I heard Smallville is back in town!

Gambar hiasan.

THE reason why I so can't wait to be home

This is why.

No wonder I feel old these days

You Are 33 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Abou ben Adhem

During one of our family tea time, I recall my father once said,

“..there are hablum minallah and hablum minannas. The relationship between Man and Allah and the relationship between Man and Man. We think we have scored, we have pleased Allah by wearing out the floor praying, or having a black mark on our foreheads. No, not that.. It will still come to nought if we hate and envy people, all these bad-mouthings, back-stabbings..and be hated by other human beings..”

“A true mukmin obliges to do his very best in both relationships. And sometimes, a great relationship with people is the very path to lead us towards a greater relationship with God. An excellent hablum minallah through a great hablum minannas. You know where it all starts..?”

He pointed to his chest, merely on the left side.

“Here”

I slowly nodded. A good heart. That’s where it all starts.

I watched my father sipping his tea, some tiny crumbled bits of ubi keledek cicah kelapa he was having stuck on his long beard.

My father. He’s not a religious teacher. He’s not an ustadz.

He’s a thinker, a philosopher, an educationalist, a retired principal and lecturer.

That was just an excerpt from one of our teatime conversation. That’s all.

***

When I was 8, I found this poem from an old book and fell for it. It’s so beautiful, moving, inspiring. Now this is a short poetry everyone should read at least once in his entire life.

It gets you in touch with your inner self. It interprets the wisdom of hablum minallah and hablum minannas. Menarik kan?

Abou ben Adhem

James Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,

And saw, within the moonlight of his room,

Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,

An angel writing in a book of gold:-

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And to the presence in the room he said,

'What writest thou?' - The vision raised its head,

And with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered 'The names of those who love the Lord.'

'And is mine one?' said Abou. 'Nay, not so,'

Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,

But cheerly still; and said 'I pray thee then,

Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.'

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night

It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names who love of God had blessed,

And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

Mommies and the Photostat Machine

I was in the midst of photocopying some documents when my colleague, EL came by , holding a small pile of papers in her hand.

Our large copier machine cum printer which strategically situated at the middle corner in the office also functions as a catch-up spot for many of the office staffs. One may be waiting for her photocopies processing, while another is on queue for printing, so conversation surely strikes.

Suddenly came another editor, trying to squeeze in to staple her segregated papers, and she may join in the casual initiated conversation of the first two people. Then three of them will be seen standing by the operated machine, talking and giggling, before not talking to each other again for weeks, until they bump together at the photocopy machine, once again. Vicious cycle huh? No la, we’re just busy.

Back to EL and me. She came with her papers and naturally had to wait for me to finish. EL is one of the Maths editors, and she recently came back from her maternity leave. Wait, not so recent, actually it’s already a month. We used to talk and share about our pregnancy stuffs last time (both of us first timers), and since she’s back in the office, I haven’t gotten a chance to say hi to her until this morning.


Me : Hey EL! Oh my..I’ve been so busy, haven’t got time to talk to you since you're back!
EL : Ya.. No worries.. *smiling* Actually I also been up to my eyeball these few days.. with the books coming up and all..and I just heard Tan Sri wants to see Matriculation Maths series to be in bookstores in May..haiyaa..
Me : Ya lor.. *giggle* Heard about it too. So how’s your baby? It’s a girl right? What’s her name?
EL : Ohh..she’s good..The name’s EC.
Me : I see..who’s taking care of her when you’re at work?
EL : Babysitter. She doesn’t live too far from my house, around 4km away..ok la..
Me : Hey that’s not far at all. Good la..for you. So EC now, she’s 3 months already I suppose?
EL : Ya.. 3 months and..err.. *thinking* 5 days..
Me : I see. So what can she do now? Surely pro already ah, turning to sides.. (I didn't mention about breastfeeding being made known by her earlier that she's not interested)
EL : Mmm..I’m not too sure la.. Because I don’t see her that often..
Me : *confused* Oh? Why..?
EL : Ya laa..I send her off to babysitter’s house every Sunday and I pick her up every Friday night, after work..
Me : Ohh..*not too sure how to react* but you said the babysitter’s place not too far.. then why don’t you fetch your baby after work, everyday..?
EL : Ohh no la..you see after work, I get home already 6.30pm, and some more so tired..I don’t think so laa..
Me : *nodded, pretended to understand* ..err..but don’t you miss your baby?
EL : No laa..I don’t think I miss her that much.. *smiling, normal expression*
Me : Okay there... I’m finished. See ya around!
EL : See ya!


Hmm.. and I, on the contrary, going back home almost every lunch hour to breastfeed Aaqil, despite my busyness. Actually that’s an excuse, the truth is, I miss my baby.

I’m impressed that two mothers’ feelings could also generate quite a big equilibrium. I’m not saying who’s right or who’s wrong, but human individualities always enlighten me, in their colourful gamut of emotional perceptions, differences and mentalities.

Have a break, have a Three Hundred

I'm not sure if 300 is still showing in cinemas. I caught the movie weeks ago with my husband and we enjoyed it to bits.

I highly appreciate a film that shows great spirit, bravery and fiery courage. The tension urgency of their battles, the desperation to stand on their own, their fierce love towards their people and lands..I can go forever listing the touching zest of their undying patriotism.

But good jokes never fail to make my day, no matter what.

Get this.

Frank Miller's 300 Outtakes

Spartan King Leonidas: You wear the crimson of a Spartan...
Hunchback Spartan: My father says it highlights my curves.

Hunchback Spartan: Why?! Why can't I join you?!
Spartan King Leonidas: Dude, can't you see the title? It's 300, not 301.

Clueless Persian Messenger: Why are they all in bikini trunks?
Clueless Persian Messenger: Hmm. We're going to what looks like a pool to me.
Clueless Persian Messenger: Pool party!
Clueless Persian Messenger: But where's the water?
Clueless Persian Messenger: Doesn't matter, I'll just stand by the pool.
Clueless Persian Messenger: Aight, this is where it's happenin yo!
*Leonidas kick*
Clueless Persian Messenger: Aaaaah! Not funny guys! There's no water!

Persian Messenger: Choose your words well, Spartan King.
Spartan King Leonidas: *silence*
Spartan Queen: *silence*
Persian Messenger: Well? Spartan?
King Leonidas: I'd like to buy a vowel please.

Spartan King Leonidas: Spartans! Enjoy your breakfast, for tonight we dine in Hell!
Stelios: So where's lunch?

*take 2*
Spartan King Leonidas: Spartans! Enjoy your breakfast, for tonight we dine in Hell!
Stelios: Can I order take out?

*take 3*
Spartan King Leonidas: Spartans! Enjoy your breakfast, for tonight we dine in Hell!
Stelios: With Sizz-
Spartan King Leonidas: God damnit Stelios, say one more witty remark and you'll be getting your dinner sooner than a 30 minute guarantee.

Spartan Queen: Spartan, come back with your shield. Or come back on it.
Spartan King Leonidas: Wait, that's like shield surfing right? Cowabunga, dude.

Spartan King Leonidas: Arcadian, what is your profession?
Arcadian: I play arcade, sir!
Spartan King Leonidas: You, other arcadian dude, what is your profession?
Arcadian: I'm a potter sir.
Spartan King Leonidas: Potter?
Arcadian: *puts on glasses and wand* Potter.

Persian emissary: The thousand nations of the Persian Empire descend upon you! Our arrows WILL BLOT OUT THE SUN!!!
Spartan: Haha. We should start considering inventing sunblock instead. Really.

Spartan King Leonidas: My queen. My wife. My love.
*Arrows attack by the millions*
Spartan King Leonidas: Fuck. How do I explain to her the holes in my shirt?

Spartan King Leonidas: Spartans! What is your profession?
Spartans: Ahoo! Ahoo! Ahoo!
Spartan King Leonidas (to Daxos) : See old friend? I brought more soldiers than you did.
Daxos: You do realize that your men couldn't even answer properly. Do you?
Spartan King Leonidas: God, I hate you Daxos.

Xerxes: The world will never know you existed at all!
Spartan King Leonidas: Wait till you see the movie they'll make about this.

Xerxes: *While striking a pose on his highness chair* Dig the bling, yo.

"YOU GONNA BE RAPED.."

Don't Look Back

It’s just my thing. So let it go.

I love movies, and horrors are among my personal favourites. I love the chilly tension feeling and adrenaline rush a horror offers. I love getting home being extra wary and my imaginations run wild. I love cuddling my husband if the movie is really scary like shit. I like!

Since the trailer that shows a flying ghost on the move next to Pierre Andre while he’s driving, I was intrigued. And having been aware that Pierre himself, together with Ahmad Idham are the key people behind this Metrowealth production, I think they don’t look like stupid people so again I felt more invited to watch it. In cinema, no less.

Obviously I went to see it with high expectations. So I did some sms-ing, bought 6 tickets for us namely me and Bigfish, and another four friends, Jimy and his gorgeous wife Zied, Loy and his kawaii wife, Amy. Yes, we are the halal circle of friends, no less.

The movie opens with an exorcism scene at a kampong house, complete with thunder storm, harsh blowing wind and flipping windows. There sat a group of people with the possessed old man lying on the floor. The exorcism seemingly very simple to me, that the Pak Imam managed to pull out the evil spirit from the body quite effortlessly and discarded the ghost into a small bottle.

The bottle is the culprit of the whole thing in the movie.

Pierre Andre is his talented self, playing the role Darma very convincingly whereas the lead actress sucks bigtime. I don’t even know who she is and not worthy enough to be googled.

She’s more wooden than wood itself and she’s playing the dual roles of Rose the dead fiancé, and Rose’s twin sister, Seri. Too heavy for a newcomer like her. She fails to deliver her scripts with life, and her facial expressions are a gone case. She has this one fixed expression that seems to translate to “My twin sister’s dead. So?” kind of face. Simply blur.

The movie is scary at some points that it manages to startle the audience. Especially with the ear piercing shrieks that accompany the appearance of ghost (or the bottle) every single time. In my opinion, the scary scenes rely on the manipulation of sound effects a bit too much that finally it seems OTT to me. Something like trying to hard.

Our prime ghost is the usual kind, female form, fugly long hair, clad in heavily torn white dress. Extremely ugly, but not really that scary. I think. One can easily see the massive makeups, gallons of foundations and the latex mask. So the result left prime ghost with pretty stiff features that’s too artistically detail to be frightened of. It left me with a fleeting notion that ‘ghosts don’t look like this’, it interrupts my analytical brain, so I was all eyes to stare at the ghostly masterpiece instead of closing my eyes with chilling tension.

Now my favourite antics. Veteran actress Ruminah Sidek (I know her since she seduced P.Ramlee in black and white comedy ‘Anak Bapak’) plays Darma’s opah (grandmother) and I’d say she supports excellently enough. Her senile antics evoke laughter and providing a light side to the rest of the heavy scenes.

In fact, the scene when she asked Darma to bring over two glasses of water for her and ‘Darma’s friend’ whom she claims sitting right next to her right at that very time, somewhat worked for me. Damn, opah can see hantu in broad daylight!

The highlight of the film is when Darma was possessed and I’m sure he’ll be the next big thing with his very realistic writhing form and unfocused diabolic eyes. Eventhough by then audience will feel the triumphant moment of human over ghost, but the adrenaline rush it accommodates is not disappointing.

Having said all that, the film is not a complete write-off and I like that the film is not long winded with audience being bogged down with the puzzling storyline and the ghost making a fashionable show just a few times. In this one, you asked for ghost, they give you ghost. Like I told a friend, “One thing that I like about this film, the ghost just never stops attacking”. And it’s true.

However, while the film is successful in building it’s ghostly atmosphere that walks hand in hand with the story flow, there was a scene that really doesn’t serve any narrative purpose and and exist solely to generate more tension, and more ghosts. What’s the deal with the faceless family in the elevator?

This element, though actually kinda scary (family ghost really presses my button!), it is in no way or another related to the prime ghost. Suddenly such good reputable faceless ghosts has become a minor, and I believe ‘The Faceless Family’ deserve a movie of their own. Yes I dig spooky flicks but ‘hantu undangan’ is quite a turn off, if you ask me. They define desperation in a film.

Leaving the big screen, the girls seemed to have quite a scary journey throughout the movie which I had anticipated for myself, and whilst I enjoyed it to some extend, I can’t truthfully say that it worked completely for me. The husbands looked quite indifferent while mine annoyingly just laughed. Hey give some respect la, this is a horror!

I still haven’t found anything that can beat Ju-on the 1st, Japanese version of course. I recalled I was taken by the scenes for a couple of weeks. I actually used a blanket instead of my usual comforter worrying there’s something creeping inside the thick cover. I didn’t flip my hair while shampooing because I imagined what if I felt an ‘additional’ caressing hands on my head?!! Ju-on was also the pioneer that introduced to the world the scary-shit crawling ghost with hair that goes forever. Ju-on rocks!

We all went home right away after the movie. That was about midnight. The following morning I woke up and continue my life without imagining anything that inspired from 'Jangan Pandang Belakang’. That’s when I knew, in a way, it failed me.

Very important note: I like ghost movies only. I'm not fond of real ghosts.

Weekend in a flash

It was a fun-filled weekend packed with activities and family get-together time.

By family, I mean my nucleus family of three (or is it four?). Me, my two babies i.e Bigfish and Aaqil, not forgetting my maid in tow, Dana.

On Saturday we spent the afternoon at The Curve which is technically a walking distance away from our place. Not that we ever walked there. Having mentioned that however, our Korean family neighbour are always in sight walking to Tesco every weekend with their little Shih-Tzu. They seem to be having a good time. I told my hubby, strolling is good. But not for him though, not in this life.

Just for info, Tesco is a stone-throw away from The Curve.

We had tea at Teh Tarik Place which serves very tasty mee goreng mamak, crispy roti telur and just nice teh tarik to quenched with. It's the new mamak cafe with Asian touch, not bad really, but the location is fairly hidden from the busy eating walkway. Somehow, if you stand right infront of Royale Bintang entrance, just pan your head to the left. It's there.

The following couple of hours were at Borders, doing our so-called relaxing activity, fished out 20 books from the shelves and have a free reading. We were two of those people who consider bookstores as public libraries. Unfortunately always in the end, we were still two of those people who bags home over hundred something valued books that we thought really must-haves. We kinda supposed to be on a budget, especially on books. *sigh*

I was once chowed down mee goreng Indomie with half boiled egg for three straight days for lunch after buying three expensive books at one time. Note: Mee Sedaap sambal goreng memanglah sedap! Telur rebus sebijik, sprinkle chopped spring onions for that ala Nigella flair. Hoho I can live with that..!

At 4.00 pm, still at Borders, there was a loud announcement about a storytelling session for children organized by Julia Gabriel Learning Centre. At the time the announcement was made, it was another half an hour away before the session starts. Having been familiarised with this children-development establishment by my monthly flipping over Mother & Baby mag, I insisted my husband to wait and participate my baby among other raving kids at the platform corner inside the store.

Apparently the little kid is smarter than his over-eager parents by choosing to doze off at 4.28 pm. Since we’re not insane parents that force and wake up a sleeping baby so that he can listen to ‘Thomas and His fellow Carriages’, so we left the bookshop after 5 minutes of storytelling, enough for me to make my evaluation. Upon that, I firmly decided to come again next Saturday with a mental note of Aaqil’s sleeping time arrangements so he’ll be all wide awake and enthusistic at 4.30 pm 6 days from now.

Saturday evening, us and two other couple friends metup at Cineleisure Damansara to ‘Pandang Belakang’ though have been warned not to. So it’s Jangan Pandang Belakang. The whole thing derived from my idea as I’m a sucker for scary and horror flicks. Bigfish finally let himself to be dragged along after having listened to my not-so-short speech about Malaysian movie industry, Malaysian viewers’ responsibilities and how it relates to Malaysia economic situation in the end. Letih kan I suddenly have to be a programme host of RTM1 just to get my hubby to watch a Malay movie.

Anyways, there we were at the cinema. And please find my short unofficial review on the movie after this post. Thank you.

We started Sunday with my polished fried pasta. Yay! Finally I have perfected another simple dish inside my pro-cooking list. (Got only two, Bolognese pasta and here, fried pasta. Terer kan?)

I throw fresh button mushrooms, celery, carrot, minced meat, some oyster sauce, a little Lea & Perrins and finally sprinkled with chopped spring onions..voila! This is breakfast in the purest sense. Hehe. Delish ok!

Afternoon, we still are not finished entertaining the very much energetic little Aaqil so we took him to Bangsar Village. On a side note, Aaqil’s mommy was the one who can’t wait to check out the talked-about Bangsar Village 2, where the high end stores chose to be nested. Not bad. The best is the transit Skywalk from the old wing to new, it’s so like the one at KLIA. Same architect ka?

Gymboree Bangsar Village is the place to be if you wish to send the little one to play and socialize with other little people his age. Fully equipped with play gym, music sessions and dedicated instructors, Gymboree offers classes from newborn (wow!) to 5 years kids. With colourful ambience filled with laughter of excited kids with their just as excited parents, I wouldn’t have think twice to sign Aaqil up for a session next week. Looking forward to the fun it will bring!

***

I just finished reading my initial paragraphs from the beginning to the word ‘bring!’

I’m astonished to the person who wrote it, so laid back, positive and she seems happy with where she is now. Being a wife and mommy.

I always think there are so many things I want in life, so many that I am yet to achieve, and ohh do I have plenty of flaws. And the thought of it sometimes make me forget that I have just as many other reasons to be happy. I do not know that I am happy enough. I have to read my emotions with my very two eyes to actually realize it. It’s easy to be dissatisfied with the general analysis and measurement made by head for matters in the head. Dissatisfaction easily led to ungratefulness.

And I believe ungratefulness is the ultimate ingredient to mess up a life.

Hopefully I’ll survive well on today’s Monday.

My External Heart

Before I was a Mum
I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mum
I slept as late as I wanted
And never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair everyday.

Before I was a Mum
I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words of lullabies.

Before I was a Mum
I didnt worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought of immunizations.

Before I was a Mum
I had never been puked on
Pooped on
Spit on
Chewed on
Peed on
Or pinched by tiny fingers.

Before I was a Mum
I had complete control of
My Thoughts
My Body
And my mind.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mum
I never held down a screaming child so
that doctors could do tests
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mum
I never held a sleeping baby just
because I didnt want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a
million pieces when I couldnt stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone
so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mum.

Before I was a Mum
I didnt know the feeling of having my
heart outside my body.



(Emailed by Maya, thanks girlfriend!)