fate...

I was listening to a song by Westlife, called The Dance, when I suddenly thought of my pakcik. Part of the song's lyric goes like this:

And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end, the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance

I could have missed the pain

But I'd have to miss the dance

You see, my pakcik went along with my parents to go umrah recently. He was over the moon, overjoyed to get the chance to visit the Ka'abah; he even took initiatives to jog before going to get his stamina up. By Allah's will, a few days after he returned back from umrah, his wife passed away. It got me thinking.... if he knew his wife would be going away soon, would he have gone on the trip (the trip that had made him so happy)? Or would he had stayed and be with her during the last weeks of her life?

But alas...we're merely human and knows not of our fate. Reading La Tahzan, it stresses that we should never even question 'if this or this happen'... as everyhing is predetermined, and all we can do is be patient.

As a lesson for myself.... never take things for granted, appreciate everything, live life to the fullest, but always remember death. You could be so happy one day, but you never know whether you would still be alive the next day.

May Allah bless her. Al-Fatihah...

Join me at Goodreads!

Previously, I was using one of the Apps on Facebook called Visual Bookshelf. After a while, I got bored of it... mainly because it takes quite a while to load and the features seem limited. So I looked around for a social network website for bookworms (or nerds if you want to call it =P ) and I'm so happy to come across Goodreads!

There are many other social network sites of course (like LibraryThing, Shelfari, etc.)... but I like Goodreads the best. The interface is not too boring like LibraryThing and yet you can still find all the things you want. What I had in mind was... I wanted a website that I can keep catalogue of all the books that I have read and at the same time I get to read and share reviews of books with others ... and I think Goodreads have just what I need.

I love how the books can be nicely catalogue!

This is what the homepage looks like.

The book reviews are really what interest me. With so many people using this site, you can get all sorts of views for just one book, from whichever genre. You can even find Malay, Arabic, French (etc..etc..etc..) books' reviews... It's great way to find what to read next.

There are even fun stuffs like trivia and quizzes... and you get to vote on all sorts of list (like the "Best Books of the 20th Century" and "Worst Books of All Time"... amazingly, Twilight was voted on both lists! haha).

I have also joined one of the groups called Goodreads Malaysia... and it is so great to be pleasantly suprise by the number of bookworms out there. Who says Malaysians don't read?! The community even put up a challenge of "50 Buku Setahun (2011)"... where you challenge yourself to reading 50 books!!! Erk... I don't think I can manage that... so, I've set my target at a humble 20 this year (see the widget I have on my right ----> ).

To all my friends out there, come sign up on this site. I would love to know what you've been reading and your views on them.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark Twain

Pelik ke?

A few days ago, while taking out my laundry, my colleague accidently saw I had a Quran in my luggage bag (we were switching hotels in Skudai at that time). He was suprised and said "ada lagi ye orang macam ni? bagus la". Really?! Pelik sangat ke? He asked why do I bring it along? Do I always bring it along when I travel?

To be honest, I'm quite suprise by his questions. Pelik sangat ke bawa Quran? Why do I bring it along? Sebab takut hantu ke? (huh? klau bawa je boleh halau ke???) Ntah la... but I know klau dah lama tak baca, rasa rindu nak baca balik. My reading is way far from perfect, I sometimes don't even read the translation so I don't know what I'm reading... but I just like to read it... rasa calm. I'm not that pious, but I'm blessed to be around people who reads Quran (as a normal habit)... my brothers, my parents and my dear.

I'm not writing this with the intention to say I'm good or whatever.... far from it in fact. I'm just wondering where / how the general Muslims these days place Quran in their lives? Only for prayer? Or whenever someone passed away? This morning I found out my Christian colleague brought along his Bible with him. Shouldn't we be embarrassed?

Books for this month

Well, not for March particularly, but these are the books that I've read for the past month or so. Two of them I just finished this week (which my colleagues were like "dah abis dah?!" hee...)

Often when people ask what genre do I like, I don't have one. I usually pick whatever is on the bestseller list or recommended by friends. If you're looking for something good to read, hope this review helps (but then again, you should always give it a try yourself anyway~).

1. Flashforward (by Robert J. Sawyer)

Rate: 3.5 / 5.0

The TV series with the same name was based on this book. The idea of the whole world put on blackout and getting a 2 minutes glimpse of the future really pulled me to read this book. To some, knowing the future motivates them, while for others it's just a burden (yes, one character even committed suicide). Unlike the TV series, where the blackout was caused by some bad guys, in the book the event was a complete accident caused by side effect of an experiment with the Large Hadron Collider. Read how everyone tried to deal with it, and suprisingly they even tried to recreate the blackout again. There are parts of the book where it gets too physics and I just got blur... but on the whole, definitely recommended.

2. From Nothing Hill With Love...Actually (by Ali McNamara)

Rate: 1.5 / 5.0

Borrowed this from my cousin and read it while I was bored at rumah nenek. Yes, it's just a chick-lit where you know everything will be happy in the end (and I do enjoy reading chick-lit cause it's so takyah pikir)... but why does the main character have to be so.. erm.. so... silly (yeah, that's the word). She goes around wanting to proof movies does exist in real life. I mean huh?! And the movies that were quoted were mostly romantic comedies... if you really want to proof things in movies happen in real life, why not go for those drama-type ones, or even those based on historical facts (duuuhhh~!). If such person do exist, I think it's best to slap some senses into her =P

3. To Kill A Mockingbird (by Harper Lee)

Rate: 4.5 / 5.0
My dear rumet bought this for my coming 25th birthday (thank you met~!!! sorry I've read it before my birthday =P). I've always been wanting to read this book, to see why it's so famous... and I love it. The story is told from the view a little Scout Finch (somehow stories written from the kids' view are really good...just like Room). I guess a lot of us already know the general plot of this book is about a lawyer trying to defend a black man who was accused of rape (which he didn't do). Considering the heavy topic, i.e. on racial equality, aside from having a good court scene, the book is also suprisingly amusing and warm. I might as well give this a 5.0 / 5.0!

4. The Alchemist

Rate: 3.5 /5.0

Hurm... was recommended by rumet. Generally I love the journey went through by Santiago to achieve his dream. I may not agree with the philosophy of Soul of the World (or maybe I just don't understand it), and the wind and the sun talking are just weird... but hey, that's suppose to be magic of the story I guess. I like the fact that there are questions at the back of the book that are meant to guide readers and make them think. I love books that force me to think~! This book would be a great choice to be used in our schools for english literature (as compared to what they have now. I saw my brother's literature book for Form 5 students and it has lots of pictures in it! really?! it's literature for Form 5 and there are big pictures!!! hmm...ridiculous).

Back in skudai

Yup, I'm back in Skudai, but this time for project work. After doing a 12-hour shift I guess I should really just go to bed, but my stomach is too full right now...haih... anyway, here's my ramblings for today~(considering I had hours just menonton the reactor tadi, I had plenty of time to think about random stuff =P)

1. Saw this on today's newspaper:

Seriously what?! The guy is being so damn generous to give $28-billion to charity and these people are talking how this would cost him his Forbes title?! Who cares! He's helping so many people (as compared to keeping all the wealth to himself...sampai mati pun tak abis duit tu). I know I like watching the Forbes list on E! for entertainment purpose, but I simply love what Mr. and Mrs. Gates are doing here...hope they'll continue on the effort and inspire others to follow (I understand even Warren Buffet is joining in to help the Gates Foundation! nice =D)! Don't give a toot about the list k!

2. Here, I just want to vent off something... Today alone I got asked the same question again and again (I guess walking around the "digi" suit in UTM really attracts attention, especially since I'm a girl) ... which I don't really mind. But it gets annoying when someone said something like..."oooh patut la blaja kat UTP, memang la dapat keje situ" with that certain tone in their voice. I mean Seriously lady?! Since when studying in that university and getting the scholarship gives you the golden ticket to work in the company? And who says working for the company is a walk in the park?! And what's with you asking "baru 24? keje engineer???" in that tone... if you meant it as a compliment, then thank you, but it doesn't seem like one. And another thing...what's with you bragging your friend didn't get accepted by this same company but got into a different O&G company... seriously I don't care! Thank goodness I have enough sense to be polite and smile the whole time.

3. I finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird within 2 days of 'menonton' reactor. huhu~! Tomorrow I'll start on The Alchemist...good thing I've brought my stock of novels to read =) (book reviews coming soon~)

4. Earth Hour is coming again~! Don't forget to switch off your lights on this 26th March at 8.30pm.

5. Would like to experience watching a play at Istana Budaya~ Will Lat the Muzikal be worth the trouble?

It's framed!

I'm so happy...~! It's finally framed and it looks fantastic! =)

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Love in Disguise

Reasons to watch this movie:
1- It's a romantic comedy (so you don't have to think much)
2- It's directed by Wang Lee Hom himself (his 1st movie), which he won the Best New Director for it
3- The theme song to this movie is amazingly beautiful (which I think Lee Hom wrote too)
4- It has a happy ending... yay~
5- You'll get a good exposure on Chinese music

but most of all, you know the MAIN reason to watch this is because:
there's Wang Lee Hom acting in it!!! haha... dduuhh...

Plot? You can just google it up. Should you really watch? I say yes! haha... btw, here's the theme song to the movie... YOUTUBE LINK HERE (dunno somehow I cant embed or share the video here) anyway... even if you don't understand the lyric, you know the music is beautifully arranged. hee~