Ramadan & Syawal

Ramadan

Quoting from Bingregory.com:

The most depressing fact about Ramadan is to find out how many of your problems are not caused by the Satan.

Several objectives were achieved. Phew. I need to do more tadabbur ie. comtemplate about the meaning of the verses, rather than boarding the express tajwid bullet train.

...

Shawal

// The crowd

What a blast! More cousins than ever, and apparently more on their way to this very world. The whole battalion will be larger next year.

Alas, by next year insha Allah I'll be working, so donating few duit rayas will be a new routine for eid. I will not be too generous though, as children are not supposed to handle too many ringgits in their pockets. Either they will spend on rubbish or the parents will collect tax from them to pay for the bills.

// The daddys

Huh, I sense a strong smell of hypocrisy here. Back in my time, the minimal bounty would be in the range of few hundreds. Well, probably due to me being the early generation of the Haji Hassan's grandchildren. If you can relate to the law of supply and demand, you'd get it. Now, there's plenty of them - at least 65 and I've lost the count. Heh.

Don't ask how did I spend it. It's classified under OSA.

Anyway, I am grateful to be with my family this time around. Plus the extended ones. Second cousins. Third cousins. Wow. The family tree is really huge, as most of the mothers are grandmultiparous. Alhamdulillah.


// The mothers

ps - Sans fireworks, the Eid is kinda dull. Adult supervision should do the job, instead of this cute little creatures risking their arms and legs (its expensive because of its illegal by law) just to have more fun. Wait a minute, they can't be bothered anymore - there are plenty of electronics for them, so I better bring back PS3 or Wii next year!

Apakah ini saja hidup kita?

as per Tuan Isham at tukartiub.blogspot.com

KESAH AJANG CERITA KITA

adalah dikesahkan
ajang pun dilahirkan

lalu ajang dibesarkan
lalu ajang disekolahkan
lalu ajang diuji dan dipereksa
lalu ajang lulus ujian

gembiralah satu keluarga
gembiralah ajang se ajang-ajnangnya

ajang pun belajar lagi
diuji dan diperiksa
ajang pun luluslah

ajang pun dilamar bekerja
maka bekerjalah ajang
berbaris dan beratur dijalan raya
bangun dari tidor untuk menjual tenaga

sebulan sekali menerimah upah
lalu ajang membeli tv
untuk rehat dan bersenang hati

setiap hari beratur berbaris dijalan raya
bangun untuk menjual tenaga
dihujung minggu ajang berehat buntang mata menonton tv

duit terkumpul lagi
lalu membeli kereta sebelum mencari bini
berbaris beratus dijalan raya
bagun dari tidor untuk menjual masa dan tenaga
agar dapat bayar hutang kereta dan rumah sewa

lalu ajang pun berbinilah
bangun pagi berasak asak menjual tenaga
untuk membayar kereta dan rumah sewa
lalu ajang dan isteri menjadi cerdik
tak perlu bayar sewa kalau rumah dimiliki
lalu mereka berhutang lagi
untuk membayar kereta dan hutang bank
lalu mereka bangun pagi
berasak asak di jalan raya untuk memburuh
dan mengumpul duit nak jadi kaya

adalah dikesahkan
anak pun lahir dan dibesarkan
lalu anak di anjangkan sekali lagi
lalu anak diajar agar dia pun bangun pagi
bangun berasak-asak dijalan raya bersedia cekap
bijak pandai untuk menjadi hamba kepada kerja

akhirnya anjang tua dan hendak mati
anjang terlantar dikatil
lalu anjang teringat
sebuah buku cinta yang dibelinya tetapi lupa tidak dibaca
lalu anjang teringat sekuntum bunga mawar
yang dia terlupa baunya
lalu anjang teringat sebuah pantai landai
sebuah tasik permai sebuah gunung berhutan
saekor burung belibis terbang menyambar

lalu dia teringat gesekan biola
dan tiupan seruling sawah dan gaung
hutan dan pacat

ajang memanggil anak datang
ingin menyampai pesan
lalu mereka pun berkumpul
ajang hanya sempat berkata – jangan jadi bodoh –
semua tercengang semua hairan
mereka menangis
ajang telah hilang ingatan.

ajang mengulangi lagi – jangan jadi bodoh – lalu anjang mati

esoknya anak dan isteri bagun pagi pagi
berasak asak di jalan raya entah apa hendak dicari
mengulangi hidup berpusing-pusing
tak pernah sedar diri
hilang ingatan jadi injin bangun pagi
untuk beli kereta rumah dan tv

The way forward

Today my teacher showed a powerpoint on the projection of 'Doctor to Population' in Malaysia, much to everyone's surprise after his lecture on Endometrial cancer. Wow. Putting it simply, Malaysia will begin to produce doctors excessively by 2014, thanks to almost 20 med schools and more or less 400 recognised institutions gazetted by Malaysia Medical Council (MMC).

Well, it depends on how do you set the ratio up. Mind you, more medical centres will be built to correlate with Malaysia's ever growing population - yes I know our family size is getting smaller in comparison with our parents' heyday.

On the other hand, it allows us medical graduates to permeate and diversify even further, instead of solely focusing on pure healthcare ie. medical officer in hospitals and clinics (talking about becoming specialist, subspecialist and subsubspecialist). There's alot more opportunities out there, right?

Hmmm.... its just a degree anyway, a gate to lifelong learning - as illustrated by him : 'learning from womb to tomb'.

By the way, currently there is a ongoing debate on healthcare reform in the States. Things got pretty heated until few made noises (and smear campaign) against the 'socialised medicine' practiced by many Europeans. I wonder how is it going to be here in the future...

Ramadan



Azam Ramadan kali ini agak ringkas, of course recycle azam tahun lepas:

-Khatam POPPH
-Khatam al-Quran, balik-balik terlepas 1-3 juzuk...
-Buka puasa di masjid, surau dan hospital
-Tambah kualiti dan kuantiti majlis ilmu
-Shopping buku lagi (sambung azam tahun lepas)
-Habiskan buku yang telah dibeli tahun lepas (wow mati aku)
-Banyak muhasabah dan buat tindakan


Bukan setakat cerita alkohol di Selangor

Mari kita tonton video ini:



While on an official visit to a Middle East sheikdom to finalize a major contract for a UK firm, the Minister manages to get himself into trouble on several fronts. Learning that the country is dry, he arranges for liquor to be available on the sly. When they are presented with an expensive 17th century antique bowl, Mrs. Hacker gets Bernard Woolley to get the object valued at less than £50 allowing her to keep the gift. When the Minister learns that bribes were likely paid to obtain the contract, he insists that there be a full public inquiry. A little reminder from Sir Humphrey sets things straight.

Part 2
Part 3

Hacker: Are you saying that winking at corruption is government policy?
Sir Humphrey: No, no, Minister! It could never be government policy. That is unthinkable! Only government practice.

Hacker: You're a cynic, Humphrey!
Sir Humphrey: A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist.

Iman is labile

Just a little while ago, I thought I just overheard a conversation about iman (faith). "Iman is labile". That line was permanently recorded in my cortex until now...

Hmmm... there was a story, about Umar Khattab went to see Abu Bakar complaining that he got a feeling that he became an evil of some sort when he was alone and transformed to angel-like-person. In other words, he felt he was closer to Allah, when he was in the company of sahabats...

Yup, iman is labile: "al imanu yazidu wa yankus".

Heh, out of sudden these diagrams popped up in my mind:


Psychiatry: Bipolar Mood Disorder... phew!


Obstetrics : Cardiotocograph... phew!

p.s. - Muslim readers should pray for sahabats upon stumbling their names.

Salvaging Precious Data


Hard drives fail just like any other appliances. If you browse thru the specs, often it says something like MTBF 100k hours. That's 'Mean Time Before Failure'. Unfortunately extreme condition and prolonged operation makes 'aging' of hard drives accelerates.

Now the problem is, how to salvage all data residing inside the failed drive?

Since I'm avid Mac OS X user, I'd recommend DiskWarrior. However, my effort to recover my precious has yet to bear any fruits...

Pengajaran: Rajin-rajinlah backup dengan burn DVD!