Storms

Assalamualaikum

Currently we are out of power supply due to thunderstorm last evening
I humbly ask everyone to pray for our safety here
I have three midterms next week hahh, now I know how hard it is to live without electricity
Nak study. Sobss.

You wanna know more? Feel free to read this article from The Star

Di Sebalik Hari Lahir

Assalamualaikum

Few days ago, my friend turned 25 and I wished her on Facebook
As I opened her wall, I saw this cute little girl picture and a warm birthday wish from her mother

Twenty five years ago today I heard those joyful words "It's a girl!". My world was complete. Happy birthday to my ray of sunshine, my friend, my daughter. Love you ******. Mom.

Waktu baca wish tersebut terasa macam nak mengalir air mata
I don't know, perhaps I am too emotional
But, what could be warmer than a mother's birthday wish?
Dan waktu baca tu, teringat dekat birthday wish dari ibu on my 21st birthday last January
Ibu's wish was almost the same thing as my friend's mother!
About how grown up I am right now, although she feels like she just delivered me yesterday
In other words, the day she became a mother..

So bila fikir balik persamaan itu, what in my mind was:
Semua ibu kongsi perasaan yang sama ke pada hari lahir anak mereka? Hari lahir kita mengingatkan mereka pada hari mereka pernah bertarung dengan maut, yes, demi kita
Okay, rasa nak menangis pulakk

To the person I used to hug everyday and every night without failure for almost 19 years, I miss you, ibu. Setahun lagi insyaAllah. Tak lama, along janji. :)
Oh ye, ini bukan post mother's day. Ini post tentang perasaan waktu ini

Time flies

Assalamualaikum

It is almost May
Some of my friends here at Ohio State and US are graduating
Even friends back in Malaysia are graduating too
Time flies isn't it! Subhanallah

Yes, if other people are graduating, I will too, insyaAllah in one year
Man, one year?
If you think it is too long, I think it is extremely short
I have so many things left in my to-do list in United States
And now I have one year? What have I done in almost two years? hmm..

I really wanna write more, but I have a group presentation tomorrow
Yes, lets memorize the script -,-

Lompat sana sini

Assalamualaikum

Actually, I don't have anything pertinent to be said today, I just feel like marking this date on my blog lol
I have been blogging for almost four years and I believe that this is my first time of having 29th February on my blog's calendar, so why don't I kindle some excitement right?

Oh yeah, as a matter of fact, I wanna let you guys know that leap year is so special for me
Neither I was born on 29th February nor anyone special in my life
It was just that I skipped grade on a leap year, which was year 2000
Or in other word, "Aku lompat kelas pada tahun lompat"
How fancy I were! Don't you think so? :D

p/s: Yes, two weeks and counting! Bunga dah mula mekarrrrrr and I know spring is here! :)

Disturbed

Assalamualaikum

Hari itu aku tengah kerja di laundry
Sedang melipat sarung bantal, ada pulak hama ke debu ke menusuk ke hidung, terus bersin.
Haccummmm... Phew. Alhamdulillah keluar dari bibir.
Tiba-tiba Abdul, pak cik sama dalam laundry tu bercakap:

"You..you muslimah! You should say alhamdulillahirabbil alamin!"

Sambil buat gaya bersin.
Note that he is almost 80 years old. Not pak cik I guess. Atuk lah kot.
And he is a Moroccan, tak reti pun cakap or baca English. Cakap Arab je.
Time tu aku pun cakaplah, dah, dah cakap dah alhamdulillah.
Tapi dia nak argue argue pulak.
Geram sikit, aku dah cakap kot, dia yang tak dengar ggrr

Sebenarnya takde lah berkait sangat dengan cerita ni, cuma teringat ustazah kat sekolah pernah cakap, orang Islam ni sangat special, sebab bila-bila pun dia sentiasa mengingati Allah. Kalau ada benda terjadi. even barang terjatuh dari tangan pun, "Ya Allah!" tak pun "MashaAllah", cepat je meniti di bibir. Tidakkah indah begitu? Dari sebut "Oh mak kau" or "D*mn it"? Peringatan untuk diri sendiri jugak ni.
Sebenarnya pesanan ustazah ni berkenaan dengan hadis di bawah:

"Sungguh menakjubkan urusan seorang mukmin, semua urusannya baik baginya dan kebaikan itu tidak dimiliki kecuali oleh seorang mukmin. Apa bila ia mendapat kesenangan ia bersyukur dan itulah yang terbaik untuknya. Dan apabila mendapat musibah ia bersabar dan itulah yang terbaik untuknya." (HR muslim).

Amazingkan seorang mukmin? Awesome kan Islam? Islam adalah agama yang mendidik dan sangat positif. Mana tidaknya, banyak ayat al-Quran dan hadis berbicara tentang musibah dan kesusahan, mesti diberikan pula apa kesan positifnya kepada kita, seperti dalam surah ash-sharh:

"Kerana sesungguhnya sesudah kesulitan itu ada kemudahan." (94: 5-6)

Tapi jangan expect lepas satu kesusahan kita dah lalui, kita akan senang selama-lamanya. Hidup ini singkat, tapi ada bermacam cara Allah nak mendidik kita. Senang cerita, jangan expect sekarang aku belajar susah-susah takde masa semua, nanti dah grad mesti hidup aku senang.

Haa ni selalu orang cakap. Belajarlah rajin-rajin nanti kerja gaji besar, senang hidup. Dulu mak/ayah/atuk/nenek takde peluang nak belajar, sebab tu hidup susah etc.. Hasil dari kata-kata ni, lahirlah satu generasi yang hidupnya belajar bersungguh-sungguh kerana nak hidup senang di masa hadapan. Dapat result bagus, dapat masuk universiti, dah rasa okay takpe susah tapi nanti senang. Yang belajar dekat oversea, terfikirlah pulak, aku belajar susah, hidup susah, makan susah, takpe, nanti dah balik gaji aku besar. Takpe sabarrrr. 

Tapi bila dah habis, dia terkejut. Eh, tak senang pun? Banyaknya benda nak buat. Bila nak dapat hidup senang macamni? Dah penat-penat belajar dulu. Betul, niat tu memang suci, nak balas jasa ibu bapa, tolong keluarga etc, tapi didikan tu kurang tepat.

Orang-orang berjaya yang aku kenal personally, tak jadi senang satu dua malam. Dia tak senang tanpa korbankan apa-apa. Dia korbankan tidur, keluarga, kesihatan, baru dapat ratusan juta ringgit. Jadi kenapa kita kena expect selepas menempuh alam belajar yang susah ni, boleh jadi senang? Benda tu seolah-olah menyamakan, lepas dah banyak cabaran bercinta, then kahwin, happy ending. Obviously semua orang tahu itu fairy tales semata-mata.

Okay fine, tapi ada juga orang dah berkorban macam-macam berpuluh tahun bekerja keras, tak senang juga? Macam mana tu?

"Sesungguhnya besarnya pahala itu bergantung pada besarnya cubaan. Sesungguhnya apabila Allah itu mencintai suatu kaum maka Dia mengujinya. Barang siapa yang rela menerimanya, dia mendapat keredhaan Allah, dan barang siapa murka, maka dia pun mendapat kemurkaan Allah" (HR Tirmidzi)

From my very limited experience, I have met and seen so many people, both highly educated and less educated, climbed, reached the stars, enjoyed them, helped others, but then, they fell down, learned to walk again, reached the starts back. This happened over and over and over again. That is why I guess atuk dulu cakap belajar elok-elok, nanti boleh buat baik dekat orang. Kata atuk, keturunan kami tak pernah dididik untuk jadi kaya, tapi dididik untuk jadi ikhlas.

Man, life is not easy. If it is easy, Allah tak turunkan manusia ke dunia.

In fact, if it is easy, I won't be here typing this. Nampak sangatlah I am totally disturbed now kan? haha.

Tapi sebab tu kita kena bersyukur, even benda sekecil bersin sekali pun. Sebab apa yang ada hari ni, mungkin tak ada esok and vice versa. Dan syukur itulah membawa kepada ketenangan bila ditimpa musibah. Setiap kesusahan itu ada kemudahan. Dengan izin Allah, pastinya.

Bintang Malam

I will make sure that someone is going to make a proper video recording when I go to Europe
No, not really, next spring break trip kena start buat video dah hehe :p
Good night bintang!

21-10

Assalamualaikum

I have turned 21 10 days ago
Big thanks for those who remember
To be honest, being thousands of miles away from your motherland makes my birthday more special
Thanks to technology, I have received birthday wishes from my parents, sisters,grandparents, uncles and aunties who have never forgot my birthday since I was born. They are the best family members I tell you.
Not forgotten, many best friends from Subang, Shah Alam and Intec
Those people have never failed to wish me on my birthday
And as my best friend Farisha wished me on twitter, I suddenly realized that she has been constantly wishing my birthday for almost 15 years. What a great figure and how I love our friendship!
Note that I hid my birthday on Facebook, just so that I don't have so many people wishing me on my wall
Geli budget famous lah kau kann hahh

If I were asked to describe birthday in two words, my answer would definitely be:
Prayer (Doa) & Death (Mati)

1. Prayer
It is because in my family tradition, birthday celebration is started with a prayer, asking Allah to bless the one who is turning older with more imaan, taqwa, and good akhlaq etc. Ayah will specifically said the birthday girl's name in his prayer and I still remember my youngest sister Safiyyah used to be mad because ayah didn't say her name in someone else's birthday. Aww comelkan Safiyyah?

2. Death
However, at the end of the prayer, ayah will say the prayer to ask Allah to ease our death and let us die in husnul khatimah. That makes me realize that for every year I gained, I am just a weak and helpless human being who is approaching death.

These are what inside my mind when I woke up during my birthday last week:
I am 21
I am one and a half year away to get my bachelor degree insyaAllah
I am working part time for money and getting some great experience
I am healthy
I have a beautiful family
Hardships do exist but I know I am maturing because of them 

"Then which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?"

Throughout my life, I have met several people who hardly received birthday wishes from their own family and alhamdulillah I found myself to be among the lucky ones
My parents and sisters do not only wish me 'Happy Birthday' early in the morning, they usually give me hugs and kisses every year as I turn one year older
In fact, I have had my birthday parties thrown almost every year with so many foods and people
Not to mention, the awesome birthday presents and moneyhh hehe

Someone ask me if only I am disappointed that this year is perhaps my dullest birthday ever and I quickly said  "No I am perfectly fine. I have had enough and I thank Allah for all those moments"

Yes, I just wanna turn into a better person

I humbly ask apology for those who I have wrongdoings

Mari buat homework yeahh