Ramadhan al-Mubarak Part 2

Went to do the groceries today. The store was much busier than usual. It is Ramadhan after all; and somehow that alone turned us into food freaks, which is antithesis to the ibadah itself. The book Fadhilat Ramadhan said, apalah erti nya bertahan lapar, berpuasa di siang hari tetapi di malam nya kita makan sehingga tiada batasannya..

Raya music blared store-wide, from P Ramlee songs to the latest less popular ones. I thought it was in poor taste - we havent even warmed up to Ramadhan we are already jumping towards Syawal. Playing up to our sentimentality of the raya celebrations that's what the store people are doing - so that we are swayed to buy and buy some more. Kan ke one of the places Rasulullah tak suka pun is the pasar? And arent we not supposed to play these songs until certain days before raya itself?

Anyway the queue was long, like ular kena patuk. There was a young boy creating quite an uproar at the checkout counters like a typical American youth at a rock concert or maybe at a football game. The only difference is this (unfortunate?) boy has the down syndrome. All my doa to his mum who gently but unsuccessfully tried to curb her son's enthusiasm.

The girl at the cash register threw my stuff around - she really need to be retrained .. or fired? I was glad to get out of the store without biting off anyone's head. Coincidently we took the wrong escalator down and had to walk through the parking lot with all that fumes.. I really should have stayed at home.

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An Ear For Music?

Caught the word sonata in the papers today and thought : is sonata in the mainstream of vocab already? What's new - after all we are already familiar with what used to be 'difficult' words like deja vu and cliche and collaboration and on.. and on.. And then thought what exactly is sonata?

Almost everyone knows about the Korean 'Winter Sonata' and Hazami's own version of that in Sonata Musim Salju; which coincidently Hazami cant even sing decently when performing live..

Your friendly wikipedia said sonata literally means a piece that's played, as opposed to a piece which is sung. The word came to be used for a principle of composing large scale works, and be applied to most instrumental genres. In the 20th century the term continued to be applied to instrumental works.. You know Wikipedia, it has a lot of details..

And then it lists all the famos sonatas composed by the legendary composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann...

Coincidently, do you know that Mozart started composing at the age of five and can play the piano blind-folded with his hands crossed? whew..

And that Beethoven started to go deaf at 28 although he still compose. If I am not mistaken it was Beethoven who composed 'angry' pieces maybe because of his ailment. I dont really remember and the Wikipedia dont mention that.

A guy I know have an ear for music alright, he can sit at the piano and just play any tune, old or new. His wife said he didnt learn any notes or go to any piano class. At birthday parties and raya gatherings he would play for us beautifully. He also bought electric guitars for his two sons. Last raya the ceiling almost came down on us when the boys plucked (pluck? do you pluck electric guitars?) - anyway when they played their guitars. Luckily no angry neighbors came over with brooms..

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Ramadhan al-Mubarak

So it's Ramadhan again. Thankfully had managed to quickly scan the Fadhilat Ramadhan as planned before the bulan barakah started.

Sedih pulak Ramadhan ni. The two boys are at college. So there are only 5 of us at weekends and minus one during weekdays. Made the boys' most loved buah melaka yesterday. Making the kueh was not as fun or hillarious as before. The boys would make weird, funny and fancy shapes whenever they helped with the kueh. Yesterday only Eirfan managed to come up with a Mickey shaped buah melaka - which he searched for and ate later.

Bought delicious looking dates on Fri; but being a nenek already, I left it at the kedai. A friend had went to look for it and kept it for me at the office. So tak kesampaian lah hajat nak makan kurma sedap tu. Nevertheless my one and only kak hajjah had already distibuted boxes of kurma for us so there are still dates for iftar.

& yesterday a neighbour also sent some dates to my home. But the same neighbour had, during previous Ramadhan/Syawal ... Let's not mention the bad things this blessed month. Do I forgive and forget? I joked and asked if I could sedeqah the dates back to them. But I guess not. Iman said clearly you are not sincere with the so-called sedeqah ma. Best to forget it.

Called the boys and asked how their first day of Ramadhan went. They said, biasa je. Trust all children, old or young to be so cavalier in these matters. Boys, especially.

Hope to spend more time on amal this month. Wish everyone a most blessed Ramadhan.

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To Forgive & To Forget

I was queuing at the ATM one day. The lady doing transaction at the ATM wore a tudung that seem too dressy for an office attire. The shade also seem to compete with the colors on her clothes. In addition, my critical eyes thought the cut of her almost-Punjabi suit is a bit unbefitting for the office too.

She took a long time to finish her transactions, okay? That's why I noticed all those things about her. The third time she pushed her card into the slot I almost lost my cool. She cant need that much cash! I peeked to see who she is. And I go, oh my God - it's J from one of the previous projects. We had bunked in together at the workshop.

We caught up with each others' news and then parted. I thought her clothes are just - her. That is her color and her flamboyant sense of style.

Something else happened the other day which made me realised that you might be offended, got mad, lose patience or was hurt by friends. But to forgive and to forget are the key elements to friendships, dont you agree? Let's hope our friends appreciate our tolerence of their crankiness, moodiness, rudeness, eccentricity, foolishness, selfishness etc etc ...

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There Is A Circus

Loops and hoops are common with circus performances, don’t you agree? Imagine the clown being tied up with many, many loops and cute poodles with ribbons on its head in endless jumping acts through the hoops.

But then again in the office environment, if you were an IT guy you would know all about endless loops. And if you are unlucky enough you would be working with people who would go through hoops (with you tagging along, God forbid) with no end result in sight. What a nightmare!

Save me. The circus is not in town, but here - in my very office. Please, keep me in the loop and I appreciate that you please do close all the loops. But please, don’t make me jump through any hoops..

ps -this reminds me of an incident during the previous general election campaign. We were eating at a gerai when the candidate with her supporting kuncu-kuncu came and asked us to vote for her. The guy sitting behind us said look, the circus is in town..

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Terms of Endearment

When I was very young we used to laugh quietly at mum when she got out names mixed up. She would want to beckon me but ended up calling some other sisters’ names before she got my name right. We told her she has too many names to remember, that’s why she jumbled all our names up – which is very plausible actually.

Now I find the kids are laughing at me for the very same reason. In the end I find out it’s much easier to call everyone by one name, ie yang. Let them find out whom I meant when I call out yang.

But recently I decided that I really should be more prudent when using the endearment. I discovered that I had called the boy at the pasar tani yang. And the waiter serving me at the gerai. And the girl at the launderette. And oh my gosh, people in the office and at meetings too.

It didn’t stop there – I started calling the parking attendant bang. And of course the driver of the school bus and .. and.. The guy in the office blushed when I called him bang (hey, dont take me too seriously here!) which in turn made me feel uncomfortable and almost turned beet-red too!

So these days I am more restraint, so to speak, and is more sensible when using any terms of endearment. Everyone got their proper names back again. & the people at the pasar tani, gerai and launderette? They all remain nameless.

I also stopped calling anybody macha – my sons said that means abang. The young man serving us looked bashful when I asked him what is the meaning of the word macha. He said macha is like calling abang to your spouse and ane is like calling your own brother. So now we all know. And lately any terms of endearment are used very prudently indeed..

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Pandora's Box

Mentioned Pandora in my sms to a friend recently. The response that came back was, "That was the first time I had to open a dictionary to understand any sms". Ooopss..

I wondered if anyone else know about Pandora. Not many. But surprise, surprise, my bachelor said it is bala ie calamity. He said Pandora got a box as a gift. She was told not to open it. But her curiosity got the better of her and open the box she did. The contents of the box was all the calamity the world could have. Pandora quickly closed the box, but it was too late. The world had turned up-side down because of the content of the box that Pandora had let out. Pandora did not know that the only thing left in the box after she had closed it was hope. This element hope was supposed to be the cure to all the misfortunes already being let out..

I gaped at my son after he finished telling the story. He said he had to learn all that in one of his assignments.

I went to the Wikipedia to understand more of the story that my son told me and found that Pandora is a part of the Greek mythology. You know, Zeus and Aphrodite and Hercules and Pegasus.. (did you watch the animated Hercules movie?)

The Wikipedia also said Pandora's Box has become a metaphor for the unanticipated consequences of technical and scientific development. I always translate Pandora's Box as unpleasant surprises. So now I know. And kudos to my bachelor..

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The Splendor .. and Tragedy of Love

I agreed not to work late that evening. But I don’t control my destiny, do I? So I was late despite my promises.
When I got to Istana Budaya the parking space was full and the attendants guided me from the front entrance right through the parking lot and out again the back entrance to the big trees behind the theater - where I had to find my own spot near some small gerai..

The theater was crowded too. It turned out that it was the closing night – last day of the show. Thank goodness for wireless technology, I quickly found them in the crowded reception area.

I grew up in the kampung, never been to the theater – ever! So of course I don’t know my way around the prestigious place. But since someone had so kindly bought the tickets for us to watch the theater of course I had to go. It was my birthday present after all..

The steps were very steep. Some poor makciks had to be very careful coming down the steps. We got to the seats. They creaked as we sat. Well, what do you expect, right? We are almost at the very top of the theater, I could almost touch the roof (ie read that as the cheapest seat on the house, ok – and it is not that cheap too..) ha-ha..

But the performance was worth all the effort made. It was a new experience, watching the theater. The performance was as good or even better than what all the reviews said/wrote. The props were impressive. The choreography was amazing with that many performers. And the main characters ~ what can I say.. I'm in love.. he-he. I was also told later that most girls came back from the theater and said that.

If there are any more performance on Puteri Gunung Ledang in future I recommend everybody go and get a dose of a great local theater (not that I have seen any other though).

ps - I cant help but wishing that life then were a bit more liberated so that the legend didn’t turn out so sad after all.

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He's Back..

My bachelor #2 ~ that's who. It is the semester break so he's here at home. Prowling the kitchen, sleeping on the sofa, walking in and out of the house for futsal, work out at the gym, teh tarik sessions with friends etc etc.

He keeps a very tight schedule everyday - his style. Sleep till noon, lunch, more sleep, wake up for futsal or to go to the gym. Short winks again before dinner. Then it's time to surf the net, chat or listen to blaring music on the PC. Then out for teh tarik with friends. Come back and watch movie(s) or tv. Sleep is after Fajr prayers or shortly before.

Reminds me of my much younger days when my brother came home for his own breaks from college. He slept at extended odd hours all the time too & we envy him the 'freedom' that he had. We wondered why mum, being so strict herself, let him get away with that sleeping habit. Now I know.. ie nothing much can mum do then, like there is not much that I can do now.

This bachelor is supposed to learn to cook during his break. So far little has progressed. I chided him for letting his friends do all the cooking at his bachelor pad, so to speak. So tomorrow evening we are going to do groceries shopping so that he could learn how to buy chicken, clean and cook them. Instead of just eating them. This should be fun.. or a pain..

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The Third Quarter Review

It is already September, the last quarter for the year. I thought it would be timely also to conduct a review on my so-called personal performance this year at this time..

One thing that came to mind is the new year resolution that I made for myself. In Jan I made a pledge that for 2007 I will complete at least one book each month on intellectual topics or religion or other serious subject matters that prove as a challenge to the mind. Pretty steep ambition, huh? Quite different for me where new year resolutions are concerned..

I was on track until April ~ then the whole plan went out of control like a kite whose string had broken and plummeted uncontrollably down to the ground.

It is already Sya'aban and Ramadhan is very close round the corner. I have a fancy to revisit the Fadhilat Puasa before then too. I guess it has not been a successful year where this resolution is concerned..

Seem like I have lots of catching-up due..

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Much Ado About Nothing

I was well prepared that evening. I have my blanket. Enough pillows. Kleenex box beside me when I sneeze or cough. Lozenges. Even bottled water. Dont even ask about the remote controller - of course it is in my clutches. If anybody, but anybody thinks he can have the tv that evening, he'd better think again..

I was talking about the evening of Aug the 28th, of course. The wedding.. the first meeting after the break-up. You know..

Fifteen minutes into the programmes we were swapping channels like nobody's business. So eager to soak in all the juicy details.

Then the wedding got to the slow-mo mode as they got to the merenjis part and things are so proper and correct.

And then the meet-up also got sluggish as the girl suffered break-ups in her speech and shed tears prettily. It went from bad to worse when the guy came up and everything is just too personal for him to share on the media - what's the purpose of going on live then?

We were bored. We decided to stick to the wedding in the end ~ the stars invited to sing during the santapan are quite good actually..

We were in bed before the bride & groom got to cut their wedding cake. We dont even know what happened on the other channel. I suppose a half-hour of the naked chef on his Italian trip is more entertaining than all that were promised for that evening..

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