Worth The Pay?

Assalamualaikum wbt

Duduk termenung aku fikirkan,
Sudahkah sedia?

Tak perlu dikata.
Tak perlu juga beriya,
Nanti tambah kecewa.

Apa lagi yang dirunsingkan?

Bila ku baca dan dengar,
Pelbagai kisah versi berbeza,
Buat ku fikir,
Ada susah ada senangnya,
Ada yang mudah di awal,
Ada yang mudah di akhir,
Tapi susah itu pasti kan ada.

Jadi bolehkah aku?
Kau?
Kita?
Semua?

Entah.
Yang pasti,
Something that is worth it, must have a price to be paid.

Kita Semua Bersaudara

Assalamualaikum wbt

Sewaktu cuba mendapatkan penajaan daripada sebuah kedai buku di Bangi,

Pekerja: Maaf, saya tak boleh buat apa-apa. Tapi saya boleh bagi nombor pemilik kedai ni untuk kamu bincang bersama nanti.

Diserahkannya nombor telefon dan nama pemiliknya yang bernama Siti.

Asiff: Terima kasih. Bagaimana kami patut gelar beliau? Cik atau Puan?

Pekerja: Panggil sahaja 'sister'. Kami di sini memanggil sesama kami dengan 'sister' dan 'brother'. Kita semua saudara dalam Islam. Panggil sahaja 'sister'.

Masya Allah, aku sangat terharu dan tersentuh dengan kata-kata pekerja tu. Terasa kita disambut baik dan dialu-alukan sangat apabila diucap begitu. Dia mengiktiraf kita sebagai saudaranya atas nama agama. Dan inilah sebaiknya akhlak Muslim yang patut ditonjol pada semua, yang patut diamalkan dan disemai dalam diri setiap yang bergelar Muslim.

Lantas aku teringat petikan daripada sebuah hadis mengenai hubungan sesama Muslim,

'… Seorang Muslim adalah saudara bagi Muslim yang lainnya, dia tidak menzaliminya dan mengabaikannya, tidak mendustakannya dan tidak menghinanya… '  (HR Muslim)

Allah swt berfirman,

إنماٱﻟﻣﺅﻣنونإخوة

'Orang-orang beriman itu sesungguhnya bersaudara' (surah Al-Hujurat, ayat 10)

Aku fikir ini juga sebuah teguran dan kesedaran secara tidak langsung buat aku. Pabila kita anggap sesama kita bersaudara, atas nama agama, dan kerana Allah, kita akan sentiasa hadir dan bertemu dengan prasangka yang baik, dan segala persengkataan boleh dielak, seterusnya bersatu demi menyumbang dan membangunkan ummah.

Moga kita semua diberi hidayah oleh Allah untuk sentiasa membudayakan akhlak yang baik, dan menjadi qudwah hasanah bagi orang lain untuk kembali kepada Allah dan mendekati agama ini. Insya Allah.

Leading Yourself

Assalamualaikum wbt

Alhamdulillah, KPSM has ended few weeks ago, I've already started my industrial training, and this is a delayed post. Obviously.

Being a leader was never an easy job and will never be, even if you have great support and cooperation from your team. Because in the end, you are all by yourself.  

We always thought that leadership is about leading other people to a great thing, but through my experiences, I think leadership is about leading yourself. You've got to show that you are good despite of your weaknesses, then only can people look up and follow. 

This experience has really made me see another side of me. Sometimes, you just do not know who you are actually until your are given things to handle and to face. This time, I see so much weaknesses in me. So much, and just too much! But all of those did not break my spirit. Instead, those are the things that will keep me motivated to improvise and keep on learning.

I enjoy it and this will definitely be remembered. 

I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of saying, "I wish I did that."

My task ends here.

Coffee Talk

Assalamualaikum wbt

I super duper love love love hanging out this way with favourite people in my life. I just love the feel of sharing or hearing a story from friends or family while sipping on a cup of latte. It feels so warm. It feels so calm. And I feel so loved!

Today we did it. Right after Asiff's sister's wedding, we went to have an evening coffee talk. Coffee hunting konon-kononnya. hehe

You know the good part of this kind of hangout? You can talk about almost anything and seldom, just so seldom will make you feel hesitate to share. It's good to do this sometimes. Just to let out some of the messed-up matters and release a bit of the stress. And the best part is, it is in this kind of hangout that we often hear stories that people won't usually share. Sipping on a large size hazelnut latte, while hearing stories and voicing out your opinions on certain issue is a definite satisfaction.

At the end of our conversation, a question was asked randomly to all of us,

"Agak-agak lepas kerja nanti ada masa tak nak hangout macam ni lagi?"

Hearing it alone has already broke my heart. We will definitely not going to have the 'us' time the same way we did. Soon, other people will enter our life and things won't be the same. It cannot be. As we are stepping towards new phase of life, these are some of the things that we need to leave behind and welcome the new people and new thing with joy and hope.

But then,

Maybe we can. With all of our families, perhaps.

Alternatif Amatur

Assalamualaikum wbt

Berjam berhempas pulas dekat illustrating software, alih-alih guna publisher sahaja. 

Amatur. 

Tutup Buku 2014

Assalamualaikum wbt

Mengakhiri 2014 dengan demam dan selsema yang makin teruk bukanlah sesuatu yang aku harapkan.

Aku ingat nak tulis panjang-panjang ala-ala throwback lah katakan, tapi bila sampai suku jalan, aku padam balik. Buat apalah sangat nak recall satu per satu semua sedih gembira pahit manis masam pedas? Cukuplah aku dan orang terdekat yang tahu. Lagipun, celoteh aku dalam blog ni ada banyak. Yang tawa duka ada. Mana nak selak, selaklah. Mana nak belek, beleklah. 

Dan penghujung tahun ini juga hanya menyaksikan lebih banyak tragedi sedih. Banjir dan QZ8501 adalah yang diberi tumpuan buat masa ini. 

Jadi akhirnya, ini sahaja yang mampu aku coretkan.

Semoga tahun baru Masihi ini lebih bermakna. Aku tak boleh minta jangan ditambah lagi kesedihan atau kesusahan sebab perancang terbaik itu Tuhan. Sudah pasti akan ada cabaran lebih besar dari arah yang tidak akan aku sangka, juga akan ada kegembiraan dari arah yang tidak akan aku sangka. Pastikan diri selalu ingat, bahawa Allah selalu ada, dalam apa jua keadaan pun. Mohonlah kekuatan dan keampunan dalam apa jua pun keadaan. Semoga Allah sentiasa meredhai, memelihara dan memandu kita ke jalan yang benar.

The Hardest for The Eldest

Assalamualaikum wbt

I remembered having conversation together with Ummi and the rest of the siblings, and we talked about Ummi's experiences giving birth to all 5 of us.

And the hardest one is me ----- 17 hours of labor!

Allah. Can't imagine the pain that she need to suffer throughout the 17 hours.
I don't think I can if it was me.

MindRant 13

Assalamualaikum wbt

From Raindrops to Catastrophe

Assalamualaikum wbt

Taken from backyard

Do not underestimate how raindrops can cause so much destruction to the Earth.

The flood news is flooding the news feed of Facebook and it is tiring to see all of those. On the other hand, it is so much relieved and joy to see voluntary works and aid missions continuously be channeled to the victims. 

For all the things that He created, there will always be reasons. 

Hikmah.

Perhaps He is giving lessons and wake us up through this major warning. Thus we should all make efforts to pray and to seek the hikmah behind this catastrophe. 

Let's seek forgiveness, and pray that this disaster will be over. Let's pray for the victims to be strong and patient.  

#10 Recipe Tryout: Garlic Cheese Ball

Assalamualaikum wbt

Well, this is an old post. Hihi. You see, I am very interested in food, especially savoury food. The problem is, I am a lazy bump when it comes into entering the kitchen, and thinking of preparing all of the ingredients makes me get even lazier. Plus, 50% of the recipes that I tried, will eventually lead to failure. *sigh*

Nevertheless, I am still into it and my interest towards recipe tryout has not been fading. Thus, I tried this: Garlic Cheese Ball.

This is my recipe and adapted just a little bit from the steam bun recipe.

Bread:
300g wheat flour/ all purpose flour/pau flour
30g garlic spread
15g oregano/Italian herbs 
50g sugar
15g shortening
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons bread softener
1 egg
A pinch of salt
Olives oil/ any cooking oil
Some water

Filling:
Cheddar cheese or Mozarella cheese

The first step of this recipe is to make sure that the yeast is soaked in about 50ml of lukewarm water. Just enough to mix the yeast. Let it sit for around 10 minutes.

While waiting for the yeast mixture to bubble up, mix all of the bread ingredients (except the water) in a bowl. Knead them slowly. I advice you to use a mixer to mix them evenly and get a much consistent texture. But you could always go with the traditional way of mixing them with your bare hands.

After that, add in the yeast mixture to bind all of the ingredients together. Add in the water little by little until a soft texture is obtained. It will be just a little sticky. If water is overly poured, be sure to adjust it with some flour, just enough to get the right texture and reduce the stickiness.

Once the dough is formed, add in some olive oil to smoothen the texture and avoid it from sticking to the wall of the bowl. Then cover the bowl with damped cloth and let it rest for 2 hours.

When the dough has risen, punch the center of the dough to release the air and knead them a little bit more. Form small balls with the dough and fill the center with the cheese. Be sure to seal the dough properly to avoid the cheese from oozing out while frying. Hahaaa

Once the balls are set, heat the oil and fry them until golden brown. Eat it while it is still warm to get the melting cheese in your mouth!

You can always modify the recipe to your favourite preferences by replacing it with cinnamon, curry leaves, or simply plain dough. Happy tryout!