What's with the Twilight? .. or is it Edward Cullen?

For those not keeping track, Twilight is the first of the four book series by Stephenie Meyers. The tale of teenage girl Bella and Edward, the handsome vampire who loves her, has found a wide audience beyond the young adult (and women, may I add) category.

As a matter of fact, just like the Harry Potter series previously, this too is considered a new pop-culture phenomenon.And what a phenomenon it is! Pre-teen and teenage girls (who have read the books) around the world are swooning over Edward the vampire. Yes, really!!!

My two girls Alia and Asma are no exception. And don't let me start with how fanatical my niece Safia is with all things Edward. In fact these three girls join millions other girls obsessing over a fictional vampire. Hmmmphf!! (wonder if Soraya and Sabrina are into this too???).

How obsessive can they be? Very. Why, just the other day when I just mentioned in passing that an 18-year old girl had won a very sleek silver Volvo driven by Robert Pattinson (he who plays Edward) in the movie during Tyra Banks talk show over the weekend, in Los Angeles (and very very far away from Malaysia, mind you), my girls simply burst to tears. Haiya!!!

Anyways, for those keeping track would know that the movie adaption of "Twilight" premiers in local theatres this Thursday. And the excitement at home is, I have to say, palpable. Extremely tense. The girls have been calling me at the office and my mobile every so often just to give me updates on Twilight screening. Yeah, like why?????

They too have been monitoring GSC and TGV websites waiting for the reservation windows of the movie to be made available. I think they became among the first few to reserve the seats. With nothing else occupying their conversations but Twilight these past few weeks, it is only natural that both Yan and I are now quite keyed up too. Macam nak tunggu Hari Raya umpamanya.

And like a good bapak, of course, I'm obliged to bring them over on the first day of the screening. They even demanded that I take a leave from work. Haaah!

I must say it's not really going to be a sacrifice since I've also read the book (just recently finished it) and, despite certain problems with some of the plots (the conversations in the meadow is kinda long winded, no?), rather enjoyed it. Hehehehe.

Okay, the truth is, I'm glad that I'm playing chaperon because it gives me a good reason to be there without looking like a total loser for being so excited about a teen movie. So, now that Thursday is beckoning, we’ll be at the nearest cinema for some Twilight psychotherapy. And most probably, I’ll post an entry to share my totally unimportant opinion about it later. Yeah, maybe!!

Padamu Azian Hasan ..... terima kasih!

Kalau tidak kelapa puan
Tidak puan kelapa bali
Kalau tidak padamu Azian
Tidak Azian siapa lagi?

Sekapur sirih seulas pinang
Adat berkunjung budaya Melayu
Terjunjung kasih tersimpul sayang
Terikat terkurung kasih nan satu

Hilang sepi diraut wajah
Usah terlerai nilainya budi
Setia janji takkan berubah
Kasih tersemai tetap abadi

Fikir memikir sama lawak
Jangan dibawa ke Tanjung Jati
Sindir menyindir sesama awak
Jangan dibawa masuk ke hati

Tuan puteri meminta cawan
Untuk diisi air kelapa
Amat tulus kasihmu Azian
Sampai ke mati kanda tak lupa

Hijau nampaknya Bukit Barisan
Puncak Tanggamus dengan Singgalang
Terbang nyawa dari badan
Kasih di hati takkan hilang

Anak campuran Cina-Melaka
Pulang ke rumah di Bukit Pekan
Andai kena dengan caranya
Nyawa dan badan saya berikan

Indra Giri pasirnya lumat
Kerang bercampur dengan lokan
Ibarat Nabi kasihkan umat
Begitu saya kasihkan Cik Yan

Buah jambu disangka kandis
Kandis ada di dalam cawan
Gula madu disangka manis
Manis lagi senyumanmu Azian

Sayang Laksamana mati dibunuh
Mati dibunuh Datuk Menteri
Azian umpama minyak yang penuh
Sedikit tidak tertumpah lagi

Hujan panas turun berderai
Guruh menyambar pohon jati
Kasih sayang tak boleh bercerai
Bagaikan rambut bersimpul mati

Orang berhuma di Pulau Balangan
Asap apinya tabun-menabun
Tuan laksana bunga kayangan
Kuntum Kasturi tangkainya embun

Buih kuini jatuh tercampak
Jatuh menimpa bunga selasih
Biar bertahun dilambung ombak
Takkan ku lupa pada mu kasih

Layang-layang terbang melayang
Jatuh ke laut disambar jerung
Siapa bilang saya tak sayang?
Kalau bunga rasa nak kendong

Layang layang terbang melayang
Jatuh di laut melayang layang
Siapa bilang saya tak sayang?
Siang malam terbayang bayang

Indah nian bulan mengambang
Keliling pula bintang bercahaya
Wajah puan bila ku pandang
Bagai melihat pintunya syurga

Surat ku layang untuk berkata
Penyampai hasrat kata di hati
Kalaulah sungguh kasihkan saya
Jangan dibuang sampai ke mati

To Azian,
Happy Anniversary! Thank you for the past 15 glorious years, babe!!!! Many more wonderful years to look forward to... you and me!!

Mari Beringat: The Cure for Everything

Imam Bukhari, who was one of the greatest compilers of ahadith, became blind at a young age. He had recourse to many famous and skilled doctors of his time but their treatments made no difference.
His mother was a pious worshipper and a righteous woman. She cried out for help in the court of Allah the Almighty, for her child and begged for the restoration of his eyesight. At last, "the river of mercy flowed over her," and Almighty Allah accepted her invocation.
One night, she visited Ibrahim alayhis-salam in a dream and was told, "Allah has restored the sight of your son because of your intense and beautiful invocations."
In the morning, as Imam Bukhari got up from his bed, glimmers of light reached out into his eyes. That is, his eyesight was fully restored.

Mari Beringat: Make use of solat and doa to solve any problem that even the best experts of this world cannot solve. Unfortunately, the Muslims are turning away from these deeds today when they need them the most. We pray for Allah to give us the true understading of Islam.

(Source: From the biography of Imam Bukhari (ra) located in the beginning of Sahih Al Bukhari 9 Volume English Translation. Additional details were provided by Shaykh al-Hadith Allama Ghulam Rasul Sa`idi.)

My baby is now 12!

She will always remain my baby... forever, although she hates it when I call her that. But does the Bapak care? Nooo. Of course not. So I will continue calling her my baby... ye haaa!
Anyway, my baby turned 12 last on Nov 8, 2008.
And she had not one but two birthday celebrations. In my household, that is considered lavish. We organised an early birthday do on Thursday as the girls followed me to Cyberview Lodge in Cyberjaya as I was attending a seminar. That evening we celebrated in the hotel room with a chocolate mud cake with blueberry (baked lovingly by her Mak, of course) and lots of satay kajang (courtesy of Opah Kampar). Bapak provided the Coca-Cola.... hehehehehe.
Then on the day itself at home, since Arissa loves Italian food so much, we decided to throw another small celebration - this time with simple butter cake, spaghetti bolognaise and delicious Domino pizza. Among kami-kami aje.. (actually another excuse to eat and eat some more).

Peace from Arissa.

With her cake at home

Arissa and her two sisters in Cyberview

Arissa cutting her cake with her sisters fooling around on her right while Opah Kampar (on her left) mendoakan kesejahteraan cucu. Amin.

Obama Mania

Barack Obama is finally elected the 44th President of the USA. The first person of colour to do so. Such a historic moment. For some odd reason, I was glued to the CNN (and BBC and Al-Jazeera too) all day long. It does bring back the March 8 memory in some ways. But I was mighty impressed with the CNN coverage - from the technology used right up to its oh so eloquent celebrity news anchors.
But in between hard hitting (and poignant moments) news coverage of the presidential election, there were some "light" news too. Interestingly, it is Obama mania the world over and why not when, especially the man himself possesses some form of connection to African and Asia.
But I do feel "kelakar" watching the non US citizens celebrating away, some were seen more excited than the American themselves. I guess, its human nature to feel good about the election of Mr Obama as the US president especially if you have some kind of connection (no matter how remote) to the man himself... but to celebrate melampau-lampau... that's silly and funny.

Here are some of the silly moments that I managed to watch:

1. The celebrations at Kogela, Kenya, Obama's ancestral home (the father hailed from there). Apparently, they are having a carnival to celebrate the momentous occasion for days, mengalahkan the Americans. And the Kenyan president declared a public holiday for Kenya the day after the win. Reaaalllly!!!
2. Kids at Fransiskus Asisi Catholic School, in Central Jakarta, Indonesia were seen screaming and dancing in the school courtyard after the results became official. Okay, Obama studied there in late 60s for three years but for the life of me, I could not not even begin to imagine why this young kids should be so over the moon. They are barely 12 years, in fact most look much much younger.
3.Apparently there's a small town in Japan called Obama. And of course one very creative musician wrote a song entitled "Obama loves Obama" and then he got a few residents from Obama to sing the song in his music video.

I rest my case.