Status and Venue Change

As I have finally built the courage to accept, and perhaps celebrate my new status as a single parent. Please make your way to this new site for current updates.

Happy Days

Here's a funny song my friend came up with inspired by the Body Shop Happy Days Promotion...

"Monday, Tuesday,
Karma days,
Wednesday, Thursday,
Karma days,
What to do,
We are screwed
What are we going to do

Chorus:
These Karma days are here to stay....
We are screwed (deep voice)
These Karma days are here to stay....
What can we do (deep voice)
Karma Days aren't hard to find...
Yes it's true (deep voice)

These Karma Days!!!"

Your song is so funny. You are indeed a shining star girlfriend! *Wink*

OPS: Kill the Bug

What do you do with annoying bug that fly over your ears and makes annoying sounds?

Answer:
a. Ignore it.
b. Splat it!
c. Bug spray.
d. Splat it, squash it and spit on it!

Personally, being a pacifist, I'd choose option "a". But if it get's too annoying and really irritating I'd pick option "b". But, hey it's a bug after all. Can't really blame it for not knowing how to behave better!

B'day wish to Brother Kodok

Brother Kodok,

This one is for you thanks for making me smile through all the roller coaster of life!

Happy B'day to You,
Happy B'day to You,
Happy B'day to You,
Happy B'day to Brother Kodok,
Happy B'day to You.

Sorry bro. Didn't know it was your b'day. May all your wishes come true. Still looking good!

Sape pulak dedicate lagu "Groovy Kind of Love" kat I nih? Errr..eerrr...thanks I think. Pelik bin ajiab!

Wedding Wishes

Liya, good luck and all the best in your life with Hans. May there be many pitter patter of feet coming your way! Sorry can't make it to the wedding there. A bit too far to travel. But, wishing you the best all the same.

This one is for those going through Talaq.

Dear friends,

I know some of you are going through tough periods in your life. Allah SWT has promised us good things to come...Insyallah!

Translation of Quran In English
Surah At-Talaq

1. 'O Prophet! When you people divorce your women, then divorce them at the time of their prescribed periods and count the prescribed period, and fear Allah, your Lord. Turn them not out of their houses during prescribed period, nor should they themselves go out, unless they are involved in any flagrant indecency; These are the limits of Allah, and whoso crossed the limits of Allah, undoubtedly, he did injustice to his own soul. You know not that perhaps Allah may send any new commandment after it.

2. Then, when they are about to reach their term, retain them with kindness or part from them with kindness and take two just persons as witnesses from among you and set up witness for Allah. By this, he who believes in Allah and Last Day is admonished. And he who fears Allah, Allah will make a way for his deliverance.

3. And will provide for him whence he expects not. And he who puts his trust in Allah - He is sufficient for him. Verily, Allah is to fulfil His work. Undoubtedly, Allah has kept a measure for every thing.

4. And as to your women who have no hope of menstruation; if you are in doubt, then their prescribed period is three months, and for those who have not yet menstruated. And the period of the pregnant women is when they give birth to children. And whose fears Allah, Allah will make his work easy.

5. This is the Commandment of Allah that He has sent towards you. And whoso fears Allah, Allah will put off his evils and will give him immense reward.

6. Make the women to dwell where you yourselves dwell according to your means, and do not harm them so as to straiten them. And if they are pregnant, then give them their maintenance till they give birth to children, And if they suckle children for you, give them their wages and consult together reasonably. But if you mutually disagree then soon he (father) will get another woman for sucking.

7. Let the man of means provide according to his means. And as for him, upon whom his provision has been straitened, let him give the maintenance of what Allah has given him. Allah burdens no soul but to the extent of what He has given him it is near the Allah will bring about ease after hardship.

8. And how many a city rebelled against the Commandments of its Lord and His Messengers then We took a severe account from it, and gave it a horrible punishment.

9. Therefore it tasted the mischief of its actions, and the end of its affair was loss.

10. Allah has already prepared for them a severe torment; therefore fear Allah, O men of understanding! Those who have believed. Undoubtedly, Allah has sent down for you an honour;

11. The Messenger who recites unto you the bright signs of Allah, so that he may bring forth those who believe and do-good deeds from the darkness into light. And whoso believes in Allah and does good deeds - He will make him enter gardens beneath which streams flow, to abide therein forever. Undoubtedly, Allah has made good provision for him.

12. Allah is, it is He, who made seven heavens, and of the earth their like; the commandment comes down in their midst, so that you may know that Allah can do everything, and the knowledge of Allah encompasses everything.

True Story: Beautifully written by a dear friend in Gaza.

On a personal note:

My heart goes to you, your family, fellow brothers and sisters in Palestine. Our daily plight seems minute in comparison to a bigger plight for freedom and life. To only Allah we worship and to Him we wish to return. Insyallah their lives have not been in vain...

Just Another Gaza Friday

I've always loved Fridays in Gaza. In the mornings, save for the lone garbage collector futilely sweeping the abandoned streets and Municipality park, littered with plastic cups, watermelon seeds, and strangled straws from the night before, the hustle and bustle of the city comes to a standstill.

It is a serene if lethargic time, an escape from the sea of chaos, uncertainty and violence that grips our lives each waking day and night. For a few hours, things seem ordinary in a place where ordinary is an illusion. And it doesn't seem like anything can disrupt those moments, as if some force is saying to the madness that envelopes us: "come back another hour!"

Slowly, the streets come to life again as evening takes hold. This is Yousuf's favorite time. He likes to go out to the balcony, as we did yesterday, and "people watch"-just take in the incongruent and cacophonous sites and sounds of another Friday in Gaza.

In the park in front of us, children boisterously played football, women licked ice cream cones and chatted, and wedding motorcades ( "zaffit sayyarat"), which, no matter what the season or situation, you can always except to hear on Thursday and Friday evenings like clockwork-made their way to beachside hotels and lounges. They tirelessly honked their horns in sync with live wedding dabke music, blaring out from portable speakers or played by live for-hire bands seated in the back of rented pick-up trucks decorated with carnations.

Boys and relatives clamored for a standing space in the back of the trucks, dancing and clapping feverishly along with the music. Young children chase them down the street to join in the fun. If the wind is just right, the sky becomes a showcase of homemade kites, dancing and flirting with each other, challenging the physical bounds imposed upon this battered area's residents, reaching to places they can only dream about, allowing them to navigate freedom, no matter how purposeless, for just a little bit.

In the distance, the ubiquitous double-thuds of artillery fire could be heard exploding a few kilometers away, increasing in number and intensity, it seemed, as the evening progressed, only to be drowned out ever-so-slightly by the cacophonous symphony of Friday blitheness, as if to say-"not today! Today, you will not steal our moment."

The evening passes, the clock strikes midnight, and suddenly, the carriage tranforms into a pumpkin again. The magic dissipates.

And 6 people are dead.

Just another Gaza Friday.