Friday, March 30, 2007

There Must Be More To It

Life, that is - there must be more to life than this.

To & fro the office. Out for dinner. A bit of time spent around the house before lights out. That's the routine for weekdays.

Jaime's book is gathering dust.. Eirfan's grades are suffering. The stove is barely ever used. & I barely have the so-called "feelings" to be able to update the blog.

Yeap, there must be more to life than this.

*****

Thursday, March 15, 2007

A Small Achievement

Leaving office late means dining out for dinner. & we've been doing much of that lately.

But yesterday, in spite of the heavy rain, there was enough time to do the groceries & to prepare dinner. Coincidently I just bought a book by Jaime (the naked chef) last weekend & managed to rifle through the pages while waiting for the meeting to start. & somehow one recipe just stayed in my mind.

Nothing great - it was just soft boiled eggs with asparagus on toast and some thinly sliced beef (Jaime uses pancetta - urghh). Yesterday we had the sandwich on some walnut bread slices. Budak2 tu kata sedap.

It is a small effort - well, just a sandwich after all, but it is an achievement nonetheless..

*****

Sunset On The Serengeti Part 2

I met a guy who did a stint in Tanzania some years back. He said the place is beautiful with the hills of Kilimanjaro, Lake Victoria & Serengeti.

Seafood is very cheap. Lobsters bigger than those served at Victoria Station costs just about a dollar each. Although situated in Africa its weather is actually seasonal.

I asked him if he went to the safari while he was there. He said in Swahili safari means vacation; not the open space where wild animals roam free as we thought it is. Oops, must be the mat sallehs who made us the misunderstoods..

Anyway it sounds like a good place to visit. & coincidently I had a posting about Serengeti previously at this link .. http://alive-and-well.blogspot.com/2006/10/sunset-on-serengeti.html

Sunday, March 4, 2007

A Mother's Thoughts/Prayers

I'm sitting in front of the pc and thought,

Ya Allah, selamatkanlah budak-budak tu. Bless them with your guidance, much wisdom and patience. Biarlah berjaya dunia & akhirat.

Ameen.
*****

Something To Ponder

Dari Abu Hurairah ra bahawa Rasulullah saw bersabda : Belum akan terjadi kiamat sebelum timbul peperangan antara dua pasukan besar, antara kedua-duanya timbul perang besar, sedang seruan keduanya sama.

Dan sebelum lahir beberapa dajjal (penipu besar) yang amat pandai berbohong, hampir banyak tiga puluh orang, semua mendakwakan dirinya utusan Allah.

Dan sebelum ilmu pengetahuan diambil (berkurang), banyak kegoncangan, zaman bertambah cepat, kekacauan merajalela dan banyak huru-hara yakni pembunuhan.

Dan sebelum harta sampai melimpah ruah, sehingga orang yang berharta ingin hendak memperoleh orang yang akan menerima sedekahnya dan ditawarkannya (kian kemari) tetapi orang yang ditawar untuk menerima sedekah itu mengatakan tidak lagi memerlukannya. Dan juga sebelum orang banyak bermegah-megah (bersenang-senang) dalam gedung yang besar.

Dan sebelum seseorang melalui kubur orang lain, lalu dia mengatakan : Wahai, hendaknya saya menggantikan orang itu.

Dan sebelum matahari terbit di tempat terbenamnya. Setelah matahari terbit (di sebelah barat) dan kelihatan oleh orang banyak, mereka beriman semuanya, tetapi ketika itu keimanan tidak berguna kepada seseorang yang belum beriman sebelumnya atau keimanannya belum menimbulkan usaha-usaha yang baik.

Ketika kiamat terjadi, dua orang yang hendak berjual beli telah mengembangkan kain di hadapan keduanya, tidak sempat lagi meneruskan jual beli dan tidak pula sempat melipat kain.

Ketika kiamat terjadi, seseorang yang baru selesai memerah susu sapinya, tidak sempat lagi meminumnya.

Ketika kiamat terjadi, seseorang yang sedang memperbaiki tepi kolamnya tidak sempat lagi meminum airnya.

Ketika kiamat terjadi, seseorang yang mengangkat makanan ke mulutnya tidak sempat lagi memakannya.

~ Hadith Riwayat Shahih Bukhari
*****

About This & That

I find I am disoriented about what to write although I have much to tell.

I watched tv & find that Mick (as in Jagger) still sound the same after the first time I listened to him ~ what, more than 20 years ago.

I found the new meaning of the word busy since I moved to my current post. ASAP almost mean like yesterday and rush hour is actually lunch - honestly.

I get melancholy over the tiniest scrap of tales from my long ago days. I could be in the car, cooking or even in the middle of having dinner in a crowded restaurant ~ the tears would just fall. I just cant help it. I tell everyone I must be getting old as I heard that the older you are the more sensitive you'd become..

My stationary bike has remained exactly just that ie stationary these few days - too tired, too late to exercise or just too lazy to make the effort.

I went round the mall but cant find a birthday present for Iman - her birthday is today - well, technically yesterday as it is already past midnite. Eirfan got upset because I refused to buy the puppy (the toy of couse) that he liked for his sister. A puppy..?? What in heavens did I do wrong?

& took sometime to watch Brad Pitt in Babel - the DVD jacket described the movie as disturbing. I find the movie disturbing. I mean if Hollywood said it is disturbing wouldnt we find it even more so? I regret watching it but since I had started to watch, I had to know the ending. Definitely not my kind of movie.

My reading on all the books I so proudly mentioned has also come to a standstill..

& last but not least, I hate being psycho-analysed by anybody!
*****

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