Don't Just Read the Quran, Understand it.

Received a SMS from my brother a few days back regarding the significant date 21/12/2012. The so-called End of Days. He asked me to read the translation from Surah 20:12 and Surah 21:12 and are we ready for it. And thanks to the world wide web, I did.

The Quran can't be read just from a verse. We have to read the whole context to understand the meaning. So I took the liberty to extract Malay and English (from Abdullah Yusuf Ali) translation extract from Surah Al Anbiya, which is Surah 21 and verses from 1 to 21.

For those whom wanna read more:-

For Surah Taha; you can read from here.

For Surah Al Anbiya, you can read from here.

Surah Taha on verse 15 talks about the coming of Kiamat (Judgment Days) which Allah swt kept it hidden so every soul can receive awards by the measure of their endeavour. While Surah Al-Anbiya talks about the time of reckoning, those whom said Quran is just medleys of dream and the Punishment which will come soon. Both are about Judgement day.

It is already stated the Judgement Day is not made known to us. So why bother to determine when is the time will end. We are not to decide that the end is near. Just fulfil our obligation as Muslim and deter ourselves from wrongdoings. We may be gone from this earth tomorrow or even the next hour. Putting negative thoughts won't solve our problems. Enjoy life but remember, in one of the verses, Judgement Day is a secret so we will be rewarded for what we endeavor. So enjoy it the right way. By the way, I really am happy that I read the Quran today.

Excerpt from Surah Al-Anbiya

1

Closer and closer to mankind comes their Reckoning: yet they heed not and they turn away.

Telah hampir datangnya kepada manusia hari perhitungan amalnya sedang mereka dalam kelalaian, tidak hiraukan persediaan baginya.

2

Never comes (aught) to them of a renewed Message from their Lord, but they listen to it as in jest,-

Tidak datang kepada mereka itu sebarang peringatan yang diturunkan dari Tuhan mereka lepas satu: Satu, melainkan mereka memasang telinga mendengarnya sambil mereka mempermain-mainkannya;

3

Their hearts toying as with trifles. The wrong-doers conceal their private counsels, (saying), "Is this (one) more than a man like yourselves? Will ye go to witchcraft with your eyes open?"

Dengan keadaan hati mereka leka daripada memahami dan mengamalkan maksudnya. Dan orang-orang yang zalim itu, berbisik-bisik sesama sendiri dengan berkata: Bukankah (Muhammad) ini hanyalah seorang manusia biasa seperti kamu? Maka patutkah kamu turut hadir mendengar sihir yang dibawanya itu sedang kamu nampak dan mengetahui karutnya?

4

Say: "My Lord knoweth (every) word (spoken) in the heavens and on earth: He is the One that heareth and knoweth (all things)."

(Bagi menjawab mereka, Nabi Muhammad) berkata: Tuhanku mengetahui tiap-tiap perkataan (yang dilahirkan atau disembunyikan oleh makhluk-makhluk) di langit dan di bumi dan Dialah jua Yang Maha Mendengar, lagi Maha Mengetahui.

5

"Nay," they say, "(these are) medleys of dream! - Nay, He forged it! - Nay, He is (but) a poet! Let him then bring us a Sign like the ones that were sent to (Prophets) of old!"

(Mereka bukan sahaja menyifatkan Al-Quran itu sihir) bahkan mereka menuduh dengan berkata: Al-Quran itu perkara karut yang dimimpikan oleh Muhammad, bahkan perkara yang diada-adakan olehnya, bahkan Muhammad sendiri seorang penyair. (Kalaulah dia sebenarnya seorang Rasul) maka hendaklah dia membawa kepada kita satu mukjizat sebagaimana mukjizat-mukjizat yang dibawa oleh Rasul-rasul yang telah diutus dahulu.

6

(As to those) before them, not one of the populations which We destroyed believed: will these believe?

Tidak ada penduduk sesebuah negeri pun yang Kami binasakan sebelum mereka, yang telah beriman kepada mukjizat yang diberi kepadanya; maka benarkah mereka yang meminta mukjizat itu mahu beriman?

7

Before thee, also, the apostles We sent were but men, to whom We granted inspiration: If ye realise this not, ask of those who possess the Message.

Dan Kami tidak mengutus Rasul-rasul sebelummu (wahai Muhammad) melainkan orang-orang lelaki yang Kami wahyukan kepada mereka (bukan malaikat); maka bertanyalah kamu kepada Ahluzzikri jika kamu tidak mengetahui.

8

Nor did We give them bodies that ate no food, nor were they exempt from death.

Dan Kami tidak menjadikan Rasul-rasul itu bertubuh badan yang tidak makan minum, dan mereka pula tidak akan kekal hidup selama-lamanya (di dunia).

9

In the end We fulfilled to them Our Promise, and We saved them and those whom We pleased, but We destroyed those who transgressed beyond bounds.

Kemudian Kami tepati janji Kami kepada mereka, lalu Kami selamatkan mereka dan sesiapa yang Kami kehendaki dan (sebaliknya) Kami binasakan orang-orang yang melampaui batas.

10

We have revealed for you (O men!) a book in which is a Message for you: will ye not then understand?

Sesungguhnya Kami telah menurunkan kepada kamu sebuah Kitab (Al-Quran) yang mengandungi perkara yang menimbulkan sebutan baik dan kelebihan untuk kamu, maka mengapa kamu tidak memahaminya (dan bersyukur akan nikmat yang besar itu)?

11

How many were the populations We utterly destroyed because of their iniquities, setting up in their places other peoples?

Dan berapa banyak Kami telah pecah-belahkan dan binasakan penduduk negeri yang melakukan kezaliman dan Kami telah menjadikan sesudah mereka, kaum yang lain sebagai gantinya.

12

Yet, when they felt Our Punishment (coming), behold, they (tried to) flee from it.

Maka ketika mereka merasai (kedatangan) azab Kami, mereka dengan serta-merta lari keluar dari negeri itu.

13

Flee not, but return to the good things of this life which were given you, and to your homes in order that ye may be called to account.

(Lalu dikatakan kepada mereka): Janganlah kamu lari dan sebaliknya kembalilah kepada kemewahan hidup yang telah diberikan kepada kamu dan ke tempat-tempat tinggal kamu, supaya kamu dapat ditanya mengenai apa yang berlaku.

14

They said: "Ah! woe to us! We were indeed wrong-doers!"

(Akhirnya) mereka berkata: Aduhai celakanya kami! Sesungguhnya kami adalah orang-orang yang berlaku zalim!

15

And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is mown, as ashes silent and quenched.

Maka demikianlah seterusnya jeritan dan keluhan mereka, sehingga Kami jadikan mereka hancur lebur dan sunyi-sepi.

16

Not for (idle) sport did We create the heavens and the earth and all that is between!

Dan (ingatlah) tidaklah Kami menciptakan langit dan bumi serta segala yang ada di antaranya, secara main-main.

17

If it had been Our wish to take (just) a pastime, We should surely have taken it from the things nearest to Us, if We would do (such a thing)!

Sekiranya Kami hendak mengambil sesuatu untuk hiburan, tentulah Kami akan mengambilnya dari sisi Kami; Kami tidak melakukannya.

18

Nay, We hurl the Truth against falsehood, and it knocks out its brain, and behold, falsehood doth perish! Ah! woe be to you for the (false) things ye ascribe (to Us).

Bahkan Kami sentiasa mengarahkan yang benar menentang yang salah, lalu dia menghancurkannya, maka dengan serta-merta hilang lenyaplah ia dan (tetaplah) kecelakaan akan menimpa kamu disebabkan apa yang kamu sifatkan (terhadap Kami).

19

To Him belong all (creatures) in the heavens and on earth: Even those who are in His (very) Presence are not too proud to serve Him, nor are they (ever) weary (of His service):

Dan (ingatlah) segala yang ada di langit dan di bumi adalah milik kepunyaan Allah jua dan malaikat-malaikat yang ada di sisiNya tidak membesarkan diri dan tidak enggan daripada beribadat kepadaNya dan tidak pula mereka merasa penat dan letih.

20

They celebrate His praises night and day, nor do they ever flag or intermit.

Mereka beribadat malam dan siang, dengan tidak berhenti-henti.

21

Or have they taken (for worship) gods from the earth who can raise (the dead)?

Adakah benda-benda dari bumi yang mereka jadikan tuhan-tuhan itu, dapat menghidupkan semula sesuatu yang mati?

Back to work.

Cheers

A hectic month

For the past few months, its been hectic as my MacPro has faced so much problems. And it is not the only problem. Been hit thrice on a one night extremely high fever, but that is another story. On the MacPro problem I can say it is all because of my own quest to make it a better system. I have upgraded to Leopard a few months back and when I start to tinker, I lost my original licensing to CS3. Then my internal RAID failed on me. Overheated due to age. Lost so many files in the process. But I have upgraded to Snow Leopard to solve most of the issues. So far so good but I have been facing permissions problems on most of the apps I have.

Last night, disaster struck. Faced with permissions problems I started to tinker again with the system. I have two administrator access which both is mine. So I changed ownership to the new administrator I created when reinstalling the Leopard. Everything went haywired and I was forced to reinstall Snow Leopard again. All my external hard disk got locked out and my internet just stucked. I reset back the ownership to the old administrator and my internet works again.

For external HD got locked I got this on macrumors.com forum. Requires effort on Terminal. Here is the excerpt and it works a charm. Just need to update 1 Gb OS Update (2 hours to go on downloading) and then test all my apps again. Ouch!!!

Quote:

I found a solution that worked. In Terminal type the following sequence (obviously replace "Volumename with the name of your volume): sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/Volumename sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/Volumename sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/Volumename sudo chmod -N /Volumes/Volumename

but if your hard drives name includes a [space] like this: "My HD", then you must write the command like this:

Quote:

sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/firstname\ secondname sudo chmod -N /Volumes/firstname\ secondname

or like in my example:

Quote:

sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/My\ HD sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/My\ HD sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/My\ HD sudo chmod -N /Volumes/My\ HD

It saved both my drives! THANK YOU APPLE!!!

Hari Bapa - Tears shed.

Sunday Morning, Kuala Terengganu - Father's Day

I woke up with a make-shift envelope made from a notebook. Inside the envelope there is a letter worded in Malay.

Selamat Hari Bapa

Selamat Hari Bapa, Adik minta maaf

apa yang adik buat, adik

sangat berterima kasih kerana bersungguh-

sungguh untuk mencari duit. Adik

berharap akan abah panjang umur....

(Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, I ask for forgiveness

for what I have done, I am thankful because

(you) worked hard to earn cash (for the family)

I hope you will have a long life)

A five ringgit note was attached to it.

A drop of tear appears on my eyes. My daughter took the liberty to wish me Father's Day and even gave me RM5. It's not expensive wish cards or the RM5. The thought of wishing me that really touches my heart.

I gave back the RM5 and said thanks to her, you need it more than I do.

Thanx Fareeha, Dad always working hard for the whole family. And InsyaAllah, with your doa, I may live long. Hopefully rezeki will be an abundance soon.

Update May 2010: Bamboo Rafting Round 4 and yakitty yack...

Salam,

Been awhile since I last updated my blog. Totally thought I fully recovered from my surgery, only to find myself hit with viral infection every forthnight causing my right leg to swollen almost as big as hulk feet and high fever that made my hands shaking hard. Luckily, the doc gave me medication to recover.

It has not been fun for the past few months for me. With the fortnight sickness, lots of mishaps and delays really agonized me. First, I lost my N80. Haven't taken my time to go to Maxis to pick up my new sim chip. So my 017 is off for awhile. I thought I can get a new handphone, only to receive news that my last 2 months lecturing salary will be delayed to this mid-month. Even my ongoing 3D projects got hold up.

Both washing machine I had broke down, my wife having sore back washing old-style. My MacPro started to have strange problems. Maybe its the Leopard upgrade but one thing for sure my internal 1.5TB RAID 0 is almost reach its end of life. Getting Error -36 most of the times. Darn, extremely needing extra cash to get new drives.

To add to my agony, two hours ago, my Rusa clutch plate gave up on me. So right now onwards, I am immobile.

The good side, my friends gave me a prepaid card and a handphone to keep me reachable. My new other number is 016-237 6324. It is temporary and I hope to get my 017 online once my financial status settled.

And above all, my family and me are still sane and surprisingly, still full of laughter. LOLZ

OK. Back to main topic. This month is the anniversary month for our bamboo rafting endeavor. This is the fourth trip there. This is the Alumni Mass Comm Ning site admin event. It is open to all Mass Commites, family, relatives and friends. Only this time, the place we going is different. The lodging will be a bamboo house replicating orang asli house, better amenities and this time we may be able to try using "sumpit." After 3 trips, we finally going to an Orang Asli event, "bersewang."

I designed and redesigned the tee-shirt logo and did some promo on the Ning site this time too.

First initial design

Current Design

Details on the event can be read here.

Now I need to figure out what I can do to fix my Rusa. If D.I.Y. can solve it, alhamdulillah. If not my empty pocket gonna get burn much deeper. Ouchhhhhhhhh

Toothache

Pulled out the tooth that has caused me severe headache for the past 3 weeks. I was totally broke to go to the dentist and my mother in law chipped in the make my suffering go away. Thanks Mami. Now the worries is my wound, swollen feet and my dislocated shoulder. Anyway, the mind is now clearer and I am raring to be doing all out work that I simply unabled to work on.

Alhamdulillah, the pain is gone and my mind is more focused. Hope things will get better.

InsyaAllah.

Saka - My Story

This is my experience and to some it maybe sounds bullshit. But hey, I went through it. Believe it or not is up to you all.

Saka? What the hell is that? Sounds like Sucker? What do they suck? Blood? Soul?

This was my exact words when we talked about Saka many, many years ago. It was at Kg. Bahru. There were 2 of my buddies and and old guy whom is known as Abang Nuar. BTW That is not his real name. His real name is O.M. An ex-military guy in the Special Force. His last rank was Acting Brigadier General. An avid fisherman and even he was drawn as a caricature in Ujang comics. He is a man with a lot of stories and that was the magnet that pulled us to lepak with him after work.

My work is always on the go. I ride my brother Suzuki TRS to go to client's places. And work usually started at 11am till late in the morning. Since my friends stayed at one of the apartment, I usually hang out there before I go to my next appointment. BTW I don't have an office at that time. The only office was in Singapore.

I was introduced to Abang Nuar by my school days buddy, Ilham @ Rocky because he finds the old man kinda eccentric and guess I should blend well with the old coot.

Everytime we met him, there is always tales to tell. Suprisingly, after much researched, most of his tales ring true.

I was 27, just married a year before and already had my first child.

Facing the unseen has been mild. Being disturbed at the office in Bangsar, something knocking the doors in the middle of the night at my in-laws house, seeing a man in a green robe with my eyes closed and when opened, he is not there, sensing some black magic stuff buried exactly under my room just right after I got married are just some of it. I was still blurred with the unseen. Frankly speaking, seeing with my own eyes can be counted with one hand. I am surely glad Allah didn't give me the sight. I could turn bonkers if I do.

Back to the story. It became a routine for us to hang out at the old man's house. He is ever welcoming us to his place. Coffee and delicacies is always served. And together with it, strange stories always emerged. Sometimes gory and sometimes very P n C in military.

What interest me was the stories of his family. And since he is a Perakian Bugis, the stories really relates to my family. So I started to do an anthropology search of my family tree. And that was the start of my episode with Saka.

All this while, my dad never indulged any of the family background to me or to my siblings. All we were told that we do have a relationship with the Selangor Royals because we are from Bugis clan. I dig deeper and deeper. And I start matching the friends I've been with. Amazingly, from kindergarden to this day, most of my buddies are from royal blood. During my heydays as a teenager, my hangout will be at Raintree Club or at Lake Garden. Bear in mind at that time, I am just a kampung boy staying in a wooden house and life is very humble. How I can mixed with the upper echelon of society really didn't cross my mind. I was a kid having fun and I was always surrounded by them.

When I talked with the old man, I started to have the wanting to know I really am. I don't carry any titles and all my life, I am just an average joe. But there is something I can't put my fingers in. The old man have much interest on me. The time we chit-chatted increased. And when I showed my family tree to him, he just add the link to the tree. He told me I was from the seven siblings that came to Sabak Bernam from the Isle of Sulawesi. This is where the Bugis clan originates. The seven siblings are six brothers and one sister. All have a title Kanda in front of them. Kanda Long, Kanda Ngah, Kanda Lang, Kanda Uda, Kanda Andak, Kanda Itam and I can't remember what was the name given to the sister. She was the youngest. With the the family adhered strongly on Adat Temenggung. Hence the place was called Sabak Bernam and not, Sabak Bertujuh. I was told Kanda Lang is my lineage whereas Kanda Long is the old man's lineage. Wow. Suddenly, I am related to the old man. Talked about coincidence.

As the story goes, the family was a Royal family in Sulawesi. The father fed up with the politics and royal bickering decided to call it quit and declared he is stepping down from his throne. And he is also dropped the title given to his lineage. The throne was given to his younger brother and decided to go backpacking. he he he. Before he left, the brother gave him the title Kanda and after a research made, the Kanda clan do exist in Sulawesi and some still hold that title to this day. I was made to know a few years back by one of Selangor royal, the clan are located as the same area of the Selangor lineage in Sulawesi.

How true the story is I can't confirmed as I never been to Sulawesi and I never been to Sabak Bernam. But my interest to know who I really am was intense. I keep doing research after research in finding the family tree. I could say it is a mistake because I just fit in the criteria of a person about to encounter with Saka.

1998.

I just quit my job the year before and formed my first enterprise company, Azhar Animation Enterprise. (now defunct) Did three jobs and then the economy went bad. I was totally caught with my pants down. My savings dwindled to pennies and my family lived apart for almost a year. I did a lot of things to come by. Being a kuew tiauw cook, doing international banking were some of it. Proposals were made but none materialized as income. It was "kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang." But Allah is great. At a point there is no money to eat. I tend to find a RM5 in my jacket pocket. And I know there was none before that. Stressed as I maybe, the time to pray is never forgotten and doa for rezeki is never missed.

One day, my buddy asked me to come to Kg Baru. A friend of mine has a problem when he wants to approach a girl he liked. So I tag along. More curious of what the old man will do the help my poor friend. When we reached Kg Baru it was just after Isyak. I prayed at the old man house and after my prayer, the old man has asked my friend to get some lime. He is supposed to take a bath. While they are preparing, my heart says I to stay in the house. So I didn't. My friend was supposed to take the bath at the stairs. Suddenly, my buddies called me to come out as they seen something weird. All the limes supposed to be semi-floating in the water. Instead, all the limes are above the water with the bottoms touching the water surface. And yet, I still stay in the house. I felt I must not go outside. And I don't even know the reason why.

Once the bath was taken, then I felt it is time for me to go out. A step out and suddenly, the street lights just went off. The only lights lightening the streets was from KLCC. Looks so majestic. The point I reached the street, I felt there was a heavy burden on my shoulders. It was a bit awkward but I just shrugged it off.

When my friend whom taken the bath came out from the house, I was surprised. His face was like a neon light and it is really bright. I asked my other friend

"Ilham, do you see what I see."

He replied "Yeah... Zack. Why?"

"Ko tak nampak anything different?"

"No."

A word came to my mind. "Pahlawan." (Warrior) and the light just fade.

I turned to Ilham and suddenly a word came to my mind "Businessman"

I turned to my other friend, and the word says "Tamak" (Greed)

And this words came to my mind when I looked at them. It was crazy and I was totally blurred.

Suddenly the old man came out from the house. He said all the things he has done and it is up to my friend to do what he has to do. He turned to me and asked. "Bob, Ko tahu apa yang ada pada kau." (Do you know what you have with you?)

My remarks was "Tak tahu tapi rasanya berat je tanggungjawab dia. Berat bahu ni." (I don't know but I felt the responsibilities is big. It's a burden to my shoulder).

The old man just said. "Bagus, korang semua balik sekarang." (Good, now you all go home now}

In the car, I related what I saw at the street. I cautioned the one I saw greed to never take greed over his actions. What weird is all the words that came to me does relate a lot to the three of my friends. All have a twist in life. One has to know his real roots. One became a successful businessman and another, because of greed lost everything. But that is another story to be told later.

The next day, I dropped by because my friend wanted to meet the old man. Then, he told me what happened. While he was calling his unseen buddies, one figure totally not his buddy came. He wore a white robe with a serban. Looks exactly like me except the beard and hair are dyed in orange. The old man asked why are you here. And the thing said the time for the person out there has come. So the old man said go if you must. And that what happened last night.

He told me that it is my Saka. I told the old man I never asked for it. He just said that it is a guardian of the family and they will eventually come to the person when the time has come. I asked why. That is your lineage. They will come and it was the time I was to receive mine. So I asked what is so great of having one. I don't want to end up a loonie. The old man said I will be able to manage it well. So I said since I never asked for it I will hold them by this pledge "Datang tak diundang, ragu-ragu pulang" (Cometh uninvited, leave if in doubt). It was the Malaysian commando slogan. I was worried it will disturb my life and I told this to the old man. He said if I find it to unbearable to carry, tell him and he will try to cast it away. He pointed out that I was like the only tree in a field and many will come under the tree. It is written. I would understand soon why I was chosen.

I was too dumbfounded to attain something I never asked for and I do not know what the future will be with this thing around me. It is something far-fetched to any average man in the coming years, Alhamdulillah, I didn't turn cuckoo.

So, I went back and immediately told my wife. And she just smiled. She then started to test me by asking me about 20 person I never known and suprisingly, my mouth just answered all the question without thinking. She just said all is true and correct. My mother-in-law has anticipated this will happen, It makes me further confused.

I decided to visit the old man again and again in order to understand what I am against or for. Most of the time I was asked to tag along as one of my friend wanted to understand tasauf. (more of this later) The abilities that I have now is too real to be true. And I was scared it will get to me and caused a major breakdown. With financial problem being faced at the time, another problem would definitely caused a meltdown.

Slowly, I started to gain abilities and if you watched Heroes, I was more like the character Matt Parkman. A person that can read people's mind. At first, it was very disturbing as you see people are sitting down idle in a cafe but in my head, I can hear words spoken when I looked at them. And sometimes, the voices were overpowering the mind. Till today, I just hate to be in a crowded area even after the voices can never rings in my head.

That was my first encounter with Saka, If time pemits, I will rant about the abilities, the family Saka and about the short-coursed tasauf. Crazy as it may sound, I encountered it. How I wished I didn't and lead a normal life.

Note: I was told by my brother when we hit 30, we will have this thing. Maybe through a different process but it always end up with a Saka being your sidekick for God knows how long. It stroked me that I was 28 when I got my Saka but after checking the Hijra calendar, I was exactly 30 on the 18 Jamadil Akhir 1419. I got my Saka on the 10th of October 1998! And the incidence matched exactly on that date. Wow, what a coincidence of time.

This was a test from Allah and it was really a tough test as I later come to know.

Till then.

Orang Kampung Proposal

He he he remember my previous posting on the ad I made for a friend. This is the video. Doubt they gonna use it but it was refreshing to be able to create something fun.

I went Bamboo Rafting and I am glad I did.

Took the week off during Labour Day to spend time with my college alumnus. We went bamboo rafting at Sg Betau, located in Pahang. It is was a great time, to be able to sit side by side with fellow seniors and lecturer.

I was tasked to create the tee-shirt. I did the silk screen and then print it on the tee-shirt provided by Bro Aidi. Have to make another block of silk-screen because the first one got worn out after 11 tee shirts printed. The dye was rubber-dye. Didn't make any profits as the fund allocated was fully spent on going to and fro, searching for Venus Art. And then found another shop, though charged higher by 200%, the block emulsion didn't break.

Printing was easy but since I am always busy, it was made in the wee morning. OK back to the story.



We spent the night at the kampung hall which was quite cosy except for the ants. There were in thousands. The night session with barbequed lambs, chicken, sausages and burger with fried rice was really appealing. The lamb was the most sought and the first to finish. Sweet and tender.





After that, I sat down with Bro Sager and Kamar Azman. Bro Sager pulled 3 cigars and while we chat for hours, we were puffing away the sweet smoke of a cigar.

Kamar Azman, the lecturer whom interviewed me when I applied for mass communication, the lecturer who was my facilitator during my practical, and the lecturer that gives 4 flat for all the subjects I took. To me, he was a very practical lecturer. We admired the way he taught us. He left ITM in the late 90s to go on business endeavours. I just can't resist calling him "Yeob" as that is the way he called all his students and friends. LOLZ BTW we stayed at the same taman in Ipoh. I remembered playing with his kid brother demolishing his Spitfire 1:24 model.

Bro Sager, on the other hand, is still working in NSTP. Doing articles on wrecks and historical stuff. A very talkative person and didn't bore me at all. All the facts were very interesting. I passed him some of the story that were mind boggling such as the KD Mahawangsa went through Bermuda Triangle and came out after experiencing weird scenarios. And we talked about my relationship with Wan Malini. She was one of the ladies whom were highlighted in our folktales, Hikayat Malim Deman. For the next two days, we were figuring out the name of the princes that came down to Bukit Seguntang LOLZ. Found out of after we have access to the internet. he he he




Anyway, I am glad I was there. Bro Aidi and his henchman, Shahril, ManTiger, Shaun, Halimi and family (all Mass Commites and he is Haida Hassan's brother. Haida was my MC classmate) , Bro Xool, Zaiton, Hisham, Kamar Azman, Bro Sager, Rozki, Zuki (our designated guide) and Mat Selalu (POS BETAU JKK) were all cheerful and enjoying every moment. You guys and gals are the greatest bunch for such an expedition. Happy to be alongside you all.

Enjoy the video I made of the event.

Work

Just finished a 20 sec ad made in 3D. It is a proposal for Orang Kampung. Hope the client love it, they are previewing it in Malacca.

Now I got to do my Asia Media video presentation. Tomorrow is the presentation.

Oh and today, I'll be signing my ArtXpress Sdn Bhd registration. Gonna be me and me wife. The shop looms nearer but it stil a tad too slow to start.

Hope for the best. Cash running extremely low now. Dunno when I can get back to my feet.

Sunday, Apr 12

Totally unproductive last nite because of the driving on Saturday. But then I still knocked out at 6am after the morning prayers. The body clock has totally wrecked since 1998. Past midnite is always the best time to do work. The serenity and quietness makes you focus more. But then, I will still on the telly to have some sound in the background. Too quiet would ponder the mind elsewhere. :-) Tomorrow, I will be doing my first outdoor directing ever since I had my surgery 10 months ago. It gonna be a week long and it is a business presentation video. I'll be interviewing people off the bus about the video panels installed on board. After that I will do the post editing and motion graphics to it. It is easier to edit when I am directing because I will know what I want to have on the video. I've done a lot of editing of other directors and sometimes it is frustating to have no content to support the script. So I hope I can pull this off sweet and simple. My wound is still on its way to recovery. From a big gaping wound, it is now at just at a length of the index finger. But then, it is still a wound. Ten months is a long time to heal but then the location of the wound causes it to slowly heal. It is at the upper thigh.

This was the wound in Jun 08











and this is the wound as of April, 09












Gory eh? LOLZ Some may think that the limp I had is because of ghout or muscle cramps. It is worst than that. When I explain I had surgeries due to what, it causes amazement to their eyes. This is because I had gas cavity in my upperthigh. I was supposed to be operated like 1-2 times but because one stupid doctor on my 2nd operation, I was operated 6 times. The doctors make-up diagnosis is I have cyrogenic cyst meaning my skin is dead and needed to be removed. There was no mention there was gas cavity in my thigh. How it get there is still a mystery and I do get people telling me I got hit by someone. I laid that to Allah. There is always a reason for whatever happening in life. If it is because someone green-eyed emotion, let Allah gives him/her the best. But then, this has surely burrowed deep to my pocket, without insurance and working on my own, I was totally broke after the operation. There is no more savings and much of the cash I earned now goes to dressing the wound. For the past few months, my wife did my dressing as to do it at the clinic, I would definitely can't afford to.

Anyway, the right leg still having water retention if I sit or stand for a long period of time. And when it does, then I will have to rely on my cane to walk up or down the stairs. I hope I can get this done and over with soon just in time for the rafting event my alumni have cooked up in May 1st. If it doesn't heal, I willl just be a spectator.

Ho ho ho i rambling again about my wound.

To many, when they see me, I always look jovial and always in high spirit. Maybe it because I don't want to think about it and I look at life in a different perspective. Instead of thinking of my handicap, I'd rather be looking at issues and task that lies in front of me. But then traveling around do kinda cost a lot and sometimes, I rarely have the budget to do so.

Life starts at 40, people says. Mine is starting back. From scratch. I hope I can pull this through. A lot of my friends are trying hard to help by giving me editing jobs. And the video directing project next week will definitely will boost my morale to face this world. Watch out world, bob is going back to action. LOLZ

Cheers and happy Sunday to every single soul in this world

Drive Error

Three days. Three days to fix my external firewire 1TB. (Did I say fixed. It's still not fixed, just all data recovered.)  I got Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual RAID casing from OWC (It's a great casing; quite and good speed for video editing) and the drives bought separately were 2 WD 500Gb formatted using SoftRaid. It was doing fine till the power outage occurred. Softraid started to pop up messages both partition has Read Error until on Saturday, it just don't wanna boot up when connected.   

I was so darn worried I would lose my work data and of course, my collection of TV series downloaded since 2007. I've tried lots of apps to retrieve the data. Tried repairing using Disk Utility doesn't seem to work as it says the drive is OK. Tried Drive Genius and it can repair and rebuild the drive. Tried TechTool Pro, it fixed the problem but for a short period of time. Surface Scan indicates nothing wrong with the drive but then the error messages pops back again and now, my MacPro will just froze.

Earlier today I googled to see if anyone has the same problem, I stumbled to this site and got a suggestion to use DiskWarrior, so I ask if any of my buddies have em and I was lucky. So, I tried using DiskWarrior, a very small size app with minimal feature but it does it work a charm. I managed to rebuild back the directory. Though SoftRaid still giving occasional error messages, I can now be able to read the data. Luckily, I have a spare 750Gb. I took out my 1.5TB from the MacPro and plug that in the internal SATA slot. I copied a few gigs and then the drives just goes offline. I got to unplugged and replug to get the system to read the drives. A tiring repetitive process. But after 6 hours, all the data is recovered to my 750Gb.

Now, I need to see what the hell happened to my drive and if I can reused it. I erased the data using Disk Utility and still find  weird sounds emitting from the drive. Initializing using Drive Genius was not successful. As I wrote, I am doing a total scan of the drives. Hopefully by the time I wake up, it can determined the condition of my drives. I wonder is it the drives, casing or the SoftRAID that causes the problem. Hmmmmmmmm

I am unable to do my work because of this. Deadline looms closer. Darn, what a time to have this problem. Hope I can solved this.

Need sleep now. Cheers. (for data recovery)

-bob

Dinner

It's dad making dinner tonite. Made a wonderful dinner. Sup tulang. pre-prepared instant mee by Maggi. LOLZ

To make it more delectable and tasty, 

I heated up veggie oil on a kuali. 

Then I thrown in: 

2 garlic, smashed. 

1 cut-upped onion and potato.  Sauteed till it turn brownish and smell good.

Once done I put about 150gm of tenderloin beef, diced in small pieces and marinated in oyster sauce, black pepper and a pinch of salt.

Mixed the whole thing and put a lid on the stuff to let the beef juice flows and the meat cooked. Don't overcooked it.

Add 4 large cups of hot water

Add in the ingredient on the sachet, 2 is enough if you are cooking 4 packets of instant mee.

Let it boiled.

While waiting it to boil. put the 4 pieces of mee into hot water and let it soften. Rinse the mee.

Pour the soup into mee. Serve hot.

Enjoyed the sweat while eating it.

He he he 

Wow 3 years

Wow... Never did cross my mind that I made a blog in 2006. 3 years has passed and today I stumbled back to this blog.

A lot has happened the past three years. Admitted to hospital last year. Life is rough because up to today I've joined the rank of O.K.U (disabled person). Though at shopping compleses, I do get some privileges.

I've joined a social networking group which I was a moderator. End up being banned thrice for voicing out things are not right and standing up on my principles.  Now, I am in better managed group. If you are a mass commite in ITM / UiTM, please do join in this group. alumni mass comm uitm. 

Life as an independent video editor with difficulties to move about is a vast strain on my livelihood. The right leg will swollen up after a few hours standing or sitting. I now can't work on a video editing job for a length of time. Need to level the leg to bring the swollen down. So, for now I can't do excessive work as I usually do in a shoot or doing editing in a post house. I am stuck in my house doing everything on my MacPro. 

With the world economy expected to get worst this year. I just wonder what will become of me. Alhamdulillah, the rezeki may not be much but I am surviving. I haven't stooped to eating rice with just soy sauce. Praise Allah on that.

Nuff said for now.

-bobazhar

BTW on my previous post, I got suckered by the production house. Did two episodes on Mountain Biking and 4X4 experience. Then they refused to pay my outstanding. Found out I was not the only directors to get conned.The only reprieve, I kept the footage tapes. Beware of Manqana or Vyvx.