr had his share of baking and cooking too.
1. He mopped the kitchen floor using a bar of butter and Tok Ibu was so upset so to teach him a lesson, Tok Ibu wiped Jr's face and hair using the butter that Jr spread on the floor.
2. The next day, he got hold of the planta Ikg can and grabbed it from Tok Ibu only to cut his finger .....
3. Jr got his share of the dough to play with... perhaps it is time for the playdough...
4. Yesterday, he cracked an egg on the floor in front of TV and used the coaster to beat the egg and spread it all over the floor....
InshaAllah, he will be better next year round for raya.....
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| Saturday, 27-Sep-2008 22:18 |
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Eid Mubarak !!!
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We wish you "Kull Am Wa Anntum Bikhayr!!!!"
Didn't have much outing this Ramadhan. Not even to the masjid ( Perhaps next year when Jr knew any better!
Jr spent this Ramadhan at the nursery.
Selamat Hari Raya!!!!
Maaf Zahir Batin.....
from Ummabdrahmaan and Family
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| Tuesday, 16-Sep-2008 15:08 |
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Update
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Life has been very hectic really. Attending courses (Problem based learning, photography and Smart board training) , workshops and seminars, being emcee for 3 events (dinner @ FUHA seminar, opening and closing internal audit) and preparing the progress test questions and final examination as well as supervising 3 teaching practicum students not to mention internal audit that took place during the intersemester break. Time flies and now we only have 4 weeks to go....
photography workshop
PBL trigger
Seminar Komunikasi 2008
Smart board training
Tomorrow will be a breather though since 17 of Ramadhan is a public holiday in the state to observe Nuzul Qur'an, the occasion where it is believed that the first revelation of the quranic verse took place.
The first verse is the ever famous that begin with "Read! Read in the name of your Lord....
Jr has been spending more and more hours at the nursery starting at the beginning of Ramadhan. Tokki and Tok Ibu are just too tired to be looking after him at home since Jr has become a handful to handle. The first week went well. The second week, he still would come into the nursery but would be very clingy to the point of wouldn't let go my hand or leg and would scream out loud... This week is the third week and he wouldn't even come out of the car.... I had to cajole him, promise him, sweetened my words, promise him this and that.... going to the airport, the beach and shopping....until he would willingly come on his own but to day I had to dragged him out of the car......
and yet another accident.... fell down from "buai"... playing jumping up and down like a monkey and the whole thing came down on him... i guess he fell onto his face and broke his upper lips.....
Poor Jr... after applying heat treatment, his swollen lips got better .....
Last but not least.... Happy holiday and keep persevering looking that magical night!
It is too early to wish yer all Eid Mubarak!!! ????
Tommorrow morning is official cleaning day and perhaps we could bake some cookies in the evening.... It's been decades since I bake any cookies or biscuits.... Just feel like trying out this year.... ....
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| Saturday, 6-Sep-2008 07:42 |
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Ramadhan Kareem!
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It's been a long while FP ni buat hal
X dapat nak upload ganbo...
I came across this article today... Just wanna share...
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For unity's sake, keep the 's' word where it belongs
By : JOHAN JAAFFAR
NST Online » Columns
2008/09/06
WE celebrated the 51st anniversary amid a very trying time in our nation's history. The March general election was a bruising one. It left a scar unlike any other moment in the history of the country. The Permatang Pauh by-election made it worse. The die is cast. We are divided as never before.
Politicians neither love nor hate; interest, not sentiment, governs them, someone famously said.
We can easily blame all the ills of society on a bunch of unscrupulous, irresponsible and opportunistic politicians. Their dreams are not ours. Their ambitions are ruining us. They have been blamed. But they are just part of the problem.
To say we have not seen Malaysia as divided as we are now is an understatement. Perhaps we should remind ourselves of the times when there were racial upheavals.
There were times when elections were as contentious as the recent one. But most of the time in the past, we were able to manage our differences well. We were able to agree to disagree. There were tensions, but we perfected the art of managing them.
Fast-forward to 2008. We are living dangerously now. Nothing seems to matter any more. The ugly head of politics is rearing itself everywhere. True, there is never a dull day in Malaysian politics today. It is fast mimicking John Le Carre's suspenseful novels. People actually believe we are living in an era of political uncertainty. Everything is unsettling.
There is another danger to the game some of us are playing. We are using the racial card to the fullest. We unearthed what for the last 50 years has been held as sacrosanct.
We question everything -- even the social contract, whatever that means to us, that has bound us all this while.
We have even the audacity to raise matters we consider taboo -- religion, Malay rights and, of course, the rights of every citizen guaranteed by the Constitution.
On the one hand, it shows we are mature enough to address issues once considered "sensitive".
The "s" word perhaps has done more for stability and harmony than any law in the land. We understand the fragility of certain matters in a multiracial country like ours. Mishandling them simply means inviting danger. Unless some of us simply want to ignore the lessons of history.
We are vulnerable to many temptations in the name of free speech and press freedom. We hurt others in doing so. We tend to forget that while the Western-educated, liberal and tech-savvy city dwellers are arguing cleverly on almost every conceivable issue on the Internet and the newspapers, there are those who are still grappling with the realities of the 21st century.
To the city dwellers, this is the time for total independence and an assertion of individualism. Let's argue about everything worth arguing.
Malaysia, just to remind ourselves, is still a land of extremes.
Yes, we are embracing the latest technologies. Many among us live the lives of any urban inhabitant on Planet Earth. Our young are articulate and highly educated. Our achievements in many areas are at par if not better than in the West.
But remember, in this country, we are still talking about poverty -- rural and urban. We are still giving out aid to the poor. There are such things as programmes for the hardcore poor.
Our people are still living in villages and some of them in dilapidated homes. We have people who survive on very little. There are still those who live without proper sanitation.
And, of course, there is such a thing as the digital divide. If they find difficulty buying school books for their children, how do you expect them to buy a computer?
There are many among us whose meagre incomes are unable to withstand the impact of rising prices.
We tend to forget these realities. Malaysia is not Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh or Penang. Malaysia is about remote villages in Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula.
Malaysia is not about Starbucks cafes and chic watering holes for yuppies; it is about warung and kedai kopi, too.
Malaysia is not about successful professionals, it is also about rubber tappers and palm oil farmers. Many among us forget that there is another Malaysia than the residential enclaves we live in. Or the glittering cities we call home.
Little wonder many of us assume we speak the same language. We do not. No one is born equal in this beloved nation of ours. Some are more equal than others. Some are fortunate to be able to go to the finest universities, others simply drop out of school.
Sadly, the best and the brightest among us -- some become perennial cynics and sceptics -- tend to forget that there are many less fortunate ones out there.
There is another element to the equation. We tend to forget that not all our people welcome openness and transparency willingly.
Some are cautions, others downright hostile. Others believe we need to be circumspect in our idea of an open society. And for a substantial number of people, the "s" word is still the "s" word, no amount of argument will convince them otherwise.
When matters pertaining to religion and Malay rights were raised recently, I could feel a sense of utter disgust and anger among the Malay populace.
From their perspective, any such debate is simply uncalled for. It is like opening a can of worms, or worse.
As much as the Chinese and Indians would object vociferously to the term pendatang (immigrant) or being labelled "squatters" in this country, it is equally unsettling for the Malays when there are attempts to question certain issues enshrined in the Constitution.
We can't go on with biases and prejudices over our heads. Keep the "s" word where it belongs.
We are playing with fire if we misuse our freedom of expression. We are too divided now, even to heal the wounds.
Fuelling more ill-feeling simply means courting danger. Let us be united by our differences and uniqueness as we have for the last half a century.
We have the right recipe for unity. Do not touch on the winning formula.
Or we head towards anarchy. |
Here are some desserts that we have been having for iftar so far... Curry puff is not in the picture because the filling turned out to be too salty...
1st day
2nd day
yesterday
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