Jelaludin Rumi & Yasmin Ahmad,

Our death is our wedding with eternity.
What is the secret? "God is One."
The sunlight splits when entering the windows of the house.
This multiplicity exists in the cluster of grapes;
It is not in the juice made from the grapes.
For he who is living in the Light of God,
The death of the carnal soul is a blessing.
Regarding him, say neither bad nor good,
For he is gone beyond the good and the bad.
Fix your eyes on God and do not talk about what is invisible,
So that he may place another look in your eyes.
It is in the vision of the physical eyes
That no invisible or secret thing exists.
But when the eye is turned toward the Light of God
What thing could remain hidden under such a Light?
Although all lights emanate from the Divine Light
Don't call all these lights "the Light of God";
It is the eternal light which is the Light of God,
The ephemeral light is an attribute of the body and the flesh.

...Oh God who gives the grace of vision!
The bird of vision is flying towards You with the wings of desire.

-Jelaludin Rumi, Mystic Odes

I thought that, at one point in my life, I'd be able to show her some of my scripts. She reignited my passion for writing, which was at one time, the only thing I ever wanted to do.

I regretted not posting anything on her blog, even though I was an ardent follower. Needless to say, everything she did stroke a chord with me, and many others, as can clearly be seen.

I hope that one day I'll be able to create Malaysian life stories as beautifully as she did.

Sedekah Al-Fatihah kepada Yasmin Ahmad. Semoga rohnya dicucuri rahmat Allah.

Prose: This is how it goes: your body at the edge of the shore,

This is how it goes: your body at the edge of the shore, staring dead ahead into nothing. Seagulls flying high above spread their wings towards the sky; from where you stand it looks like a peace sign more than anything. A good or bad omen, it doesn’t really matter. You spread your own makeshift wings (your beautifulslenderarms) and start swimming, blending in seamlessly with the vast emptiness we call the sea. You see it more as a challenge; as the waves beckon you back to the shore, your carnal lust for physical strength urges you to swim against the tide, further and further towards the horizontal line that differentiates the sky and the sea. It is at this moment, when you can’t picture the line with your naked eye anymore, you realize that both entities are really not so different. Just like how the soul and the body is connected, and humans make an imaginary line in order to distinguish one between the other. That, in actuality, it is existential and consequential because the other exists. It is while you are surrounded in this nothingness that it hits you; that we compartmentalize in order to achieve a kind of perfection, a system of ordered and manageable thought that was never really there to begin with. And here you are, swimming gracefully, parallel to the seagulls gliding effortlessly, towards the sun.

You wanna make fires and get Norwegian Wood with me

I like Lady Gaga, Alphabeat, Mr. Hudson and Julian Perretta =D. It's strange to find myself thinking that our pop music is evolving, yet rock remains relatively static and mundane. I can't name one modern rock band I can listen to all day long. Grammatics, I think, is the only band that's a little different from all the other trash. And it's indie, not rock =/

So what have I been doing these days?

I really don't know, but I've been busy =/

My grandma's been making me stock up on all these traditional Malay clothes. They're beautiful, but how am I supposed to fit them in my suitcase and still keep within the 20 kg limit? =(

I is sad.

Yesterday my sis and I were walking along Ampang Park and the haze was nuts. More toxic than that Britney song.

=(

Life's been good, only a few weeks left to go peeps =)

Spend time with the family and stay healthy.

Lately my head's been kinda funny.

I don't really get why.

Maybe I'm going through like a withdrawal process, where I know I should start detaching myself with certain people;

My family and friends especially.

I've always thought of myself as someone independent. I wasn't especially vulnerable. Spiteful, maybe.

Now I'm not so sure anymore.

Morrie Schwartz told Mitch Albom to give in to emotions fully, let it seep into the soul wholly, and then let go completely. That, he says, is the perfect antidote to combat fear.

But is fear the accurate emotion that I'm feeling right now?

Possibly, possibly.

Or it could just be that time of the month again.

Juncture

I love how he quotes the Qur'an a lot. I like the fact that he knows a lot about our history, about our religion. I like how he put in the Isra' allusion in the speech. I like the fact that he gave the speech in Al-Azhar. That in itself, is a mark of respect. The speech, in its entirety, is in line with my own personal beliefs; I'm glad that the leader of the Free World is beginning to air out all the hostility between the West and Islam, and is willing to work towards a better future.

Some of my favourite excerpts:

"Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra -- (applause) -- as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer. "

"I recognize it will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude, and resolve."

"America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose."

"I am convinced that our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons. " (I absolutely love this line. More people should realize this.)

"The Holy Koran tells us: "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."

The Holy Bible tells us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.""

Read the whole thing here.

The speech is pretty long, 55 minutes and the transcript spans around three A4 pages. But it's beautiful. And it is a start. It's a good start.

I completely understand the skepticism and the hostility from Gaza and Islamabad. If my house was torn apart and I lost family members in the hands of Americans, I would take this speech as something more of a political ploy.

But I believe in Obama's sincerity, in his willingness to forge a better relation between our wrongly misunderstood religion and the West. As he said; "I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. I know there's been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust..."

But he's willing to take the small baby steps. Are we?

My Favourite American Idol performance

Flashback:



He never told the judges why he personally chose that song and felt it important that he sang it.
Now we know why.

I'm a huge Lambert fan. But Cook's the man I go back to time after time for an emotional check.

Christian the Lion AKA Why Woman's Day is the best tabloid in the world and should be trusted

You know, I don't get why my posts are so dreary when I'm actually a pretty contented kid.
Anyway,
do y'all know Christian the Lion? (and his two owners whose names I've forgotten)?
That clip of Christian hugging his two owners was way way back from the 70s and his ex-owners are pretty old now, ( maybe 60+)?
Anyway, they actually found Christian at Harrod's.
I kid you not. Harrod's actually put Christian up on sale.
=(

(I swear all this is true, I read it from Woman's Day!!!! You know, the magazine that said that a dingo would never eat a baby...)

Anyway, I digress.

Seriously, Harrod's is reputed to be one of the best luxury store in the world.
But it's a big PR boo-boo to sell endangered animals
I don't fell like visiting Harrod's anymore =(
and I really really wanted to see those Egyptian statues in the store = '(

(How noooow Naizzzzzz =(((( )

Darn you Harrod's.

Which brings me to another question;

Am I too (pseudo)-ethical for my own good?

I don't eat shark fins soup when it's served in front of me. People think I'm shtooopid.
(I mean, it is in front of me kan? Might as well eat, no?)

And there was this one time I was being super-annoying (actually, when am I not kan?) and I went around my house switching all the electrical appliances.
I still do that.

People still think I'm shtoooopid.

Oh well, I just think it's funny =D

Me0wme0wme0wme0w