Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Sweetest Thing

I don't want to gush like a little girl, but I kind of can't help it. So just bear with this entry my friends.

The sweetest thing someone had ever done for me, by the sweetest person I've ever known. I've never had party my entire life, and for her to surprise me like that was, well, erm, incredible. I was really lost for words.

So many people came down, from NTU and SMU even, it was just overwhelming. I am hardly lost for words, but yesterday, I really didn't know what to say in my speech.

And, as I said yesterday, one of the greatest blessings I have in my life is to be surrounded by people who really love me; Shaza, my friends, my siblings, my parents, my Vortex mates, the NUS people, and my sister- I don't even want to start on my sister, I have to dedicate 1 entire entry, perhaps 1 entire blog just to show my appreciation for her.

To everyone who was there, or who wanted to be there but couldn't, thanks a lot. (And for those who could have been there but didn't, you shouldn't be at this blog) Only God can repay your kindness. And to someone especially, may He be with you every moment, every single day.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

When you are wallowing in the depths of mediocrity, bordering on annihilation, you need someone, a larger-than-life character, a great motivator of men, a born leader to save you from destruction. The Arabs had Prophet Muhammad, the Jews had Jesus, the South Africans had Nelson Mandela, the Blacks had Martin Luther King, and now, the Geordies have Kevin Keegan.

The only Englishman ever to be crowned European Player of the Year twice, one of, if not the greatest English footballer of all time, is back. Remember, this is the man who took Newcastle from the bottom of Division 1 to within touching distance of Man United's Premiership's crown in his first spell as Newcastle boss. In a masterstroke, a move that exudes ingenuity, the people running Newcastle have managed to bring back the Messiah for his second coming. Just when Newcastle needs someone to step up. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

I can't promise you trophies, I can't promise you success. But I can promise you one thing; Newcastle will play football how it's supposed to be played, we will be out to entertain the masses, we will become everyone's 2nd favourite team and the players will give every damn thing they got. And, that is all you could ask for as a fan.

Premiership beware; King Kevin is back.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

By whose definition?

I came across this blog, where the writer said some things that I feel obliged to challenge. (I am not going to put the blog site up as it is the type that shouldn't be promoted) And before I proceed, this is not a theological blog, nor do I intend or have the knowledge/ability to preach, this is just something that I wish to share.

The blogger(or bugger), was making a few not-so-flattering comments about Islam. About how marrying 4 wives is an obsolete law, etc. But the most striking comment was about how he described certain Islamic punishments (eg execution) as BARBARIC. The writer is a Muslim by the way.

Now, if I go to England's stadiums and an ex-footballer had just died, I would observe a minute of silence. If I went to Rome and the same thing happened, they would observe a minute of applause. So is the applause or silence a better indicator or respect? It just depends on whose definition you go by; the English or the Romans.

If I were from the States, it would be perfectly okay for me to call my mum by name, but if I were from Malaysia and I did that, chances are I would get smacked right in the face. So, by the Malaysian's definition, not by the American's, calling your parent by his or her name is totally unacceptable.

So if I kill someone in Italy, I get imprisoned for life. That's "humanitarian". But I kill someone in Saudi, and I get executed, and it's "barbaric"? My question is; whose definition of "barbaric " are you using? Why are we judging by Western standards, standards that are alien to us and have been imposed on us, either by the Westerners or by ourselves?

So I remind myself, so as to share with you guys, please, let us not talk like fools. Sometimes beacuse we are in university, because we are well-educated, we tend to think we are great, we are smart. Let us not show our stupidity either through our words, or as is the case nowadays, through our blogs.

And, in life we must always remember we are bound by certain things. As children, we cannot talk badly of our parents. As Singapore citizens, we cannot, as much as we want to, slam our government. And as Muslims, we most definitely cannot blast about our religion (Islam, not Muslims). No doubts, we are entitled to pass comments about our religion, but there is a proper way. Choose our words carefully, be constructive, not destructive, make sure we have 'adab', etiquette. And the funny thing is, these people who write about these stuff on their blogs probably can't even name the 13 rukun solat!

So I ask you again: by whose definition?

Monday, January 14, 2008

Fear, not a factor.

Recently I've been on a few adventures, in search of the supernatural. Kubur Kassim, Pusara Aman are among the places that I've been to in the past 2 weeks. But, Friday's trip to Matilda's House, topped the lot.

Matilda's house is an abandoned, old house in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere (i.e Punggol). It was right in the middle of a huge field, or rather in the middle of a swamp. That's right, a swamp. Lalang was up to chest level, while the muddy waters were up to mid-shin level. There were 6 of us, and since it was an expedition that really took some balls, I feel obliged to name the other 5 brave souls; Mas'uud, Akmal, Mohsin, Ashraf, Nor Hafiz.

Naturally, initially some of us were reluctant to go in. This was more due to a fear of snakes and wild dogs than of ghosts itself, but after some discussion, we decided to go for the jugular itself.

Truly, it was 1 hell of an experience, something that I can't accurately describe in words. For those of you who are thinking, "Alah, it musn't have been that great a deal", I urge you, go and see the place for yourself at night. Then you'll know what having balls is all about. The pictures are unfortunately not with me currently but I promise you, as soon as I have them, they'll be up. I've had the good fortune to have been to some of the scariest places in Singapore, OCH, Bidadari, slept alone at Echo Coy at Tracom on a Saturday night, but I have to say, nothing was quite like what I experienced on this adventure last Friday. You have to say, guts isn't something that the 6 of us lack.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same of Newcastle. A 6-0 mauling by the old enemy. Unacceptable. No guts shown at all during the match. My worse day in my 11 years as a Newcastle fan. I didn't even dare to pick up calls from Suhairi today.

Just 2 more weeks to Amsterdam. Extremely excited at the prospect of Europe, at the same time, a little petrified. 2 main worries linger on my mind: Will Furqan and Maryam remember me? And will she still be there when I come back?

Only 1 way to find out. Keep reading my blog till I come back.=)

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Here we go

Firstly, let me just say having this blog doesnt mean I believe in blogging, nor do I think it's okay. I'm having this for practical purposes, practical being Amsterdam.

Anyway, since I'm now over to the dark side, I just wanna assure you people that my blog is gonna be a little different from the mainstream blogs out there. For one, I won't be writing nonsense (by my definition) here. No blog, save 1, that I've been to my entire life have I found to be meaningful. Even that 1 which I did find meaningful was because that person didn't blog about his everyday life, he blogged about his on-the-job experience. Sadly, the government didn't find it as meaningful as I did.

Now, some blogs I've been to, tho not meaningful, are quite tolerable. But some, are nothing short of pathetic. I've been to a blog where a gal was actually venting her anger on her dad, who was cheating on her mum! Come on lah, don't wash your dirty linen in public. If u mati-mati need to blog about it, at least privatise it lah. Another blog that i just can't stand is one that i was introduced to by Akmal. It irked me so much that was the first and last time i visited it. To save me the trouble; http://sherrlock.livejournal.com/. My personal favourite is the burberry's entry. Haha.

Some of you might be going, "What the hell, it's their blog, they can write whatever they want. Who the hell are you to judge?" Well, you are right. Which is why I can write anything on my blog.=)

Anyway, I promise to excite you, to ignite you, to delight you with this blog. Hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I would enjoy writing it. See you soon then.