I’m out!

This evening, I opened the cabinet in my living room and browsed through some of my old books. I got them all when I was back in the US. Out of those many books, I took out this particular one: “Al-Ghazali The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God. al-maqsad al-asna fi sharh asma Allah al-husna.” translated with notes by David Burrel and Nazih Daher.

I opened the very first page and in it, there’s a scribbled note written by the previous owner. The note goes something like this

“Ya Allah, indeed You are beautiful and You love beauty. Please grant me a beautiful heart so that I can show it to You when the time of our ‘Appointment’. ”

The note continues

“Fariza dearie…

Jazakumullaahu khairan katheera for everything. Indeed the ukhuwwah that Allah subhaanahu wa ta ‘aala blessed us with is so special. May Allah ta ‘alaa strengthen our ukhuwwah and make it for the sake of Him only. ameen.

love you! uhibbuki fillaah abadan abadaa…

-signature of the owner.

Jumada-II 18, 1425

“

Today, the note reminds of me the beautiful and serene feelings i once had when I was in New York, back when I was learning my religion.

Today, the note reminds me of an old, far-flung friend, who used to own this book.

Today, the note reminds me of all the priceless memories of us together.

Today, the note reminds me of all the lessons and knowledge she had taught me. Not necessarily through lectures but through her actions and behaviors.

And today my friend, I feel that love again towards you. Simply because you remind me of my Lord.

May Allah bless you and your family and reward you for all your good deeds towards me.

I am sad that Ramadan is almost over. Have always love Ramadan and will always love it. Hopefully, I will be able to live it again next year, bi idhnillah. At the same time, I am looking forward for Hari Raya Aidilfitri. It’s a good time to get new updates from relatives and friends. Not to forget the super delicious lemang and rendang. Classic stuff! Several trips to friends’ houses have also been planned. Excited, excited!

Have you read an Eid book before? Here’s a good news for you. I am attaching a link here for you. Click on the beautiful image above(you know you want to) and get the ebook. It’s beneficial inshaa Allah.

Eid Mubarak & taqabballahu minna wa minkum (may Allah accept the deeds from us and from you). Selamat hari raya and maaf zahir batin. =)

i expressed my unhappiness over cimb’s service on twitter this afternoon and they got back to me in 2 hours. not bad right? but, i am still not happy.

nak dijadikan cerita, my atm card was retained this morning while making a transaction at the atm machine. Apparently you need to retrieve the atm card as soon as it is ejected from the card slot. I didn’t know that! Besides, they put a notice paper right in front of the atm machine and unfortunately, I got distracted. I guess there was 5 to 10 seconds delay after the card was ejected and obviously i failed to take it out on time. I met the bank officer to ask for further details. Somehow, I was not surprised when he told me that i would need to go to the office branch where i registered my account. So much for having an i-suspect-millions-of-ringgit-worth application system that is supposed to link all branches together!

anyway, i then drove to the main branch in town (took me 20mins and had to pay for parking ticket) and met the officer there. I was then informed by that mr officer that I have to wait until monday to reclaim my card! *mari bersabar*

He kindly proposed that i create a new card. ok, this is good right? actually, NO. i have to pay for it! RM12! and I will also need to reset my cimbclicks setting (pincode and all). *ok, mari bersabar lagi*

I finally said no. Why do i need to pay rm12 for a new card and go through all the hassles all over again? I did that few weeks ago when i created the account.

I asked them again when can i get my card and he suddenly changed the answer by saying “i can’t really say when but we will call you once it’s here.” grrr. *bersabar lagi saya dan berharap muka saya tidak menunjukkan yang saya sudah agak rimas dan marah*

Not fully satisfied, I continued asking him “so, how am i supposed to withdraw money in the next few days?” he asked me “do you have book for the account?”. I said “No.” He then gave me this well-you-should’ve-applied(read: pay)-for-the-book” look and said “nothing can be done at the moment. kene la tunggu sampai next week dik.” say what?? *tarik nafas dalam-dalam*

all ready to surrender and walk away, i then asked my final question. is it possible for them to mail it to my house so that i don’t have to drive all the way to the town just to claim it. there was a tiny little hope inside me that he would say ‘yes’. but of course NOT. “i’m sorry but we don’t do that. you have to come here and claim it yourself.” OMG. *i consoled myself by saying that it is for security purpose*. I said thanks, stood up and walked away.

alright guys. there you have it. to sum up:

1) My card was retained after I failed to retrieve it in few seconds!

2) I had to drive to the main branch to talk to the officer!

3) I will have to wait for 4 days to claim my card!

4) If I want to create a new atm card, i will need to pay for it and reset all pincodes!

5) I will have to drive back to the main branch again in the next 4 days to claim it.

I really hope they won’t delay to call me until ramadhan. I really don’t want to depreciate my pahala for getting mad at them again. hmm.

Lesson of the story:

1) Give 100% focus when making a transaction at cimb’s atm machine.

wow, never thought that I would need to work hard at cimb bank from now on. ok, MUST. give. 100%. focus. at. the. atm. machine. from. now. on. MUST. not. get. distracted. OK.

ps: wow, i can make a novel out of this note. on happier news, I am enjoying my macbook right now! hehe.

postscript 2: ramadhan in few days. are you ready?

====

UPDATE, Aug 18 – CIMB did not give me any call. I waited for almost two weeks and finally decided to take the hint and went to the CIMB office branch myself. The ATM card was turned out to be ready couple of days earlier. Their customer service? I will let you to be the judge.

Kuih Mak Long

http://www.kuihmaklong.blogspot.com/

Are you a hedgehog or a fox?

In his famous essay “The hedgehog and the Fox” Isaiah Berlin divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes, based upon an ancient Greek parable: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” The fox is a cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks upon the hedgehog. Day in and day out, the fox circles around the hedgehog’s den waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Fast, sleek, beautiful, fleet of foot, and crafty – the fox looks like the sure winner. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a dowdier creature, looking like a genetic mix-up between a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along,  going about his simple day, searching for lunch and taking care of his home.

The fox waits in cunning silence at the juncture in the trail. The hedgehog, minding his own business, wanders right into the path of the fox. “Aha, I’ve got you now!” thinks the fox. He leaps out, bounding across the ground, lightning fast. The little hedgehog, sensing danger, looks up and thins, “Here we go again. Will he ever learn.” Rolling up into a perfect little ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack. Retreating back into the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day, some version of this battle between the hedgehog and the fox takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always win.

Berlin extrapolated from this little parable to divide people into two basic groups: foxes and hedgehogs. Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its complexity. They are “scattered or diffused, moving on many levels,” says Berlin, never integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision. Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea,  a basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything. It doesn’t matter how complex the world, a hedgehog reduces all challenges and dilemmas into simple – indeed almost simplistic – hedgehog ideas. For a hedgehog, anything that does not somehow relate to the hedgehog idea holds no relevance.

Princeton professor Marvin Bressler pointed out the power of the hedgehog during one of our long conversations: “You want to know what separates those who make the biggest impact from all the others who are just as smart? They’re hedgehogs.” Freud and the unconscious, Darwin and natural selection, Marx and the class struggle, Einstein and relativity, Adam Smith and division of labor – they were all hedgehogs. They took a complex world and simplified it.”Those who leave the biggest footprints,” said Bressler, “have thousands calling after them, ‘Good idea, but you went too far!’”

To be clear, the hedgehogs are not stupid. Quite the contrary. They understand that the essence of profound insight is simplicity.

- Taken from Good to Great by Jim Collins

I was browsing through the internet during the weekend and bumped into several interesting websites (read: interesting reading).

1: http://chrisguillebeau.com

11 Ways to be unremarkably average

1. Accept what people tell you at face value

2. Don’t question authority

3. Go to college because you’re supposed to, not because you want to learn something

4. Go overseas once or twice in your life, to somewhere safe like England

5. Don’t try to learn another language; everyone else will eventually learn English

6. Think about starting your own business, but never do it

7. Think about writing a book, but never do it

8. Get the largest mortgage you qualify for and spend 30 years paying for it

9. Sit at a desk 40 hours a week for an average of 10 hours of productive work

10. Don’t stand out or draw attention to yourself

11. Jump through hoops. Check off boxes.

He published a free PDF that is available online. I totally recommend you to read it. A Brief Guide to World Domination

2. http://www.thelaunchcoach.com

Successful people see Failure as an acceptable risk.

This is one of the hardest shifts to make, but it’s the most important ones.  Habitual action-takers and bigger-game players understand that failure is part of the process, that for  every stellar success there will be a their fair share of lukewarm events and more than one embarrassing  flop.

Yet they keep the bigger picture in mind.  They understand that the biggest failure is not to try (guaranteed zero results) and that failure gives them at least a chance of success.  They also understand that there’s no such thing as a perfect person, ever.  Even the greats have their black marks.  In fact, the greats have plenty of them.

This is a big shift in thinking for most people who are stuck in worry mode. Successful people understand that there will be plenty of failure and potential embarrassment baked into the process, so it’s not a big scary thing.  It’s just something to go through and minimize, kind of like taxes.

So yes, successful people are afraid of failure, but it’s a manageable fear because it’s built into the process.  And because it’s acknowledged up front, it’s possible to compartmentalize it.

To read more, click here

3. http://www.farbeyondthestars.com/

You deserve to journey to freedom.

Most people get two weeks of vacation a year. When I had a day job, I created such a facade about how important I was, that I never even took many of my vacation days –how will they survive if I leave for even a week?! I know plenty of people who do or have done the same.

Anyway, I’m not trying to get all philosophical. I just want to point out that there are other ways to live your life instead of in the cubicle, on the retail floor, or wherever it is that you may spend 80% of your awake time.

We’re in the midst of an Internet business revolution.

I’m convinced that the Internet provides nearly unlimited potential to individuals who are brave enough to start to begin capitalizing on the infinite selling power of digital media. No overhead, unlimited copies of data, the ability to communicate over the entire planet instantly.

Never before have we had this opportunity. Read More

3. Civil Inattention. – wikipedia.com

Okay, wikipedia is not really the interesting website that I am introducing here. It’s more on the topic of civil inattention. Never heard of it before but now I know what it is. So interesting that I am sharing it here. p/s: Bumped into it while reading http://hardiseasy.com/ =)

Civil inattention is the process whereby individuals who are in the same physical setting of interaction demonstrate to one another that they are aware of one another, but without being either threatening or over-friendly.

When moving in areas of strangers who have the potential to disrupt our identities the most we can do is to try and remain inconspicuous. Erving Goffman claims that civil inattention makes life in cities possible– it is characterized by elaborate modes of pretending that we do not look, we do not pay attention, we do not listen or we assume a posture that conveys we do not see or hear what others are doing. It is manifested in the avoidance of eye contact which culturally speaking can serve as an invitation to open up conversations between strangers. We must be attentive when walking not to bump into others while pretending we are not looking or we are not being seen. Newcomers to the urban context have often been struck by such routines, they see a particular callousness or cold indifference in populations and can become lost in the crowd. There is a feeling of abandonment to our own resources leading in turn to loneliness.

Loneliness as it appears is the price to pay for privacy. Anonymity can mean emancipation from the noxious and vexing surveillance and interference of others, who in smaller and more personalized contexts would feel entitled to curious & meddle in our lives. An invisibility by the application of civil inattention offers a scope for freedom that is unthinkable under different conditions.

Along with the cumbersome curiosity of others, their sympathetic interests and willingness to help may disappear. Cool human indifference fueled by manic interactions that are driven by exchanges of goods and services. The ethical character of human relationships is lost. A human relationship is moral when a feeling of responsibility arises in us for the welfare and well-being of others. Our responsibility is moral as long as it is totally selfless and unconditioned. Responsibility for other human beings arises simply because they are human beings and the moral impulses to give help that follows from this requires no argument, legitimation or proof beyond that. People who live close to one another and affect each other’s condition and well-being may well not experience moral proximity they remain oblivious to the moral significance of their actions.

Thanks to the rules of civil inattention, strangers are not treated as enemies and most of the time escape the fate that tends to befall the enemy—they are not targets of hostility and aggression. Strangers of which we are all, at some time, are a part deprived of the protection that moral proximity offers.

Several other websites for your browsing:

http://manvsdebt.com/

http://samsawyer.wordpress.com/

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/

Reading Compilation

I think I read this from suhaibwebb.com.

“If Allah takes care of the provisions, then why worry? If Allah divided the provision, why are you careful? If everything is in the hands of Allah, why are you miserly? If paradise is true, why rest? If hell is true, why commit sin? If the world is going to finish, why relax? If the Day of Judgement is true, why collect? If all is in the hands of Allah, why are you afraid?” [Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal (rh)]

37Signals

Lots of research in economics and psychology shows that when we know something, it becomes hard for us to imagine not knowing it. As a result, we become lousy communicators. Think of a lawyer who can’t give you a straight, comprehensible answer to a legal question. His vast knowledge and experience renders him unable to fathom how little you know. So when he talks to you, he talks in abstractions that you can’t follow. And we’re all like the lawyer in our own domain of expertise.

Here’s the great cruelty of the Curse of Knowledge: The better we get at generating great ideas—new insights and novel solutions—in our field of expertise, the more unnatural it becomes for us to communicate those ideas clearly. That’s why knowledge is a curse. But notice we said “unnatural,” not “impossible.” Experts just need to devote a little time to applying the basic principles of stickiness. – 37signals.com

This article talks about The Failed Simulation Effect and it was written by Cal Newport, “an MIT postdoc and author of the popular advice guides How to Become a Straight-A Student“. I include the author’s introduction just to entice you to click the link and read the article yourself. *smile*

Steve and David

Let’s try a simple experiment. Imagine that you’re an admissions officer at a competitive college, and you’re evaluating the following two applicants:

• David — He is captain of the track team and took Japanese calligraphy lessons throughout high school;  he wrote his application essay on the challenge of leading the track team to the division championship meet.
• Steve — He does marketing for a sustainability-focused NGO; he wrote his application essay about lobbying delegates at the UN climate change conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Who impresses you more?

For most people, there’s little debate: Steve is the star.

But here’s the crucial follow-up question: Why is Steve more impressive than David?

The answer seems obvious, but as you’ll soon discover, the closer you look, the more hazy it becomes. To really understand Steve’s appeal, we will delve into the recesses of human psychology and discover a subtle but devastatingly power effect that will change your understanding of what it takes to stand out.

Fun Stuffs:

1. The word ‘News’ is actually an acronym standing for the 4 cardinal compass points – North, East, West, and South. – Twitter OMGFact
2. Do you know that the word SCUBA (as in scuba diving) stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. I learned this from Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader. And by the way, I am now officially a fan of the show. Can’t stop watching it. =)
3. I was looking for a current list of shariah-compliance investments that are currently available in Malaysia and I bumped into this site.  I then used this comparison tool (they look reliable to me*shrug*) to compare each fund. What a fun activity! You might want to try it (regardless whether you are Muslim or not).

Extra Stuffs

I am currently reading the first two books and I really, really want to buy the last two books:

I have been thinking of having my own 100 Ultimate To-Do List for quite some time now. I finally managed to enumerate them and here goes the list. They are in no particular order.  Some of them have been done and I am certainly looking forward to do the rest, God Willing. =)

1) Perform Umrah and Hajj in Mecca

2) Pay a visit to Madinah

3) Pay off my student loan

4) Retake my Tae-Kwan-Do Black-Belt exam

5) Sleep under the stars

6) Picnic and swim at the waterfall

7) Play golf

8 ) Memorize the whole Quran

9) Ride a Go-Cart

10) Surfing the ocean

11) Drive a Lamborghini

12) Visit an orphanage house every week

13) Sponsor a child

14) Work with United Nation

15) Work with WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature

16) Start an E-Business

17) Write and publish an E-Book

18) Climb Mount Kinabalu

19) Sleep at a five-star hotel

20) Parking at a valet parking

21) Volunteer to teach kids at a school

22) Give charity on monthly basis

23)  Learn how to bake a cake from scratch

24) Have a candlelight dinner with my husband

25) Earn myself a passive income

26) Buy a house

27) Ride a camel

28) Visit the Pyramid in Egypt

29) Own a company and be a CEO

30) Start an Islamic Kindergarten school

31) Be an Islamic Kindergarten school principal

32) Pay off car loan

33) Visit the Eiffel Tower

34) Ride the Bullet Train

35) Master the Arabic Language

36) Take a picture with a dolphin

37) Live for a month (or more) in Madinah, the City of the Prophet

38) Develop a full-functioning education software for children

39) Read a book in Al-Azhar University’s library

40) Earn myself a Bachelor, a Master Degree and a PhD

41) Take one course at Harvard University

42) Stand in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Arctic Ocean

43) Make a pizza from scratch for family dinner

44) Light up fireworks

45) Memorize the Forty Hadith by Imam Nawawi

46) Paint my house

47) Take a sewing class

48) Make my own Baju Kurung dress

49) Learn how to change my car tires and practice it at home

50) Assemble my own PC

51) Ride a helicopter

52) Take an orphan out for lunch, to the mall and bookstore on monthly basis

53) Stand at the top of Mount Uhud

54) Visit Tokyo and  Seoul

55) Play bowling and strike thrice in a row

56) Sit and read the Quran in front of Kaabah

67) Pray inside the Masjidil Haraam, Masjid Nabawi and Masjid Al-Aqsa

68) Go snowboarding and skiing at Killington Mountain, Vermont

69) Make an ice-blended Milo for my husband after he get home from work

70) Plant my own rose plant

71) Adopt a cat for my family

72) Give a random, stray cat a drink

73) Ride a superbike

74) Perform fasting every monday and thursday

75) Meet Bill Gates and say to him “How are you doing today Bill Gate sir?”

76) Own a treadmill and run on it everyday for at least 15 minutes

77) Visit New Zealand and stay at the country side for a week

78) Pray tahajjud every single night for at least 10 minutes

79) Pluck fresh strawberries from a farm.

78) Drive a Jeep Wrangler

79) Travel and drive a car in all 14 main cities in Malaysia

80) Design a shoe

81) Meet Syakh Mishary Rashid Al-Efasy and listen to his Quran recitation – live version.

82) Go for a camping at Malaysia National Park, Pahang.

83) Visit Brunei and spend a night at a home-stay .

84) Drive along Route 66.

85) Take a Japanese Class.

86) Have a daughter and named her “Aisyah” and have a son and named him “Hamzah”

87) Meet Jamie Oliver and have him cook a meal for me.

88) Walk in the rain with my husband

89) Go for a bungee-jumping

90) Rollerblade at a park.

91) Visit Sentosa Island in Singapore

92) Ride a train in a zoo

93) Walk in the snow and catch a snowflake

94) Visit Phukett Island in Thailand

95) Be a host for a radio program for a day

96) Babysit a baby for free for one day

97) Run a marathon

98) Cook for a charity party

99) Visit Palestine and give food to the Palestinian kids.

100) Walk and drive in New York City

I have a feeling that this list will keep growing and i don’t mind it a single bit. lol.

Have blessed March everybody! =)

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations. For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live. – Henry David Thoreau