Through These Times

Assalamualaikum.

It's been almost three months since both of us living in this new house. Alhamdulillah as for now it has been a wonderful experience for me. Which a bit ironic, because our old house was just a few kilometres away from our current house. But I like it here far better than we were in our old house. The old house is not necessarily bad so to speak, but I don't know maybe the serene and homey vibe this new neighbourhood gives. Heh amazing how a few adjustments can make quite a difference in your life. And both folks of mine and my wife also like it here. That's always a plus.

But still, the main question has not been answered. Where do I want to live? Where will my kids make their friends? I don't have any specific area but I kind of have a rough picture in my mind. Living just off the city would be great. I mean who doesn't right? Cheaper cost of living in suburban but still having proximity access to the city for working, relaxing and whatnot. Places like Setapak, Kepong, Gombak, Cheras etc. But you know what here in Batu Caves, things are really great. All the banks, shops, awesome eateries are just a stone throw away. Maybe, just maybe Batu Caves could the be the one. Only time will tell.

On the other hand, I don't really remember how it started but currently I kind of have a passion towards cooking haha. Before long, I have interest in cooking (slightly) but I always thought cooking is a tad troublesome. Leceh bak kata orang Melayu kita. Preparing all the things, cleaning all the dishes afterwards, buying all the ingredients in stores etc ugh I mean that's heck of workload. But after getting the work done myself, it's not too shabby. And now I'm loving em'. At times I even consider to learn to be a chef haha.

Anyway last Friday night, both of us went to a talk in UM. Aiman Azlan, famous vlogger was one of the panelist, other one was Brother Lim Jooi Soon the advisor of Perkim in Ampang. The talk entitled "Bahagiakah Aku" and rightly so. At the beginning of the event, I felt like a student all over again haha. Because it's an event for UM college students. At first I thought it was for public, but who cares. After all, I'm a student of life all these times hehe poyo habis. Before the talk got started, there were opening speeches and songs sang altogether by the audience. Being in numerous talks organized by plenty of organizations, this kind of bureaucracy hinders (how I would say this) a smooth, experience. I think maybe it's time for us to cut the chase and just go with what's important. I get its significance because that's how formal event should be, but.. maybe that kind of things that hinder people from going to the event. But hey, that's just me.

It was the first time of me hearing Aiman Azlan and Brother Lim talk. The thing that got me to this day is the story of how Brother Lim start to find the truth, the real truth. It was since he was a child. He said he felt uncomfortable every time he followed his parents pray because he didn't understand the reason behind em'. One day, his Non-Malay teams played football against his neighbourhood Malay team. The Malay team was lost and they started to fight and mocking each other. One Malay kid mock other kids saying why do you pray in front of an idol. The other kids mocked back saying why do Muslim people pray in front of a wall? The Malay kid replied back they actually can pray anywhere they want, even in an open field. And he asked the killer question, how can you pray something that is visible? The sun, the air is invisible, so is your God is weaker than the sun or the air. And know what, the question got he going till the real truth. He started with embracing Christianity and eventually Islam. And he has been an active preacher ever since.

Aiman Azlan raised interesting point that night. We always interested with stories how people find Islam, but we didn't find the answer to a more significant question which is, why they remain to be Muslim? They themselves search for the real truth and at the end of the road they find the beauty of Islam. People like us, born with Islam, printed in our I/C take Islam for granted. We just followed what our parents did, like praying, fasting and whatnot. And if we just follow em' for the sake of following em', we're just practising rituals, which is sad because to it's true. It is time for us to find Islam, to search the real reasons behind what we do. To find the real truth. Because if we didn't we would be stuttered whenever people around us test our belief. And I believe we will be tested especially in these modern times. May Allah make easy for us to strengthen our belief and foundations.

Initially I wanted to share life updates with you, but I went far away from my original road. Typical me hehe. I may want to further blog about the talk with Aiman Azlan and Brother Lim but that's if I'm really up to it, you know what I mean. I guess that's it for now. Peace.

Moving

Assalamualaikum.

I'm having many tabs too open in my brain right now. Haha like literally. One hand I was having conversations with a prospect wanted to lose weight with Herbalife, and on the other hand I was thinking & writing this post at the same time. Ohh did I tell you that my wife is in front of me right now sharing what's inside her head while me writing this blog and talk to her back and forth? Talk about men can't do multitasking hehehe. So bear with me if this post is like haywire because that's the current state of my mind.

So earlier this month we were getting notice from owner of this house. Our rental contract will end next month and he didn't intend to renew the contract. I quite understand his decision because I myself didn't want to extend my stay here haha. It's not like this house isn't good or anything, but it's just that I wanted to have new experience in new place. It's always in my blood, you know, to have the urge to experience new things. And I believe such interests were developed from my life experience. See, since I was a kid, my family were moving to new place within 4 to 5 years. One time we were in metropolitan city KL, next thing you know we were going to stay in Labuan. It was truly a great experience albeit troublesome at times, with all the moving things and finding place to say. And with that experience, it also develops my interest to always try new things to eat hehe. I consider myself as a food lover, but not as in having personal favorites and just stick with them. Or having few favorites place and always go whenever I can. I'm the ones who always wanted to try new menu or new places. This can be developed into a blog right? Trying new things and share them on the web. I've had that in mind for a while but as of now, what I have is just a url. My wife must be rolling her eyes right now hahaha. One day, okay? *bile la tu*

Now back to the story of us having to move out from this house. Having like two month notice (thanks owner!) giving us plenty of time to find new house to stay. Since we're our own boss, we can stay wherever we like. At times, we were having discussions where we would settle for life but until now, without no clear answer. Maybe Allah wanted us to try many different places until we got that 'this is is' moment *haha poyo je kan aku ni*. Anyhow we both agreed to stay in vicinity of Ulu Kelang or Gombak area for now. So I was searching houses to rent in the Internet. Lots of amazing houses but comes with even more amazing price hehe. After filtering all things considered like rental price, location and such, we end up with few houses that met our criteria. Fast forward a bit, we fell in love with this particular house. Okay we're not falling in love with the house (that's tomorrow where we'll meet the owner) but with the concept of the condominium. It has that homey neighborhood vibe since there are couple of townhouses near the condo. The property is also relatively new, launched in 2012. So when you talk about new property, what I love is its current state would be decent, so that's a plus. Here's just hoping that the house we wanted to rent would be great, insha Allah. I would definitely update on the progress. Till then, later.

The Side Project

Assalamualaikum.

Well this week has been quite interesting. For start, I finally got to see Gravity. The movie that everybody seems to talk about. And now that I finally got to see it, I can say that I understand what the hype is all about. For me it's one of the better movies of the year, but most importantly what made it's amazing is that it has an exceptional cinematic experience. Gravity made me immersed with its world with its score, cinematography and of course, excellent performance from the lead roles. And I love how the film alternates the spooky yet soothing sound of vacuum space with its epic score throughout the film. I thought that really elevate the experience. And I would definitely like George Clooney to have more screen time, he nailed that cool astronaut persona for me. However, the film is not without its flaws. The story's predictable at times and its direct storytelling didn't help much either. But I guess it kind of fits with the theme of story.

While we were waiting for Gravity to start, we stumbled upon Food Challenge organized by Sunway Pyramid. There were five challenges that day, each from different vendors of Sunway Pyramid. At that time, it was a durian puffs food challenge. I'm actually tempted to try out the challenge but since I just ate my lunch, I decided to just give moral support to the contestants lol. In that challenge, contestants have to finish 4 packs of durian puffs in 5 minutes time, each packs consist of 5 puffs. So that makes it a total of 20 puffs. Looks like a small number right? I figured this will be easy as pie. Well I was wrong. The size of puffs were quite big and combine that with the pungent smell of the durian, it was really challenging. At least, from my point of view. But there were folks who were eating them like a boss. Finishing per pack like a minute or so. Eventually, no one did finish all 5 packs and I got to see one who finished 3 packs, I reckon that lad won. Anyway it was a good experience and certainly something I would try to cater the foodie in me lol.

Now onto the next exciting stuff happens this week. I found a new circle of friends. Yay! This might not sound that much exciting but it really is to me. Lots of reasons of course, first thing being I kind of always with the same circles, so it's refreshing to start get to know new people. Perhaps I'd find new perspective or just new things to learn. After all, it's always a plus to have more friends right? But what's more important is I start to have a Side Project, as my wife would call it. Before this, life would always be work and play and something routine in between. As uninteresting as it seems, that's the reality of my life. So to have something to be preoccupied with is a good thing for me. Plus, this side project would not only benefit me, but other people around me, insha Allah. So what's the Side Project? Well that's story for the next post to tell hehe. I would certainly keep you posted on this Side Project of mine.

#1

Assalamualaikum.

It has long been my intention to have my own blog and after a few years down the road, this very day has come. From this blog, I hope to create one that is unique but at the same time captivating as well.

So it begins.