Doodle : On Weekend

*

I feel like I need to start again on things that I used to have. I need to learn so many things from the start. Sometimes I feel stuck and even how many times I try to repeat, nothing works. I know if I let this for long, I'll never go anywhere. So I need to push myself back again. 

Writing has been a perfect getaway for these couple of months.

While doodling was a bit of a disaster. I can't doodle, I can't even feel inspired by looking at someone else's artwork like I used to. 

Sketched this on weekend, had so many other spoiled sketches : 

I guess I can't let this controls me anymore.

*

PS : Thanks for those following and liking in my facebook page & instagram today. I was a bit shocked by the big addition this morning. I found out that I was featured in Safiyya Tv9 this morning, huh ? I was not informed by them, so I didn't know when they were going to air the slot. It was today and thank you so much for the love & supports ! 

I am not currently open for custom-orders though :)

Little Stories 46 : Morning Caffeine

I dozed on the bus, holding the remaining 2/3 of IQ84. The sun shone directly on my face, but I was too sleepy to complain. Waking up so early for a dizzy morning? Maybe it is not a great start after all. It is Friday and I woke at 4am.

I stepped off one station ahead for the nearest 7/11 and bought myself a can of Nescafe, "please mild caffeine, make yourself useful today". A can of Nescafe contains about 60+ mg of caffeine and it will usually goes into the system in 30 minutes, lasts around 2-5 hours. Moderate caffeine intake is around 300 mg for normal people. Information taken on their website for random fun facts. 

I am a light-drinker.

Thank you morning caffeine.

Little Stories 45 : Fayyadh

Fayyadh entered standard 1 this year, I hardly see him at the lab like I used to. It's finally school holiday and he stopped by yesterday. He brought a jar of keropok and sat next to me. When he is not influenced by Ariff - *our animator, he is a very nice thoughtful boy. Boys being boys, sometimes they can be a bit annoying.

Story 1 :

Fayyadh : I hardly see you.
Me : Yes, you started to go to school?
Fayyadh : I don't come here often, I go to school.
Me : Do you have many friends there ?
Fayyadh : *silently counting* , THREE ! 

*

Story 2 :

Fayyadh : My hair is short.
Me : Yes, you cut your hair?
Fayyadh : Do I look like Aaron Aziz?
Me : Ahh, you look even better than him.
Fayyadh : *huge grin*

*

Story 3 :

Fayyadh : Kak Reen, I brought you keropok.
Me : Oh thank you.
Fayyadh : For you it's free, for everyone else, it's 3 for RM 1.20
Me : *huge grin*

*

Story 4 :

Fayyadh : Kak Reen, why your iPhone is so small?
Me : This is not an iPad, of course it is small.
Fayyadh : Why don't you buy an iPad instead?
Me : Because I already got an iPhone. Why I need more?
Fayyadh : Well, throw this iPhone, and buy an iPad.
Me : No ! *(O.O)*

*

Story 5 :

Fayyadh : Do you know what is this? *showing an icon on the iPad while playing game*
Me : No, what is that?
Fayyadh : A shovel.
Me : You can read that?
Fayyadh : No, I watched it on Youtube. They said it is called a "shovel".
Me : *impressed*

Fayyadh : What is this?
Me : It is a 'chest'. *reading the label*
Fayyadh : What is a chest?
Me : It is a thing that we use to keep items.
Fayyadh : Okay, I am going to keep my things in the chest now. 

*

While playing a game on iPad.

Little Things 70 : Your Day

The most beautiful moment in a day is early in the morning, when a cold gentle darkness is still around.  When it no longer feels like night time, when we can wait for the sun, for a new day.

You can open the window widely and feel the cold air bites your skin, make a nice cup of hot milo and sit silently.
The world around you is still sleeping.

It will last only for a couple of hours.
Before your day starts. Again.

App : Water Daily

*

The facts stated :

60% of our body is water ,
70% of our brain is water,
and the lungs are nearly 90% water.

So as everyone knows, water plays a huge role in our body.
Do you drink water as much as needed?

Here is an app I used with a nice minimalist interface design to keep track of my daily water intake : Water Daily by particlemade.

1. Select your water amount : 2500ml (recommended for man) and 2000ml (recommended for woman) ,
2. Set your waking & sleeping time : to keep track of your time,
3. Allow notification : for people who don't drink as a habit - I don't need any reminder. Ha.
4. Check your daily drinking habits.
5. Shake your iPhone every time you drink 250ml water and it will automatically record it :

Nice one, huh?

*

Event : MMU Campusfest 2013

*

Hello,

I signed up for a booth for next weekend with MMU Cyberjaya. I really hope everyone can come along and bring families, and friends, and partners and everyone possible, and buy all my stickers. 

Here is their offical facebook page : MMU Campusfest 2013

This would be my third event for this year, my 15th event since 2010. How can I possibly cut thousands of stickers and draw hundreds of doodles ? Using this magical hand & remarkable God's given inspirations - for that, Alhamdulillah. 

PS : I am currently highly caffeinated and overly excited ! 

See you guys there ! 

*

The event was not on this weekend, but on last Tuesday and Wednesday instead. It was my mistake, I did not rechecked the exact date. I thought it was just like the other previous events, I was wrong. So I took a day off from the lab and went to MMU Cyber with my sister. I sold stickers, my sister sold those little things of hers and my brother sold cupcakes from CakesDeLemari. 

Thank you very much for stopping by.

Updates on the event days :

My brother sold cupcakes from CakeDeLemari.

Stickers Galore

Tiramissingyou Cupcakes.

My sister, Azah Azrina. 

Little Things 69 : On love

The reason I am here today,
is because of you.

You don't know how much you taught me how to love.
To understand, to accept and to cherish.

Of all the people, I am glad the lesson came from you.
You will always be my first love.
Thank you Ma ❤

Little Things 68 : Pencarian

Antara benda paling kelakar adalah cari cermin mata untuk cari cermin mata.

Hidup menjadi separa jernih.

Cermin mata yang hilang,
dan adik yang comel.

*

Food : Cakes De Lemari

Hello !

I used to dislike cupcakes before this year. I hated the colourful icings and spongy cake. But that changed since I tasted 1) Tasya's little cupcakes made for my & aja's birthday , and also 2) cupcakes from Cakes De Lemari, a brand new little cupcake shop in Equine Park. 

Without icing, cupcakes taste a lot better !

Sugar, colours and everything sweet? 

I suggest you to try cupcakes from the shop.

*

By the way, my handsome-single younger brother is currently working part-time there, soooo if you want to meet him and exchange nice small talks, now it's your time ! 

PS : He is currently doing his degree in Cyber. Hewhewhew. 

This is cakes in the jar :

Tiramisu, Caramel, Rainbow& Chocolate.

*

Here is a rough map I did on GoogleMap,

it is near Maulana & Snogurt, Equine Park.

*

Little Stories 44 : Glasses, SecretFamily & Awan

Story 1 : Glasses

I woke up at 4 am, thinking I should do something productive today. I went to the toilet, washed my face, went to the kitchen to make a hot milo and turned on my laptop. I tried to find my glasses, but there was no where around the room, the kitchen, the living room, the toilet.

I hate it when I can't find my glasses.
I squinted my eyes while trying to find it, but I can't see clearly.

If I am a spectacle, where would I be? 

Gah.
*I typed this without my glasses on.

*

Story 2 : Secretgroup's Photo

Two days ago, I was given a task to collect all my colleagues' photo for our website. Assuming most people probably wanted to retake their photo *I am included, I hated the old ones, I voluntarily offered to take everyone's latest picture. 

Here is the challenge : 

1) I am not a good photographer when the object is other human. In 2009, I tried several freelance works in weddings and events - I  found out that when I take photos I became awkward and they became awkward. I make people feel uncomfortable. Ha. 

2) Some people are born photogenic. Some people are super shy, and I will become even worse than them. 

3) Some people just love to be photographed, this is very helpful & challenging, *because I were to blame if any pictures taken will make them seemed fat/dark/anything possible to be critiqued.

4) Some people will only blame me for how they looked. *Okay not some, one particular person, I personally think he did this on purpose. No problem, I will still bring the camera next week. 

Anyhow, I love the result and the experience and the fussiness and how adorable everyone was : each and every one of them was very unique & different when they had to stand in front of the camera. That was new.

There are some pictures that I need to retake, and some people that I have not take yet. 

*

Story 3 : Fatso Awan

Awan sleeps in my room at most nights. 

Around 4 am, I will sleepily be awake by Awan's heaviness on my stomach. She will lie/sit/other yoga-ic postures to lick her whole body's fur until maybe she feels clean & well-licked, then she will sleep somewhere else. 

This happens almost every night.

My rough hypotheses on why Awan needs to be on my stomach while she does her fur-licking routine :

1) Maybe it is easier for her to do odd postures while lying on my stomach, than on the flat floor.

2) Maybe it is just for her amusement to wake me from my sleep.

PS : Awan is quite heavy now.

*

    

Little Things 67 : 26 Movie & Book List

For my 2013 goal here , I wrote a geeky goal :

This year, I am turning 26.* I want to read another 26 books and watch 26 movies *

Those little * asterisks * are little pretend-stars, assuming 5 asterisks as highly recommended by me and 1 asterisk means boring. But, this is only based on my interest, because from what's been told by my siblings, I have a very odd-slow-boring taste of movies *so be warned. Books, my taste in books are self-claimed-great, I can be book recommender based on people's interest. 

Movies :

1. Now You See Me (2013) - ***
2. Mr. Nobody (2009) - ****
3. Girl, Interrupted (1999) - ****
4. Conjuring (2013) - ***
5. Peemak (2013) - ***
6. Man of Steel (2013) - ****
7. After Earth (2013) - ****
8. KIL (2013) - ***
9. Mother (2009) - ***
10. Straight A's (2013) - ***
11. Easy A (2010) - ***
12. The Brass Teapot (2012) - ***
13. Tree of Life (2012) - ****
14. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - ****
15. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) - ***
16. The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - *****
17. Marie Antoinette (2006) - ***
18. Somewhere (2010) - ***
19. Lost in Translation (2003) - ***
20. The Virgin Suicides (1999) - ***
21. The Host (2013) - ***
22. One Day (2011) - ***
23. The Croods (2013) - ****
24. Diary of a Wimpy Kid : Dog Days (2012) - **
25. Not Suitable for Children (2012) - ** 
26. Warm Bodies (2013) - ***
27. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - ***
28. Pitch Perfect (2012) - ***
29. The Wizards of Oz (2013) - ***
30. A Thousand Words (2012) - ***
31. Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) - **
32. Cloud Atlas (2012) - ***
33. Meet Joe Black (1998) - *****
34. Jack Reacher (2012) - *
35. Life of Pi (2012) - *****

Current favorite : Life of Pi & Meet Joe Black & The Darjeeling Limited.

* I promised it is not because of Brad Pitt's alarmingly great look, but it is because of the idea of Death falling in love, and the movie was all about life, love, and sacrifices. Not in cheesy chick-lit version, but a very thoughtful slow one. 

* For obvious reason, Life of Pi, I wrote a long review on that, I can't brag more.

*

Books :

1. By the River Piedra I Sat Down & Wept by Paulo Coelho - ***
2. Reborn : Susan Sontag's Diaries - ***
3. Yasmin, How You Know ? - ****
4. Tokyo on Foot - ****
5. How to be an Explore of the World - ***
6. Selected Poems of Rumi - ****
7. Fearless by Cornelia Funke - ***
8. Stardust by Neil Gaiman - ***
9. Rahsia 2Pria by Adi Wafi & Mosyuki Borhan - ***
10. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink - ****
11. Ring by Koji Suzuki - ***
12. Conversations with God by Neale Donald - ****
13. Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho - ****
14. The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho - ***
15. The Sufi Book of Life by Neil Douglas-Klotz - ****
16. Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coelho - ****
17. Life of Pi by Yann Martell - ****
18. Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martell - *
19. Reckless by Cornelia Funke - ****
20. IQ84 by Haruki Murakami - *****
21. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - ***
22. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom - ****
23. For One More Day by Mitch Albom - ****

Current favorite : IQ84

* This reminds me of Stieg Larsson's trilogy, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, the Japanese version. But this book is too thick, around 1000 pages and I can't bring it to places, so I Googled it down on how to read a great thick & heavy  book - because I only got time to read while I commute to work nowadays, and I found a sinful suggestion : cut the book. 

I was curious, I am a book lover, can I possibly cut a book? But I wanted to read it so bad. And what is the point of having a great book that you can't enjoy because it is too heavy? I thought about it for awhile and I decided to try it. First book lover's sin : Cut a book. Second book lover's sin : It was a personal gift. Third book lover's sin : I chose to mutilate a book !

This is when my principle was being tested : how strong is my statement about not being personally-overly attached to a human-made object ? I cut it, put a transparent tape on the book's bone and stared at what I did. Okay. It got more personal now, my first book that I cut, and I fell in love with the flaw nonetheless. Will I ever lend it to people? Probably not - no one can possibly take a good care of a fragile book as much as I can. The book got its own casing now. No, I don't want to do this ever again. It felt exactly like an hour after drinking coffee, the mouth will give an odd wrong taste.

And I love the story. 

Highly recommended.

Little Stories 43 : SPM

On the day my SPM result went out, *that was like 8-9 years ago, I went to my school a bit later than my friends. When I arrived, I saw all my genius classmates with their happy faces. Being surrounded by all straight A's best friends was not really a good feeling. 

I went to the desk, uttered my name, and the teacher gave me my SPM slip,

Congratulation, you got 5 A's and 6 B's. 

I cried in my heart, "Shoot, I am never going to leave Malaysia".

I dragged my feet, feeling like a total failure and suddenly my Motorola vibrated in my pocket. I saw my old-time-super-genius childhood crush's name on the screen. Gah , not him please.

Hello ?
Hello ! How was our SPM's result? *super-excited mode
Erm, I got 5 A's, and 6 B's. How about you?
Congratulation! I got straight A's.

*

That was all I can remember on my SPM result's day. I didn't even feel like celebrating. 

But anyhow, even so, I achieved many things in life that all my genius friends didn't. Maybe they achieved what's best in their field and felt fulfilled and Alhamdulillah for them. But my road is all bumpy and interesting and different and fun, and I loved it nonetheless. I chose the road hardly taken, and I am having fun. 

Thank God I didn't try to become a lawyer/doctor/engineer like you, I am happy experimenting with my current life, and it's colourful.
That is not helping, Reen. 

Teehee.
PS : All the best for your exams, Min & Tasy ! ❤

Event : A Little Market

Last Saturday, I opened a little booth in A Little Market with Pipit Zakka Store, in conjunction with their Make a Notebook Exhibition. I've never went to their new shop before and that was my first time, for those who are not familiar with Pipit, they are an independent concept store with lots to offer : ranging from arts, crafts, toys, figurines, hand-mades, vintages, etc. 

I've joined their previous events several times before in Annexe Gallery, see : Pipit Wonderful Market 9, 8, 7. This was my 14th event ! 

I was greeted by a lot of doodles :

*

Here are some pictures from their current exhibition for the whole month :

*

My little stall :

*

Other beautiful things :

*

Pipit Zakka Store is located at Taman Connaught, KL. See map.

Make a Notebook Exhibition is currently exhibited for the whole March.

A Little Market is held on every Saturday ( only in March ).

*

Notice : Google Reader is Shutting Down

Hello !

For those who use Google Reader to subscribe/save your favorite websites/blogs, you should consider to change your platform now ! They are shutting down this July 1st, 2013. 

As for me, I don't use Google Reader because I didn't like the interface - so I'm not worried, I am using Bloglovin since the past 2-3 years ago. It's my daily-must-see site, like an addiction, first thing in the morning, I'll go through the feeds, rather than stalking anyone's blog specifically - I choose to innocently go through all the updated feeds in case I want to read any of it. Indirect blog stalking method - succeeded ! 

• You can also import your list from Google Reader to Bloglovin
• Save the website & make a shortcut on your web browser
• Install the mobile application in your 'smart' phones, Android or iOS
• Customize categories : arts inspiration, writing, travel, gibberish talks, fashion, cute people, etc

And in case you want to save my blog's link in your Bloglovin, here is the link. So you don't have to keep on checking my blog to see any updates, although doing that would really help me get higher traffic - but why do something so inconvenient when we have technology, eh ? 

Efficiency, that matters ! 

PS : Why something as big as Google Reader is shutting down? I have no idea, maybe they got this new brilliant idea next.
Updates : They said because of the declining usage ! Read here.

Movie : Jack the Giant Slayer

*

I felt disturbed by the movie title. The title is Jack the Giant Slayer. Jack is the hero in the movie, acted by Nicholas Hoult that reminded me of Merlin the series. I watched the movie with my family last weekend.

In the movie, he only killed at most 3 giants ; 

1) in the kitchen scene while rescuing Isabelle & Elmont, he dropped the knife on the giant's back, and the giant killed himself when he accidentally fell & pushed the knife deeper into his body ? ,

2) in the scene when he put the bee hive into the giant's iron mask and the giant fell back down to earth ,

3) in the final scene when he dropped the last bean into the giant's mouth *correct me if I am wrong.

All the scenes happened by luck. So what makes him be called as the Giant Slayer when in the end, he became the king for all the giants and probably would not kill any giants in the future? Why they did not just make the movie be called as Jack and the Bean Stalk or Jack and the Kingdom above the Sky or Jack the Lucky Giant's Slayer ? 

+

And why, instead of making all giants look so ugly and dirty, make them look decent and handsome perhaps? It is almost too cliché. Giants = ugly , giants = eat their own snot and smell their own armpit , giants = stupid.
But a giant with a retarded twin head on its shoulder - that was new :

*

Little Stories 42 : Bless you Wednesday

I pulled out the last RM 50 from my money case, money that will last almost the whole week. I put it along with my Touch & Go card, thinking I need to top-up the card so I can pay for the taxi ride to work with smaller change. 

Suddenly I heard the train, I walked faster, swiped the card, and I felt something different, lighter. "Where is the money?". I silently used less obscene curses while trying to find the money but I failed. So I sat in the train with my most dumbstruck face that I could ever unintentionally do , rewinding the past few minutes that had just happened. 

The train arrived at my stop, I asked my colleague to pick me up, but my wild guess was : she was still on her way to work, probably she did not check her phone thus not replying my text. So I walked. 

Thinking I need to walk for more than 2 km to the destination might not help, so I laughed - not in a disturbing evil way, but little laughters that could somehow ease the negative thoughts. Halfway through the expedition, drenched with morning sweat and countless reasonings, I saw my colleague and she gave me a ride. 

An interesting way to start my Wednesday. 

*

Lesson number 1 : Keep extra money in my bag.
Lesson number 2 : Learn to curse properly in anger. What is 'stupid' ? Is this all I can do?
Lesson number 3 : Don't leave the house with empty stomach, because now I am starving.
Lesson number 4 : Learn to ask for help.
Lesson number 5 : Survive.
Lesson number 6 : Laugh at little incidents and take note.
Lesson number 7 : Enjoy the rest of your day.

PS : Thank you Miss Faizah, for the ride and for the RM 8 duit kesian.
I'll pay you back !

Little Stories 41 : Share Likes on Instagram

Ma : You slept late last night. 

Me : I did? How did you know ? 

Ma : There were a lot of Instagram's notifications on your Facebook. 

Me : There were posted on my wall ? 

Ma : Yes, you liked the food's photo, and you liked the Chinese man in front of food photo, and there were several other more. 

Me : I did ! That was not a Chinese man, it was 'the' David Choi. 

Ma : Oh. the Korean singer ? 

Me : Yeah.. *guessing she remembered my several David's concerts I went to. PS : David is NOT a Korean popstar, he is the Youtube artist from the States, but yes he is Korean.  

Ma : They were all posted on the feed's wall, I did not stalked you. 

Me : That is like breaching my privacy, I don't want people to know that I slept late by liking people's photo on Instagram. I'll hide the Instagram notification first thing this morning ! 

So I've un-tick the 'Share Likes' notification.

You can do the same by :

1. Open your Instagram application 
2. Click on your profile button (below, the most right)
3. Click on the setting button (above, top right corner)
4. Click on > Share Settings
5. Click on > Facebook
6. Click > Off , on the Share Likes to Timeline

But if you like to share your likes on Facebook,
just ignore this post.

Little Things 66 : Showing Vulnerability

I am not sure why showing emotions make you seem weak. Is anything associated with being more human is a sign of weakness? Does emotionless makes human more perfect? Some questions that I've put into account, in finding which is the right way of showing people who you are and what you are. Is there even right or wrong ? 

I am being as human as I am, most of the time automatically I will judge, even though it is not in my place to judge people. I read other people's statuses up on their Facebook walls and thought how emotional they are, I read other people's tweets on Twitter and thought how much they share unimportant things to the society - will they ever stop ? I think about what make them share, what do they think and feel. 

It's too much to me, so I choose to become almost passive on Facebook, and when people's Tweets and Instagram's posts become irrelevant to me, I'll unfollow them. I secretly whisper ;

 "I am sorry, I choose to not feed myself with certain things, I hope you don't take it in bad way".  

My mom and sister agree that I am being too proud for not checking on other people's life on Facebook, *mostly they are saying that I am not giving 'likes' on their posted artworks lah kan, ah well..  So people might think I am acting like I am above people , when truthfully, I can't stop deciphering their thoughts and take everything so serious. Most of the time, it is just too much for me , so I avoid them all.

*

Your feelings are beautiful, your thoughts are vast and unique, sometimes they are interesting, sometimes they are quite painful to accept. But I am human, and I can't be those emotionless human who sees everything as neutral, no matter how hard I try. No one can.

I am sorry for being judgmental towards everything.

Social media network is too big and exposed in so many ways.

It is okay to show how vulnerable you are, it is okay to show how pessimist and pain-in-the-ass you are, it is okay to give daily words of encouragements to people or tell the whole world what you just ate every few hours. It is okay, to be yourself and do what you feel right for you.

After all, we can't expect everyone is the same.

But remember little things Thumper's dad in the old Bambi movie (1942 )reminded him :

If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.

Fin. 

Little Things 65 : Adapting

It's amazing how your heart can learn to accept things, after awhile. 

Things that seem so extreme 5 years ago, may only trigger a soft thud in your heart.

Things that once make you cry in your sleep, may only give you a slight sad smile.

Those anger, resentment, sadness, pain, loneliness, anxiety, anything related to bitterness, vaporized into void. You came to a realization that you left that state, not willing to fully let it go, because it built the person you are right at this moment. 

How can anyone leave their past ?

They are a part of you.

Adapting is a way to survive life.

Grind and churn those bitter feelings, 

but make sure you remember to stand on your two feet, 

while holding those emotions like a trophy,

- because we are all winners. 

*

Little Stories 40 : Lord Mazuka

This came into my SPAM mail early this morning :

*

Lord Mazuka white magic spells. A temple where all kind of problems are solved with the ancient powerful magic. We cast all kinds of spells, and get results without any side effect. Our spells are very fast in action, and lasts forever. 

LOVE SPELLS, 

BROKEN MARRIAGE SPELLS, 

HEALTH SPELLS, 

BEAUTY SPELLS, 

HAIR SPELLS, 

MONEY SPELLS, 

LOTTERY OR ANY KIND OF GAMBLE SPELLS, 

EDUCATION SPELLS, 

BUSINESS SPELLS, 

CONTRACT SPELLS, 

PROMOTION SPELLS, 

ADMISSION SPELLS, 

SUCCESS IN EXAMS SPELLS, 

ELECTION WINNING SPELLS. * take note politicians ! :D

Contact us if you need our help, and tell us your problem, and we will solve it out with the supreme powerful spells of Lord Mazuka powerful spells and all your problem will be solved, and you will live a happy life forever. 

WARM REGARDS, 

LORD MAZUKA.

*

PS : The supreme powerful spells of Lord Mazuka ! And I love the final line : "and you will live a happy life forever" , *aww..

Inspiration : TED Talks

*

On Body Language & Making Changes
by Amy Cuddy

*

The Art of Asking

by Amanda Palmer 

*

Future of Learning : The School in the Cloud

by Sugata Mitra

PS : I really love the idea of the Future of Leaning by Sugata Mitra. 

We should make this happen !

*

Book : The Reader's Voice

I happened to learn about the reader's voice from Cornelia Funke's trilogy : Inkheart. 

Mortimer Folchart or Mo, is a book binder.  He got this ability to bring characters from books to the real world. What I loved about Mo other than having a full-time job to treat books everyday is and his powerful reader's voice. The writer beautifully explained how some people have the ability to let written words alive. So I imagined how Mo's powerful story-telling would be in real life. 

Mo could paint the air with his voice alone.

*

Some people do have the reader's voice. It captures your attention, it makes you listen. Some politicians have this ability, some public speakers need to learn this skill. I strongly believe that if your job is to speak to people, you need to know about this. Or else, many people, including me, would not listen to you while you speak. Not as an act of rudeness, we will just choose to avoid any possibilities of having to listen to you.

*

Anyhow, in finding people with great reader's voice, I came across the famous celebrity writer : Neil Gaiman. I keep on having a strong feeling that being a celebrity writer makes you less a writer but he keeps on showing me that I am wrong. Not only did he wrote so many books, published novel graphics,  gave such an inspiring commencement speech last year, got a beautiful little library and a very a classic house with such beautiful dogs, and many more things that too good to be true as a writer, he also has a strong reader's voice.

From the speech he gave last year, I found out that he is one of the people with the ability to make people listen to him. You can listen to him reading one of his book : The Graveyard Book, or from his current project with Blackberry : A Calendar of Tales.

Being a writer and a reader both at the same time, that is more than enough. 

*

Book : Being Normal from The Winner Stands Alone

This is taken from the current book I am reading by Paulo Coelho : The Winner Stands Alone. I was in the train, on my way to work when I read this two pages of list on what being normal means. A successful rich man asked his bodyguard, and when his bodyguard couldn't give him any satisfying answers, he took out a folded paper that he brings everywhere to :

" What does being normal mean ? "
" I always have this with me and I add to it all the time ".

1. Anything that makes us forget who we are and what we want; that way we can work in order to produce, reproduce, and earn money.
2. Setting out rules for waging war (the Geneva Convention).
3. Spending years studying at university only to find out at the end of it all that you're unemployable.
4. Working from 9 till 5 every day at something that gives you no pleasure just so that, after thirty years, you can retire.
5. Retiring and discovering that you no longer have enough energy to enjoy life and dying a few years out of sheer boredom.
6. Using Botox.
7. Believing that power is much more important than money and that money is much more important than happiness.
8. Making fun of anyone who seeks happiness rather than money and accusing them of "lacking ambition."
9. Comparing objects like cars, houses, clothes, and defining life according to those comparisons, instead of trying to discover the real reason for being alive.
10. Never talking to strangers. Saying nasty things about the neighbors.

Little Things 65 : Let's Read

I was in the woman's coach in the Komuter this morning. There were more than 70 women, *I counted. Some stared empty at the window, some religiously played their smartphones, some were asleep and some chatted.

No one held a book.
No one read.

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My sister went to the clinic yesterday and she complained that she had to wait for hours doing nothing. By nothing means socially active on the net using her smartphone or play games, I bet?

Why didn't you bring a book and read while you were waiting?

Silence.

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A conversation with my brother :

I think I want to be a writer.

If you want to be a writer, you need to read and write obsessively. Do you do that? That's the first step to become a writer. If you don't read, how can you learn to write. If you don't write, how can you improve?

Saying is one thing, doing is one step further. 

Place : Janda Baik 2

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I am very much aware of textures and little things around me. Yes, I see insects and odd petite things all the time *boo Zara, she calls me insectopedia for a reason huh? I remember seeing thin-legged spider, leech, huge centipede and beetle last time in the forest. Also this. And this.

These pictures are little things that I saw and liked while I went to the Janda Baik trip :

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When people came closer and bend down to see what I was doing, I blushed and said I am taking photo of little things. I bet no one realized there were so many dead worms around on the second day like I did, huh?

Place : Janda Baik, Pahang

Last weekend, our SecretGroup family went to Janda Baik, Pahang for our yearly Rejuvenate 2013 to recap last year's achievements, whether we reached our target or not, to roughly discuss this year's goals, also to improve our bonding and working skills.

We went to Suria Hill Resort in Janda Baik after the Friday's prayer. The beauty of our little family is how well-planned we all are in doing something, roughly speaking from the outsider's point of view, although I have never worked in other company before to make this comparison. I loved how we all were given a handout with structured timelines, grouping plans, additional notes, maps, and such things. Precious little thing. 

We arrived in the afternoon and were given shared rooms. 

Here is a summary and some photos ! :

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Activity 1 : Zubedy , MAD program

Our highlight event was on the second day, a program with Zubedy : Making A Difference ( MAD ) by Mr. Anuprakash. Yes, 'the' Zubedy, famous Anas Zubedy ! If Mr. Anas came on that day, maybe I'll have a hard time focusing on the program :D Anyhow, the one day program was filled with talks, open discussion and group activities. 

We learned about artificial boundaries, our true potential, P1 - P3, whether we know things that we should know and how to achieve our goals, excuses, and those little sub-titles in most motivational program. I loved the program, I learned a lot and I feel recharged. Most of us did. Somehow reminders like this trigger what we already know deep inside our heart and it showed us the important things in our life. It was not like other ordinary motivational talks, because I didn't feel sleepy at all *which was a great sign, because I know I can't listen to long lectures on anything.   

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Activity 2 : BBQ , Back-to-School Themed Dinner

Last year's Rejuvenate, we had a movie-themed night, where everyone wore costumes from any movies. This year, it was a school-theme dinner. I had a hard time finding school uniform, it has been almost 10 years since I left school. *how fast! So I chose to wear Kadet Remaja's tshirt with a green beret. Some of us chose to wear school uniform, teacher, gardener, etc. 

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Activity 3 : Telematch

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SecretGroup Family :