Ibnu Ariff Web Log

Kahwin Kahwin

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:43:00 +0000

"Congratulations Brother!"

I looked up to Umran, "For what?"

Still smiling, Umran replied, "You got married recently right?"

"No, not me. It's the other guy - Ammar. If it was me I would've invited you."

And that short conversation marks the start of days discussing about marriage. Truly, love is in the air in IIUM. Three of my friends got married recently - two of them was my classmate, the other one is my colleague in club.

It's sweet to see that the couples that I knew from matriculation days got married although I didn't attend any. But then, it's also a bitter reminder of the couples which didn't make it especially when they seemed so passionate before.

Me: Do you know Qayyum and Wani got married?

Anip: Huh, I didn't even know that they have any special relationship before. Is there any event that get them together.

Me: Ha, that would be the Taaruf Week way back in 2005. You were part of it right?

Anip: Well, I don't see anything that suggests that.

Me: Well, after Taaruf Week several times I saw them meeting up wearing the same color. That's a strong indication. Furthermore, the high committee in Taaruf Week do call them Abah and Mama.

Then, meet up with Yazid - the ustaz.

Yazid: Bob (he call me that), I got married recently.

Me: Congratulations, when was that?

Yazid: The solemnation was after Eid-ul-Fitr, we are having the reception next month. Anyway, when are you getting married?

Me: Huh, I didn't even have a candidate for that.

Yazid: If you want, I can get you one.

Me: Haha, then it will be according to your criteria.

Yazid: No, you tell me what your criteria is. I can introduce you with Sis. YYYY from Econs or Sis. ZZZZ from Law. Tell me what you want.

Me: Don't know, one thing for sure I need someone who can keep up with constant travel and prepare to live out of the norm. Haha, I don't give it much thought. Anyway, I'm in love with book projects for the coming year. I'll get back to you when the time comes.

Yazid: You have a big house but live alone, while my wife and I rents a small room.

Me: Well, life isn't perfect. Each of us got different things.

Because of constant discussion about this topic, it even got into my dream!

Twenty One

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:07:00 +0000

Yup, I'm twenty-one years old today. Usually, I don't write about my birthday. But as my dear friend Azleen wanted to know what I feel about this particular birthday so here I am.

As usual, no elaborate celebration. In fact, I'm pretty much celebrating alone amidst the final exam season. My sisters are the first to sms me. Then in the morning my parents called me.

My father reminded me to register as a voter with SPR. He said make sure that I'm registered for either Kuantan or Keramat and not anywhere outside my qariah. Before, I tought I would miss the upcoming General Election. I'm not as apathetical towards General Election as opposed to Campus Election.

As for my mother, she asked jokingly whether I would like a car. Of course I answered yes! Not that I need to drive to class everyday but I'm pretty much fed up having to wait for my friends to pick me up when we need to go somewhere. I need to have more flexibility in my travels as well. Not essential, but nice to have.

Surprisingly, my sisters started to be fussing about the fact that I'm still single and available. That doesn't concern me much, I have several things to achieve on my own first. Furthermore, the average marriage age in my family is around 25 years old. So there's still ample time. Furthermore, it's not good to bow to peer and family pressure in this matter.

Few days before, I've completed my first novel. Although I've handed over the full manuscript to the publisher, there's still lots to do before it enters the market. I foresee an extensive editing and polishing of the story. Not to mention the illustration and graphic as well.

Ah well, that's enough for the time. If any of my friends wanted to know more, just fire up an email to me.

Professional Blogging?

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:25:00 +0000

Well, more or less I'm blogging professionally now. Professional in the sense that I blogged about a specific topic and for a specific purpose. Now, I maintained two such blog - Studio Inspirasi and Madani's Official Blog.

Studio Inspirasi

This blog started 4 months ago when I started to actively involved in creative writing. It's kind of an assignment from my mentor Pn. Ainon to set up a blog to connect Malay sci-fi and fantasy enthusiasts.

The blog is doing quite well and received good response from the readers with over 200 comments for the total of 50 posts. The rate is certainly better than the current blog here. :) Furthermore, it gave me the push to complete my first novel!

Madani

Before this, I've blogged about Madani in this blog but since a month back I've set up an official blog for the group. Coupled with YouTube videos, we are able to reach a bigger audience than before. It even connected me with a long lost friend!

Some might wonder why we took so long to actively post videos to YouTube. That's because we haven't secured the copyrights for our songs. Now with several of them secured we are free to air them on the net.

This Blog

What will happen to this blog? It will stay here as it serves as a memory archive for me. Just don't expect regular updates here - so head over to Studio Inspirasi and Madani if you guys want to know what I'm up to. :D

Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 09:58:00 +0000

For a review of Faisal Tehrani's latest work - ‘ikan fugu, lukisan & jimson’, head over to my other blog at Studio Inspirasi. The review is in Malay of course, since the book is written in Malay anyway. This book is a sequel of the award-winning Detektif Indigo and I feel it's a rather promising upcoming series. However, there's some challenges for it to overcome. So read it up at Studio Inspirasi.

By the way, Studio Inspirasi is dedicated to discuss about Fantasy & Sci Fi works.

Back in Action

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Sat, 26 May 2007 15:51:00 +0000

After a long hiatus at my Malay blog. I present to you a story, originally titled 'Bring Back the Smile' written by yours truly. Translated, it became 'Kembalikan Senyuman Itu'. It's quite a challenge to return to writing in Malay. My last post in Malay was August last year so imagine the gap.

I stumbled to translate several words such as mines, relief workers, mass. Have to knock my head a bit to spit out the suitable word. Even then I still find it rather odd. Do give your feedback, it's highly appreciated! Read it up here.

Write and Write

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:34:00 +0000

This week had been the work of paper works, concepts and ideas. While coming up with concept and details for a writing project I also need to do a paperwork for Madani. Before this, I'm quite hapless when facing the task of writing a lot for two unrelated task but this time around I've learned the trick.

Dubbed the KJ Method, I was first exposed to it 2 weeks by Mr. Fauzul from PTS. Last week, Pn. Ainon - the PTS Sifu herself go into deeper details of the KJ Method. Broke free from linear writing method, I find that it's easier for me to generate ideas and add it to the respective writing task. Even if that means juggling between a novel and a serious paperwork.

Having overcame the challenge to came up with ideas, now I need to (quite) forcefully will myself to write. And the other challenge is to brush up my Malay writing again as I find it sounds odd like being translated word-by-word from English.

Well, this will affect my psyche a bit as I must merge the dualism of my language mastery. I'm proficient in English for technical stuffs but not so in daily conversation while the opposite is true for Malay. Huh, odd thing eh?

Travel Tips: Bus Travel in Malaysia

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 02:43:00 +0000

Since I had my fair share of traveling by bus so I thought why not I share some of the travel tips I gathered through my experience. Might come handy for foreign tourists and students who might be away from their families for the first time when they entered matric/university this coming July. In the recent two weeks alone I clocked more than 24 hours being on board a bus. The bulk of it is the KL-Kangar trip plus the usual KL-Kuantan Trip.

1. Always buy your ticket at the counter! This is really important and must be remembered no matter how desperate you are. It's common to see at big stations like KL's Pudu to have pushers trying to sell to you tickets. They usually shouts the destination and chides you if you decline their offer. My advice: ignore them. They might charge higher or give to you a lousy bus. This especially true during peak seasons.

Instead go straight to your preferred bus counter and buy the ticket there. So, in case of any discrepancies or delays you can inquire at the counter. If you a first time buyer, just look at the destination names on at the counters. If you totally clueless I recommend going to the Transnasional counter - they sell tickets to almost all destination (especially from KL).

2. Shop around. Now, which bus is more comfortable? If you are adventurous you could try out different bus each time or you can simply observe the buses when you are waiting for your bus. For those who are in universities, you can ask your seniors. There are many types of bus - the plain one have 4 seats in a row, then the premium 3 seats in a row and the double decker. The first two might costs the same but the latter could be slightly more expensive by around 15%. Double deck bus are unsuitable if you plan to carry a lot of luggage as their cargo hold is rather small and there's no overhead storage compartments.

3. Buy early. You must be real lucky to be able to buy tickets at the last minute during festive seasons or real unlucky to find out you are given extra (read: lousy) bus. You must book early, some bus operators allow booking four weeks in advance. The minimum is usually two weeks for those who still use paper filing system. Some of you might figure out that only tickets to Ipoh and JB are sold out during Chinese New Year but don't be surprised that ticket to Kota Bharu sold out too. Malaysians don't care what the festival is about, they travel home if they have the holiday anyway.

Other peak seasons might occur nearing university semester breaks or school holidays. This is true especially if the town have a sizeable students population.

4. Be prepared. By law bus drivers must stop at least once during the journey so you can eat and pray. Sometimes, the stop is very brief or the rest area doesn't sell food. So you should prepare with your own packed foods and drinks.

5. Alternative routes. The ticket to your destination sold out? No problem - you can still hop on a bus that goes to a city beyond your destination. Say the ticket to Muar sold out, you can hop on the bus to Batu Pahat. But you must clarify with the counter of the route of the bus.

Sometimes it will pass through your hometown or be at the outskirts which you may have transport problem. And be sure to notify the bus driver and remind them. And don't fall asleep! My uncle once end up in Johor Bharu when he fall asleep and missed to stop at Pagoh. This method is only recommended if you have somebody to pick you up. Of course, this method is irrelevant to towns which borders Thailand or Singapore.

6. Alternative stations. Sometimes, a town might have more than one bus station. For example: apart from Pudu, KL have Pekeliling, Putra & Jalan Duta. These stations are smaller and only serve specific regions such as Pahang, East Coast & Northern respectively. I prefer to board at Pekeliling to go Kuantan as it is much less buy and nearer to the LRT. Keep in mind that your choices might be limited here though.

If your town station have limited outbound trips you might consider going to a bigger nearby town to get to your destination. For example Kangar might have limited bus so you can go to Alor Star to get more bus. Kangar-Alor Star are served by a commuter bus so it's quite convenient.

7. Be early! This is very important as you don't want to miss your bus and waste your money. And you might be pestered by your mum. :P A friend of mine had missed more bus in a semester than the rest of the class. Heh. This is also important in big stations like Pudu where you need to locate the platform or where the bus waits outside the station (especially for those double deck buses).

Ok, that's my travel tips for now. Hope you find it useful!

Madani at Perlis

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:41:00 +0000

Last Friday, Madani went up north to Perlis. Departing from Pudu at Midnight, the journey to Kangar took almost 7 hours with stops at Alor Star & Changloon. We arrived at around 6.30am. After subuh prayer at the bus station, we head to a nearby mamak restaurant for breakfast. You, might be wondering what we are doing so far away from our normal 'territory' eh? Well, two colleges at IIUM is having a community program at Kampung Titi Tinggi, Padang Besar, Perlis and they invited us to perform for the Cultural Night which is part of the Baktisiswa Program.

Now, first thing first - how we do get there. The five of us are basically clueless about Perlis and my last visit here is almost 5 years ago. Luckily, my mother have a friend here - Hj. Riduan who worked at Kangar Hospital. So I gave him a call and told him that we need to go to Titi Tinggi. I need to pass the souvenirs my mother packed for him as well. Cutting the story short, he arranged for us taxis to get there. Pak Man drove the taxi leisurely at 70km/h to arrive at Titi Tinggi in 30 minutes. That allowed us to enjoy the scenery - and a change from our usually hectic pace to go to shows.

We put up at Mr. Hasbullah's house which is near the community hall of Kampung Titi Hilir. Titi Tinggi is comprised of two villages - Titi Tinggi Hilir & Ulu. Both of them are rather near to each other. After getting acquainted with our gracious host, we knocked ourself to sleep. Well, sleeping aboard the bus is not the same as sleeping at a house no matter how comfortable is. BTW, the Durian Burung double decker bus we took really are comfortable. We are left to make ourself at home while Mr. Hasbullah and his wife went out to buy fish to cook laksa.

I woke up first and get bathed. Only then I awaken the rest of the team. Meanwhile I took some pictures of the surrounding. By the time we get ready, the laksa is ready as well. Never resisting good food, we sit down and enjoy the laksa. Thanks a lot makcik! It's already noon, and she said lunch is still coming up after Friday prayer.

The mosque is situated at Titi Tinggi Hulu and our host is particularly concerned when we said we are going there on foot. We assured them not to worry and off we go along Federal Road No. 7.

Well, it seems that the villagers never walked to mosque especially not all the way for Hilir to Ulu. People gawked at us, pressed their horns. Heh, we must be really odd. For the villagers, the distance is rather far but for us who constantly walk about the city it's normal. IMHO, walking from one end of Mid Valley to the other is further still.

We must be high of Titi Tinggi Oddity Meter - we are the only one who are not 'dressed properly' for Friday prayer. Which means t-shirts and pants instead of baju melayu and sarongs. Heh, we travel light so ditto baju melayu.

As promised, there's a hearty lunch after Friday prayer. The menu is kari ayam kampung dengan pisang, ikan pekasam, ikan bakar and ulam. Yummy! We had lunch together with the participants of the foster family program which is Shidee, Musa and Jebat. At first, I had no idea who Jebat is when being told by our host - to my surprise it's actually Azizul, my classmate for Internet Application last semester.

After Asr, it's time for sound check at Titi Tinggi Hulu community hall. It's situated at the centre of a vast paddy field with a single narrow, windy road as the only access. The committee members and villagers are busy setting up the tents and preparing the place. The sound system arrived at 6.30pm, just before Adil arrived from Langkawi. We took time until dusk to set up the system. On our way back to our host house we crossed the paddy field instead of the long windy road. It saved substantial time to get to the van which picked us up. Unfortunately, I slipped into the mud a bit and forced me to walk barefooted halfway. That's certainly something to be remembered.

After Isya', it's time for the event. Villager thronged the 'island' in the paddy field. I'm amazed how they managed to park their vehicles in a limited area and still have space for the audience. The performance kicked off with Nasyid performance by Nur Ihsan from Kangar Hospital. They put up a good performance with songs from Raihan, Rabbani, and one original song. Our host told us that they are related to Ustaz Amaluddin. Next are a variety of performances from the school children and the villagers. When it's Madani's turn it's already past 11pm, which is surely are the bedtime of the people there. Some of the old folks are already half-asleep but nevertheless Madani still give out their best. The songs for that night is our own 'Janji Setia' and 'Keluarga Bahagia' and 'Hijrah' from Nowseeheart.

Despite that, some villagers are still up to do some more performances which dragged the event to midnight. Oh, my... Back at our host house we had our supper and then went to sleep. A good rest is vital as we are heading back to KL the next day.

Certainly, this event is rather exhausting but it bring it's own joy to us being somewhere different, a different set of audience, meeting up new people. And performing at an 'island' in the paddy field is an appeal on it's own as well.

Oh yeah, the members who went for this event are Adil, Zaki, Ashraf & Haziq as singers while Ashraf Jr. & I served as crew. Looking forward to return to Perlis someday! And our highest gratitude to our gracious host Mr. Hasbullah and his family for their hospitality.

Maulidur Rasul Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 05:06:00 +0000

Phew! The recent Maulidur Rasul had been very hectic for all us in the Madani team. With three events to be covered scattered around Klang Valley it's a record number of events in one day for us. Our day started in the at midnight. We just finished of surveying the condition at SMK Sri Aman and have some discussion with the organizers. Then we had a late dinner at 'German' stall at Petaling Jaya. The makcik still remembered us even though our last visit was almost a year ago and she still give us discount. Thanks a lot makcik.

Back in Keramat, we still can't hit the beds. Several things need to be sorted out, such as designating drivers, songs, and other small stuffs. As the teacher requested a Raihan song I looked up for the lyrics online and gave to the singers to practice. Meanwhile Farid the Co-Manager readies to pick up Aie at Puduraya. Next I prepare the minus one and minus two CDs. I load up minus twos from Madani and minus ones from Nowseeheart. Added some Saujana minus ones for good measure as well. I got to sleep earlier than the others (as usual) and set the alarm.

Around 6.15am we woke up after around 4 hours of sleep. Aie had arrived although his bus was late one hour and only arrive at 4am. He managed to get some sleep aboard the bus so he's not that groggy and pretty much alert. As we had two events that requested nasyid performance at 8.50am we had to split the team to two teams. Each team have three singers, one technician, and a manager cum photographer. For SMK Pandan Indah we send Kamal, Haziq, Adil, Acap jr. and Farid. Zaki, Acap, Aie, and I went to SMK Sri Aman. Juz is already in PJ so he just walk over to the school.

At PJ, our PA system provider is already busy setting up the equipments. The father and son team recently helped us a lot and we are very happy with them as well.

The event started later than scheduled and delayed for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile at Pandan Indah their event went on time so by the time we started the performance at PJ the other team had already packed up and headed towards PJ.

After a string of selawat songs the event is passed to the speaker and we headed to the canteen for our break. Just as we are about to dig in the breakfast provided the other team propped up at the door. My, we must been real late or those guys had been driving real fast. (I suspect the latter though).

The breakfast served is Nasi Lemak - nice but not really suitable for singers. No complaints from my boys though and they walloped it clean.

The organizers requested several songs such as Doa Perpisahan from Brothers and Keluarga Bahagia from Saujana. We almost had to perform Mawi's Seroja when it turned out the speaker wants to play a cassette and unfortunately our PA system provider didn't bring any cassette player. Fortunately, we do bring a cassette player (although we almost forgotten about it) so that saved us.

For the next round of performance Madani sang out Guruku, Buatmu Ibu, and Light of Love from our own collection. Keluarga Bahagia from Saujana, Hijrah and Damai from Nowseeheart. Plus Doa Perpisahan from Brothers. For the first time ever we performed with live piano music for Buatmu Ibu. Zaki played the piano and the rest sing it out. That proved to be well-loved by the audiences and Zaki particularly got special attention at that time.

With so many songs, it already like a Madani concert at SMK Sri Aman! Those singers doesn't mind the numbers though - with a good setup and complete members their 'feel' is at the max. Add that with a receptive audience (male singers at girls school - go figure) they almost didn't want to stop singing!

But of course, such a performance is particularly taxing on the stamina so all of us went kaput once we got back at Keramat. Having a good rest is vital, another performance is coming up at night.

Our night at UiTM is pretty much normal - just performing two songs at the beginning of the Forum Perdana. But we do have a fair share of snags - inadequate microphone which is thankfully resolved when the UiTM do have extra and our techies took over the control panel at Dewan Sri Budiman. And quite embarrassingly, we left a pair of baju melayu behind so Kamal had to be the odd one out wearing shirt and blazers.

We wrapped up our day with dinner at section 2, Shah Alam. Bleary eyed and exhausted it didn't dampen our spirit. It been quite a while since all six singers is available and we are looking forward for great things to come.

Perlis, watch for us this Friday! :)

Unexpected Moments

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:07:00 +0000

Sometimes, the picture you want to take turned out differently. Actually, I wanted to take just the condo framed with the tree when suddenly this two kids came running around. Well, turn out nicely anyway as it give a certain mood and story to the picture. More of my pictures here.

Highlight: Name Change Issue

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 14:17:00 +0000

Recently, the Fatwa Council of Perlis declared that reverts to Muslim could retain their father name or family name. For me, it is a great development for our Muslim community as it shows the universality of Islam; that it is relevant to all people in this world. But then, the Religious Advisor to the PM questions this move citing reasons such as the current system is good enough and 'causing awkwardness and lead to incomplete assimilation'.

Current system is good enough? Well, that's clearly an overstatement. There's still a lot of thing to be improved. People interested in embracing Islam are facing various difficulties and challenges. This is shared by Muslim reverts I known at Islamic Information Service.

Leading to Incomplete Assimilation? Assimilation to what? Assimilation to Malay? Heck, people embrace Islam to become a Muslim not a Malay! For me, Muslims with names like Lim Jooi Soon and Shah Kirit Kalikulal Govindji is not awkward at all. We interacted normally and jovially even. It is not impeding in any way. In my humble opinion, they served as a reminder of the universality of Islam and that God created people in different tribes and races for us to get to know each other.

Granted, names which reflects principles of religions other than Islam or carry bad meanings should be changed. But this should not lead to a blanket ban in retaining their old names.

New IIUM Website

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 13:33:00 +0000

I was trying to get my final exam when to my surprise the university website had been changed. The new layout is pleasant but it renders horribly on Firefox and still very much buggy on IE as well. That irritates me, hopefully they'll fix it ASAP.

Bomb Threat?

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:36:00 +0000

Although my recent trip to Singapore was rather pleasant there's a snag with the customs. They are paranoid as hell. Anything stuffed with wires are suspected to be some kind of bomb or spy stuffs. That's what happened with my gadget satchel put in my hand luggage. They scrambled to unravel the content of my bag only to find some chargers. I told them it was chargers but they won't listen. Furthermore, the metal detector beeped when I passed through. My, my...

The 'Bomb'

The 'Bomb' Inner 'Workings'

I think they should chill out a bit when checking Malaysians. For me, we are the one who are most unlikely to blow up Singapore since many of us are related with the islanders one way or another. Never ever we want to harm our family and friends.

Hopefully it won't happen again.

Sultan Mosque

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:39:00 +0000

During my recent trip to Singapore on Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit Sultan Mosque at Muscat Street. Disembarking at Bugis MRT Station, the mosque is a short walk away.

Situated near the Kampung Gelam Palace, this mosque have it's own cultural significance being the oldest mosque at the island. It still houses the beduk although not being used anymore but the mosque still burn incense to give a pleasant aroma throughout.

I had little time to fully appreciate the mosque and learn more about it's history. Insya'Allah, I'll return one day to do a proper photo op and documentation. Anyway, thanks a lot to Bro. Ridzwan for being my tour guide there.

More picture available at my Flickr.

Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 12:43:00 +0000

"The plains are decorated with
My beautiful colors, and the air
Is scented with my fragrance.

As I embrace Slumber the eyes of
Night watch over me, and as I
Awaken I stare at the sun, which is
The only eye of the day.

I drink dew for wine, and hearken to
The voices of the birds, and dance
To the rhythmic swaying of the grass"

Excerpt from Khalil Gibran's Song of the Flower

Have You Registered?

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 12:03:00 +0000

With 15 December looming near, reminders for prepaid registration had been aired with increasing frequency. Booths had been set up at public places like malls & mosques. But so far I don't see many people registering at such booths. Maybe they registered, maybe not. Anyway, non-compliance would mean that your airtime could be forfeited (much to the delight of the telcos who had to pay incentives to register).

Personally, I advise to register early as your registration might be 'lost' or MIA along the way. As what happened to my registration at Maxis Centre KLCC. I had to come back after I received an SMS stating that I'm still unregistered. That is few months ago, now in the midst of meeting the deadline your registration could be stranded as well. So keep that in mind.

Me? I've registered of course, including my Singaporean SIM card. Heck, they required you to register on the spot even. I had my passport scanned at the 7-Eleven as the pix above.

Kampung

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:56:00 +0000

Kampung usually simply means a village, but it also refers to your hometown. Where you've been growing up. The term hometown is more accurate these days as not many people stay in traditional villages anymore. My grandparents of both sides lives in town and my remaining great-grandfather lives in an even bigger town.

Then comes the question - what is my hometown?

True enough, I was born in Kuantan and that somewhat qualifies it to be my hometown. But then I spent most of my childhood in KL and adapted most of it's psyche. Only later on I live in Kuantan and even at that I'm still constantly in touch with KL. Yeah, I'm still branded as a KLite by many of Kuantan folks. Especially when I hang out at Teluk Chempedak. I speak with nary a hint of East Coast dialect, so I think that's why I'm perceived as such. Plus I usually drive around Kuantan in a car with a KL licence plate.

I know many elders in Kuantan but not much of my peers (except for school) and the reverse happened in KL. I do my shopping in KL yet still craves for sata and keropok lekor. But come main dishes I go for Johorian food above all else. I navigate KL better than some KLite but doesn't really know the nook & crannies of Kuantan. Pretty mixed up eh?

The verdict? Pretty much undecided, but techicality favours Kuantan as my parents lives there. Maybe I take both, as told to a taxi driver before. ;)

Strawberry Mania

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 15:30:00 +0000

During my recent trip to Cameron Highlands I've been afflicted with 'strawberry mania'. On my earlier trip back in 2003 the strawberries were not so nice but this time around they are excellently succulent and sweet. At one farm they served almost every food with strawberries. The ice cream and waffle are rather common but salad? It's surprised me at first but it turns out to taste real good. An excellent substitute to raisins in certain salads I reckon. At RM3.90 it's quite a steal as you can put as much as you like in the bowl provided and mix to your liking.

Drool over the foods here.

Cats

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:29:00 +0000

For me, cats are fascinating creatures. It's grace & agility are stunning. They may seem aloof, simply relaxing and grooming - a perfect anti-thesis to today's hectic world. Maybe that attracts me most apart from it's independent spirit. As a saying goes, "You never own a cat, the cat owns you."

You can hardly make a cat do your bidding, unlike dogs which offers it's obedience. Cats offers company & amusement - their presence are one of life's little luxuries. I don't keep one as pet but they constantly amuse me.

Note: Here's some of the cats that recently amuses me.

The Unexpected News

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:32:00 +0000

"Auntie, attendance!" That's one of the normal dialogue lines in my UNGS
2040 class - Islam, Knowledge & Civilization. Auntie is Ms. Selvarani, one of the three 'senior' students in the class together with Uncle Chew and Mr. Shukri. All of them are students of Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws. She's a police officer and I suspect that's the main reason why Bro. Hikmatullah had chosen her to be the class monitor of a bunch of (mostly) young people from all over the globe. So far, this is the most internationally diverse class I've attended in IIUM - with students from China, Egypt, Africa, India, UK, and several other countries. Not to mention that thelecturer himself is from Singapore.

Although the class is for Islamic studies subject, both Auntie and Uncle Chew participated actively in the class making the class very lively. As the class is made up mostly of presentations and discussions their participation is really felt among the generally not-so-active younger students. Being the class monitor Auntie keep tab on our attendance on behalf of the lecturer. A bit overkill using a police officer to check on students attendance eh? She'll also SMS the lecturer when he's late and ask wether the class is on or not. Either way we'll still sign the attendance.

Today I came to class a bit late with a sleepy head and quite surprised a low turnout. 'Class cancelled again maybe,' that's what I thought so I start looking for Auntie. To my surprise she's not there - an oddity considering her almost perfect attendance. I sensed something amiss when I saw the lecturer sitting in front instead of standing and Uncle Chew is reading a report from a Chinese newspaper. He's reading a report of a fatal accident, and I wonder what it have to do with the class. Missed most of the story I ask the other Firdaus - what happened? 'Auntie passed away in an accident'

The news shocked me, I took quite sometime to accept it. It seems so unreal, I still could imagine her sitting a few seats across me handing out the attendance and her cheerful demeanor. But seeing the sombre faces of other classmates brought me to reality. The class was cancelled today but not before the lecturer announced that we are all awarded ten marks for being her colleague. As a result, the test also deferred to another week.

11 September 2006
----------------------------------------------
Deepest condolonces to the family of Asst. Supt. M. Selvarani

All in a Day's Work

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:30:00 +0000

No. 1: Update Client's Site

No. 2: Upgrade RAM

Increased PC's RAM from 512MB to 1GB, woohooo!

No. 3: Annihilated Viruses from a Sick Laptop

All together 967 viruses, all are 'Brontoks'. Removed using Grisoft AVG Free. Although the number are substantial it doesn't break the rcord held by my uncle's laptop - 3000 plus 'Brontoks'. Fortunately AVG have automatic healing or else it'll be crazy to click so many times to heal it.

Lesson Learnt

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 10:43:00 +0000

One thing that I learnt from a brother is not to take things for granted. For example your friends, your family and such. Sometime we just overlook or assume things. Normally people are right-handed so we usually all of our friends are right-handed as well. Boy I was wrong on that. And that even for someone whom I shared a room for 1 and a half year!

I only realize it when attended a dinner function in Bangi. He took the dessert from the wrong side, the one meant for other people. Fortunately the chair on his left is empty.

Similar incident happened regarding one of my relatives. This time around he took the wrong glass. Only when I took the glass to my right he realized his mistake and put the glass he picked up to his right. That made him have two glasses of water. Fortunately it's a family event so the uncle left to him didn't mind the mistake.

The two incident happened in a week and I'm quite ashamed not to realize it earlier especially regarding my former roommate. Feel quite bad for not knowing him well enough. No wonder every time I picked up his watch it's always on the wrong side. Need to be more observant next time. And never ever take my friends and family for granted.

Bring Back the Smile

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 00:05:00 +0000

In a war torn country a sister was separated from his younger brother. Been missing for 6 months she feared the worst - his brother, the one she cared for and loved the most is shot dead by the enemy. She can't even bear to see the door of his brother's room. Her mind keep recalling how his brother would happily come out of it, greet everybody and eager to learn new things. His smile, his laughter, his energy - she sorely miss it. The pain is so much that smile began to fade from her face. One day, her smile was gone. Together with her voice and her will to live.

She saw troops coming, but it is not the enemies. They are peacekeepers and relief workers. The troops seems to be looking for something, using devices that looks like mine detectors. But that's odd as the place have been cleared of mines last week. Then the troops started digging. Not just a few troop but almost the whole squad together with machinery. As they dig deeper and deeper only then she realize what they are doing. They are digging a mass grave, a proof of the enemy's ruthlessness.

Lots of bodies are uncovered. The stench unbearable. The bodies wrangled like vines of a writhing tree.

"My brother is one of them," she said to herself.

That breaks her heart.

The troops worked round the clock to identify each body. Using whatever tools and information that they have to put a name to the lifeless bodies.

True enough, her fears come true. The news hit her like a rushing train. She felt herself being knocked out of this world. She lost the reason to live, the world is meaningless to her.

The troops symphatize her but they are hapless in the matters of the heart. They can't even say soothing words to her as they don't speak her language. Then come a small relief team, not troops but an NGO. The troops meet up with the group and asked, "Do you have a psychiatrist among you?".

The group leader pointed to the team psychiatrist - a doctor. The troop told him of the story of the girl and then bring the doctor to her.

The doctor also don't speak the girl's language yet he shared the same faith as her. As opposed to the troops whom doesn't have anything in common with her. The doctor counselled her through an interpreter, a fellow sister whom her study for a degree halted because of the war. The interpreter not only convey the words from the doctor to the girl and vice versa but also together with the emotions. The doctor reminds her to hold fast to God, and the reasons why she must go on with life.

That opened her heart a little. She began to smile again after months without any smile.

The doctor thanked Allah, grateful that he helped to bring back a smile, and a life.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Based on a story shared by Dr. Azhar Abd. Aziz of MERCY Malaysia at IIUM Kuantan.

Something to ponder; The war torn country is 95% Muslim yet out of the 200 relief organization registered for mission only 10% is Muslim organization.

IIUM Now on Google Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 01:57:00 +0000

Google Earth have added more hi-res imagery around Klang Valley so now the campus is much clearer to be seen. I can clearly see my faculty and the other buildings. Hmm, only the Kuantan Campus is yet to appear in hi-res on Google Earth.

SHAS Mosque from above, the one featured in my earlier posting.

By the way, I extensively use Google Earth to find my way around in the Klang Valley. It's better than the plain graphic map because I can see the landmarks that serves me a better guide rather than try to remember the street names and turnings. So now I'm more apt of the roads in KL even to places I've never been to. My friend call me the 'Human GPS' because of that. :P

Take Charge! Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Firdaus Ibnu Ariff) — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 01:25:00 +0000

Highlights of Take Charge! by Mohd Rizal Hassan at Matriculation Centre, International Islamic University Malaysia. www.take-charge.com.my