I wore this to Shah Alam and got two people asking me where I was from.
First, a Bangladeshi man asked me : Mana kampung kamu?, to which I answered ‘Terengganu’.
He said : Oh, kamu dari Malaysia. And then he proceeded to ignore me.
Second, a lady asked : Kamu asal dari mana?
Me : Taman Tun Dr. Ismail.
Lady : Ye, maksud saya, negara mana?
Me : ??????
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There is this Malay term ‘darah manis’ (sweet blood) which generally refer to people in huge expectation of something good happening to them, like brides and grooms to be and lucky draw winners. It is a term used to warn these people not to do anything silly or risky and do things cautiously because your good luck can be very tempting to negative occurrences – like how mosquitoes prefer sweet blood. That’s why grandmas would warn bride-to-be against going to the beach or forest, do dangerous sports or do heavy tasks for fear of something bad happening before your big day. My sister thought a practical, scientific reason to it : when you are expecting something big, you are usually less focused – thus more careless – thus more accident prone.
Well, old sayings never lie.
Yesterday when we were cleaning up my store of a room, I was suprised we didn’t see any cicak about and I exclaimed how lucky we were! My sister looked at me sharply and said ‘Oi, you’re not supposed to say it because cicak, like Cik Ti (tikus/mice), comes around when you say their name! Seriously, the amount of superstition we subconsciously believe in is worrying. I ‘pfft’ed at her and went about doing things and my sister picked up the last big box to be carried out of the room when A HUGE BLACK CICAK SCRAMBLED OUT OF IT SENDING MY SISTER 5 METRES INTO THE AIR AND OUT OF THE ROOM IN A SPLIT SECOND.
Darah manis.
The next day, My sister kindly took up the task of frying burger for our sahur, completely forgotten NOT to put iced burgers in a pan of hot oil. When she did pop in the ice of a burger, the hot oil made a HUGE splash and my sister quickly covered her upper face but the oil managed to burn her fore arm, her neck and decolletage, and two marks down her chin. First degree burns, okay. But my sister was so positive about it. She didn’t regret cooking nor feel sad about it. She was in pain, and now feeling itchy where the blisters had formed and burn grown drier. She even joked about it saying how she looks like she got fangs (two dark and long burns down her chin) with leopard print neck.
My brother and sister-in-law just looked at her, shook their head and said : memang darah manis.
She has now refused to do any cooking (and no one will let her anyway), and have since stopped visiting the stove.
We are all waiting nervously for the big day, hoping she can stay out of trouble this last TWO WEEKS!!
Hehe.
x
Conversation with Encik X Stadium Negara :
Me : Salam Encik, saya nak tanya pasal Stadium Negara, kalau nak masuk stadium tu belah petang boleh ke? Ke kena ada permission?
Encik X : Aaa..untuk apa tu ye?
Me : Untuk photography kahwin – kira personal je lah. Bukan group. Adalah dekat 5 orang ke datang tangkap gambar dalam tu.
Encik X : Oooo..okay. Kalau itu event besar..selalunya lebih kurang ..er, ribu..
Me : Eh tak. Bukan event ke apa. Nak masuk je. Tangkap gambar je. Sebab pengantin lelaki tu suke benda-benda nostalgik dan bersejarah ni, so nak lah tangkap gambar dalam tu.
Encik X : Ooo..laaa, kenapa tak buat kat Stadium Merdeka je? Kan open, senang je nak tangkap gambar. Kitorang selalunya tak benarkan tangkap gambar dalam Stadium Negara..
Me: Aaa? Takleh tangkap gambar? Kalau saya datang sebagai pelawat, takkan takleh tangkap gambar kot? Bukan tu bangunan bersejarah ke?
Encik X : Kenapa nak tangkap gambar kat situ? Kat luar je takleh ke? Kene ke masuk dalam?
Me : Ye lah..nak tangkap gambar pengantin dua orang tu duduk kat stand. Kan cantik. Diorang nak sangat encik, harap boleh lah encik benarkan. Saya tulis lah surat permohonan kalau encik nak.
Encik X: Kenapa? Diorang berjumpe each other kat situ ke?
Me: Eerr, tak tau lah encik. Ye lah kot. Tapi diorang nak sangat, and saya harap boleh lah.
Encik X : Tapi tu indoor stadium, nanti kene pasang lampu..
Me: Please encik..harap budibicara encik boleh lah benarkan saya masuk. Kejap je. Satu jam je.
Encik X: Saya…tak tau lah..kene mintak pihak atasan..
Me: Okay, boleh kasi phone number pihak atasan?
Encik X: Eh, awak nak telefon sapa?
Me: Sapa-sapa pihak atasan tu lah!
Encik X: Ooo..tak, tak. Awak kene go thorough saya dulu. Saya nanti tanya pihak atasan.
Me: Ooo..habes tu mcm mana?
Encik X: Nanti saya telefon awak balik ye..esok ke..tengok lah macam mana.
Me: Ye..(lah tu!!)
*click*
Wow. I thought I would be able to do a bit of Islamic post everyday in Ramadhan and it stopped at Ramadhan 5 +6?
It’s been that hectic + busy. But almost every other night we would have tazkirah at home with Muhsin as our Naqib. It’s really fun watching your own little brother talking about great Islamic stuff, makes my heart melt and go ‘awww!’
ANYWAY! WOW! LOTS OF WEDDING UPDATE!
We are now busy with the house decoration. There is one wedding planner out there who does awesome stuff for really good price, and this is her creation.
Go google Zaifie Zainal. Oh, and while you’re at that, also check out ADL Wedding and Rins Suzana. They’ve got cool packages for wedding.
Bilik Pengantin
We already have our own curtains, bedspread and whatnots, but we may get Zaifie to hang those heart flower thing and put in those flower stands to make it more..wedding-y.
Pelamin Mini – for solemnization or engagement, usually.
Pelamin Mini – second option.
We decided to have a small dais for the solemnization as my sister won’t be having any grand dais for her reception on our side of the ceremony. She will have one of those dais, complete with ‘merenjis tepung tawar’ at the reception on the guy’s side the following weekend.
My mum wanted a dais without any chairs on it because she wants my sister to sit daintily with both her legs tucked neatly under her – the proper Malay way, so she said. I would be worried for cramps and little ants crawling feeling afterwards. But HOKAY, mum’s paying for it – so she wins. Hehe.
My sister is keen on the first dais, with the flowers in the vases, because it looks fresher and sweet. If we do opt for that one, we would take the cushions set from the second option instead of the two plump chairs. There are other options available but these are the ones that appeal to us most. The second one has a more modern look to it, and I think the Roman pillar and the glow-light looks GORGEOUS. We are still deciding. Hmm Hmm.
Example of the arch for the grand entrance
Maybe 8 or 10 of these will line the aisle during reception.
This is the arch and flower stand example for the reception. Our theme would be cream, off-white and black with red roses. So, just imagine it’s like that, and I think it will look beautiful 
My sister likes the ‘U’-shaped arch because it’s more casual and has that garden look about it. It is also WAY CHEAPER okay!! The ones I enquired about (not from Zaifie), said that it’s about RM600 to get the ‘U’ arch, and a whopping RM1000 for the square ones!! Of course, that includes the lights, crystals, chandelier and fresh flowers – but WOW, right?
Actually, this whole hall deco idea came from…SAM’S MUM!! 
Yes! Hehehehe. Apparently his mum does wedding decoration as well!! But not in my area of Kuala Lumpur, unfortunately. She gave me really good price, like, EXTREMELY GOOD PRICE. Super duper good one. Okay, like an arch and 8 flower stands for RM300!!! (No one does that. NO ONE.) We talked a looooong time about it, discussing if it is practical for me to get her help since it will be so far away from the area she usually handles wedding events. So, eventhough we decided between us that it might be better for me to get someone who does things in my area, it was Sam’s mum who got the idea of finding good, affordable wedding deco into our list. We had almost given up on hall deco altogether because, hey, who takes wedding bookings 3-weeks prior to the event itself – on a week after Raya, when everyone seem to want to get married!!
But, Alhamdulillah, InsyaAllah, we may be able to pull this through. We will see.
Anyway, Wednesday will be the day I would have to sit in a jamming session with the band to check them out. As if we have any choice, haha. We would still hire them anyway! I met two of the band members, and they looked shocked when I said ‘my mum actually wanted you guys to sing nasyids’ Muahahaha!
That’s actually half-true. My mum does not mind Malay sentimental, romantic ballads/songs, or English ones, but she refuse to let any rock songs in. When my brother got married, his friend, Azim, who handled the DJ part of the event played Radiohead! She was..not amused.
So, one of the band mate tried to assure me : Oh, don’t worry. We won’t play metal songs (the band is actually a metal band!! @_@) We are trying to romanticize some old Malay rock songs to fit in with the wedding thing.
Me : Urm…old songs..you mean like Taman Rashidah Utama by Wings? (I know and like the song okay!)
Them : No, older stuff. Older, older stuff.
I smiled nervously. I have no idea what to expect *gulp*
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WOW IT’S BEEN AWHILE!
The last week have been extremely busy with me dozing till afternoon and working for the wedding.
+ We have finished wrapping and tying door gifts’ for the ladies – which will be batik coin purse. It’s so awesome, I will put up pictures soon.
+ Updated and confirmed the dais and platform and frame for the nikah ceremony.
+ Written letter to DBKL
+ Made a whole to-do list and schedule. We have 3 more weeks!!
+ Sent the wedding cards (phew!!)
+ Borrowed the trays to put groom’s gifts
We have 1,000 wedding cards and the stamp is RM0.80 EACH! It’s crazy! Haha. It would have been RM0.60 for a standard card, but because our envelopes bear a printed sign on the bottom, it cost an extra RM0.20!
HAVE TO TAKE PHOTOS OF ALL THIS!
Oh yes, if you’re getting married, it’s a must to check out:
sayamaukawen [dot] blogspot [dot] com.
This lady has got it all! Checklist, tips for pre and post wedding, where to get the good stuff, all the links to all the right things AND OST OF HER WEDDING!! Which is really great, because it saves us a lot of time trying to derive good songs, both Malay and English for the wedding
Okay, now back to figuring out how to print the letter.
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The theme of the ceremonies have been confirmed.
Our ‘akad nikah’ (vowing ceremony), which will be at night, will see people in green and my sister in absolute white. And she’s wearing chiffon, which will make her look like a floating fairy princess. The reception’s theme will be cream and black, with a background of gold and red but that’s not too important in term of colour scheme. I have recruited Putri, my BFF since forever and Aishah Salim, another BFF, to help out during the wedding day. The reception on the guy’s side, in Rompin, Pahang, will be purple/pink.
For the akad nikah, we will be serving ‘Nasi Tomato’, and a special main of ‘kambing golek’ (roast whole lamb on giant skewer). The reception party will have ‘Nasi minyak’ and we will have a ‘teh tarik’ corner outside the hall, with delicacies to tempt people to chill out outside and leave the tables inside for newly arrived guests.
The band have confirmed their choice of songs, and I just need to get two guitar amps for them, and drums. Or percussions. We will see.
On a side note, I have received a package from Lincoln’s Inn. In it, they have sent me warm welcome to their Inn, along with a brochure showing London landscape which I know too well, and the inside views of the Inn itself and a list of things that I can expect to happen this exciting new term.
I have also received an email from City Law School asking if I would confirm my studies with them and that they are willing to extend the deadline for me to pay and confirm registration.
Basically, the path to London is still open for me, no matter how hard I try to close it and put it behind me.
Look, if I have the means to finance myself there, I would go. But I don’t, and that means, gulping down while typing NO to the law school and keep the Lincoln’s Inn membership card as a memorabilia.
Here’s to future.
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Today we went for a fitting at this tailor kakniim sent her vow ceremony (nikah), reception and reception on her husband’s side’s costumes. My sister wants simple style for all her clothes, and true enough, it was simply beautiful. BUT. The tailors, although they make lovely cuttings, cannot make lovely FIT. We ended up having to refit a bit of the shoulders, to nip in a bit of a waist, to entirely hitch up few hemlines and grip the sleeves to make it narrower! Dude, we’re paying you a lot to get it perfect, the least you can do is make it fit! Hopefully, when all the editting is done, it will look perfect. Right now, it looks beautiful, but a little hasty. I know it will end up pretty. So, not too worried about it.
And, because she’s a bride-cum-designer, we had to go around KL at night looking for..homeless people. Yes, we went cruising at night to Jalan Raja Chulan, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Pudu, Petaling Street and Hang Tuah to find out whether the site she’s chosen for her project of homeless people would actually materialise if it were to happen. Site research.
One, Datuk Shahrizat once mentioned that KL has virtually no homelessness problem. And, in the light of this, I could safely say that it was indeed HARD to find any homeless people around, and we surveyed and went through rough streets and in the end, found a couple of ‘hot hub’ for homeless people, and only a couple of them at each place. In total, I dare say, we saw no more than 10 of them. Virtually no homeless people around.
It sounds great, doesn’t it? That KL, at least, is able to cope with homelessness.
Well, there is a shadow lurking behind this great find. Most of the homeless people are carried off by officers by the truckload to welfare centers. But there were interviews conducted with the people living int he welfare center who said that life behind the wall ain’t so pretty. They are treated like ‘swine’ – mishandled and given crappy food. One could argue that, well, at least you get food and shelter. But according to some of them, they would rather live on the street and begged or gather bits and bobs to eat some ‘nasi campur’ than being institutionalized. Plus, freedom is a high price to pay.
I guess, in term of tourism and general public safety, one could argue that it is better for the government to take this action. I agree, to a certain extent, of course. The safety part of it. Because being homeless means you are vulnerable to threats of gangsters and bullies although one could never guarantee this does not happen inside the institution itself.
It is pleasing to the eyes, especially for tourists, to not witness homelessness. ‘Berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu yang memikul’.By institutionalizing homelessness, we get to get rid of the ‘berat mata menadang’ part – but is it fair? Being institutionalized and robbed of liberty is a serious matter. I am sure there are those who’d rather have that routine security but can we guarantee the same for all of them? They are not criminals, although may deem to be so as they are vulnerable to poverty and desperate situation thus can easily turn violent to overcome hardship.
I feel quite unsure about this. I guess, if it could be assured and guaranteed that they are being treated well inside the welfare centers, that’ll be kind of cool. Like, they can get in and out at anytime or the centers find jobs for them – the kind of things that gives a person a chance at self development and long term personal financial aid in term of jobs. I’m sure there are such things that are being programmed but we just don’t know?
And do we care?
ps: We found an awesome tailor/rent/ready made boutique that is soooo cool – modern twist of traditional clothings but very elegant with A-class workmanship. And the beadings they do is WOW.
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Ooops. I missed my Ramadhan 3 post. I went on a date with Sam that day and had completely floated off the ground to my bed in a dream, without even stopping by the laptop.
We went to Mid Valley, and I bumped into his studiomates while walking around the food court.
“Kautsar!”
I looked at them hard, trying to figure out if they were from Hartamas, CBN or Langkawi. Then I realized they are Sam’s friends from Uni.
“You datang sorang ke? Sam kata dia berbuka dekat rumah atok dia dekat Sg. Besi hari ni”
HAHAHAHAHHAHA. Kantoi. Sam had a nice time explaining to ME and his friends after that. Hehe.
But, anyway. I prayed for a long lasting, blessed relationship with Sam.
My mum always assure me that Allah’s power is limitless and without boundary. He is the Almighty One, and we should never put Him in a restricted position such as saying things like “He will never forgive me” or “The rule says this and this, thus it will be such”. Mum says, God’s rahmat and blessing is at His discretion and He is Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim (Most Loving and Most Compassionate).
A sister I met at LSE once noted something really interesting to me. She said, do you realize, whenever you say Bismillah, you say ‘Ar-Rahman’ and ‘Ar-Rahim’? And when you read Al-Fatihah, the second ayat consists of Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim and this you read at least 5 times a day! She said, How very loving and kind Allah, He loves us so much that He Himself reminds us that He is Loving and Compassionate – in our prayers – to assure us that He loves us so much. We say ‘Most Loving’ and ‘Most Compassionate’ most in our daily lives. The sister said how beautiful it is to be so loved, to be reminded of the One who would always Love us and forgive us.
My mum says, Allah LOVES those who seeks His forgiveness. His Rahmat is abundant, we shouldn’t feel undeserving of His mercy, lest we be limiting His power! To seek forgiveness and to repent from it, is one of the ways to bring your heart closer to God and to fill the vault in your heart left by the burden of sins. Loving Allah is beyond any human’s love – the peace it brings, the sakinah, the blessed feeling – it is all so beautiful. Yet, I find it so difficult to surrender to this love, to submit wholly to Islam and Allah. Practicing Islam is different from living it.
I have yet to find a balance between world and afterlife.
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Today was all about beauty. Or all about the bride-to-be.
1. Scarves
We went to ‘Sri Munawarrah’ to try out some tudung for my sister to wear during her nikah ceremony and the wedding reception. I love how Munawwarah set out their shop. When you enter, you have to press a bell, and they would check out if there is any male in your party, and then will ask the male to sit and wait at a designated wooden benches inside the shop, with a tv to keep them company. The female would be guided between layered wooden panels behind the sitting area and voila!~ a Muslimah shopping haven reveals itself in front of you. There are mirrors lining the walls, with wooden desk all around so you can pick up any scarves you want to try on right there and then, get comfortable without your shoes on and you can walk around in the carpeted and air conditioned space trying anything you fancy at ease! They’ve got amazing spectrum of colors – but mostly the ones with pre-made hard awning scarves – which makes me look so weird. My sister looks gorgeous in it though.
Camwhoring session for us who thinks the new hard-awning scarves make us look weird.
My sister bought this cream colored one, with Thai silk awning – which gives it this lustrous sheen, suitable for the bride to wear under her veil. But!! Just as we were leaving the place, we saw a 7 years old girl wearing the exact same scarves, complete with that lustrous sheen awning – on top of her Dora the Explorer pink t-shirt!!! WHAT! Geez!~ What do parents put on their kids nowadays? I think wearing scarves when you’re small is very admirable, but they shouldn’t wear what WE wear, I mean, surely there are some other hijab fashions for kids right? Or someone should come up with it. Maybe I can. And then make a lot of money out of it. Hmmm hmm hmm.
2. Make-up.
We’ve been getting a bit worried about make up, since one session can cost up to RM500 and the last time we hired one for my sister’s engagement, she looks a bit like Kung-Fu panda. A gorgeous one, mind. But the eye-makeup was really strong for someone who was supposed to look oh-so-fresh and dewy and young. So my mum was pretty reluctant to go for another make up artist and prefer my sister to make herself up on the wedding day!
Unheard of.
We decided maybe we should go for this one make-up service called Wedding Isle from Hartamas because their brides’ photos look natural!
If you can see, they play more with the colors of your lips and cheeks to create fresh looking bride, and focus on flawless face and minimal eye make-up. I’m sure the eyes are heavily made-up but it is not obvious and it’s lovely. But it is RM500 for a session, which means we would have to fork out RM1000 for both ceremonies! Might as well BUY the whole Chanel make up set!! Other favourite ‘mak andam’ include Sue Cantik, who had done make up for magazines and celebrities and charging RM900 per session. And the other average ones start from RM450 onwards per session. WOW. It was so disheartening we even had a trial make up session where I did the make up for my sister and got her eyes red after mascara and eyeliner leaked into her eyes! Disaster. I bragged that I could easily make her face, because after all, I have watched few Youtube make up tutorials and they look easy-peasy.
Advice : At least try it on yourself first before harming others.
But, as luck would have it, Angel came to our rescue. Literally. We went to Bobbi Brown in Pavillion to muck about the make up parlor while waiting for my mum and Hidayah and the beautician came around, put my sister up the stool and start doing make up for her after learning we’re looking for something for her wedding. And, OH MY GOD! First, Bobbi Brown really does AWESOME make up, and second, the beautician, named Angel, said she might be able to come to our house for the two sessions and personally do the make up for my sister with her Bobbi Brown kit! Yeayy!! For RM300 per session!
The star of the make up session has got to be Bobbi Brown’s eye concealer.
It comes in various shades, with a lot of undertone hue too. So Angel picked a yellow based one for my sister’s skin, and it was so perfect. The concealer create a flawless cover above your dark circles and even out the tone between the soft part under your eyes and the rest of your face. And, like in the picture above, it has loose powder compartment under it, which comes with a small puff for you to perfectly set the concealer in place under your eyes. The result? You look like the models in magazine. No eye bags, with smooth even skin tone from your cheeks to your eyes!
ps : Pictures are from my 3-years-old Sony Ericsson z610i, excuse the very bad pixel quality!
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My brother read me an interesting ayat from the Qur’an the other day.
Al-Anfal, 48 :
And [remember] when Satan made their deeds pleasing to them and said, “No one can overcome you today from among the people, and indeed, I am your protector.” But when the two armies sighted each other, he turned on his heels and said, “Indeed, I am disassociated from you. Indeed, I see what you do not see; indeed I fear Allah . And Allah is severe in penalty.”
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
And, mention, that Satan, Iblīs, adorned their deeds for them, by encouraging them [to go] to meet the Muslims, when they had feared to set out on account of their enemy, the Banū Bakr, and said, to them: ‘Today no person shall overcome you, for I shall be your protector’, from among the [Banū] Kināna — he appeared to them in the form of Surāqa b. Mālik, the chieftain of that region. But when the two armies, the Muslims and the disbelievers, sighted each other, [when] they met and he [Satan] saw the angels, his hand clasping that of al-Hārith b. Hishām, he turned his back, he withdrew, in flight, saying — when they had said to him, ‘Are you abandoning us in such a predicament?’, ‘I am quit of you, of being your protector, for I see what you do not see, in the way of angels. I fear God, lest He destroy me; and God is severe in retribution’.
This ayat came down during the war of Badr’, and Satan had impersonated the chief of the enemy of the Muslims and lured and tempted them to fight the war. But when the two armies clashed, Satan flee from the ground, abandoned the people who had eaten his sweet promise of protection, because Satan knows the truth (I see what you do not see, in the way of the angels) and also knows that Allah’s retribution is harsh.
In our daily life, Satan whispered us sweet things that makes us feel guiltless in our deeds, but once we actually indulge in out sins, he runs away, for he knows the punishment that comes upon such sin is severe.
But we do not.
We only have our faith to believe that the punishment is severe, through Qur’an and Hadith. That is why Islam means submission to faith. When we think about it, Allah could easily show us everything. But what He wants to see in each of us is that faith that holds on strong against any practical explanation of modernity which we deem more important than religious devotion.
Wallahualam.
Today’s prayer during breaking of fast goes to Pakistan, whose country had been ravaged by flood causing pain and sufferings amongst the nation.
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