2005: Year of Natural Disasters

The year 2005 will be remembered as the "Year of Natural Disasters".

The year started with the Boxing day tsunami which affected the SE regions. The worst affected areas were Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bandar Aceh.
I can still remember seeing the aerial views of Bandar Aceh before and after the disaster.
It was heartbreaking to see how these people lost everything and had to start and build their lives again.


Then, we had Hurricane Katrina which affected New Orleans and the Gulf coast.
It is ironic that during the G8 summit ( before Hurricane Katrina happened) President Bush did not put global warming as its No 1 priority. We can only hope that recent events may change his way of thinking ( well...we can only hope right??!
At the present time, Hurricane Wilma is sweeping across Florida. ( have u guys ever wondered why all these hurricanes are named after woman's names??? )
Could all this be a result of global warming??

We also had the South Asian Earthquake..which had devastating effects on Kashmiri and nearby rural, mountainous regions. Relief aid is still trying to reach these people. Winter is approaching and because of difficulties in distributing aid some of these people may die of cold and hunger.

There have been many discussions on global warming and what we can do about it. World leaders and normal people like you and me should try to understand why these disasters are occuring more often than ever. I think only through understanding the causes of these disasters will we able to tackle and find ways to prevent it. And possibly save lives.

Let us all try to do our bit to save our planet in any small way we can.

Va Va Voom!

Finally, I have decided to get my dream car...the MINI COOPER.
Some people think that I should get another car..especialy if I'm thinking of bringing it back to KL.

"Kalau nak bawak kereta balik Malaysia bawaklah kereta besar sikit...AP tu sekali je..."

Maybe they're right.. but I have wanted this car since it first came out....and at the end of the day it is my choice...

I love the car and what it represents.....stylish, petite yet powerful...(macam moi??!!! )hehehe...

My first ever car was a Perodua Kelisa...miss that little car.
I remember driving it for the first time in KL.. and coping with crazy drivers,motorists and also pedestrians who decide to step on the road at the very last minute!...

When we moved to Sg Buloh, I had to cope driving behind massive lorries and avoiding those horrible potholes. Poor little Kelisa, it did go through a lot in its short life span with me...partly due to the driving conditions and maybe partly due to my driving skills...hehe...

So now the hunt begins for a car...luckily I have someone to help me...

But if anyone knows any good contacts/dealers who are interested in selling used Mini Coopers..do let me know...
It would be greatly appreciated...!

Va Va Voom..........! :)

Blessed Month of Ramadhan

As a little girl, I never really appreciated the spiritual side of Ramadhan..at the time I thought of it as just a month without food and drink during the day. At the end of the month we would all raya sakan and get lots of duit raya and good food.

It has only been in the last few years I've started to appreciate more of the spiritual sense of this holy month we call Ramadhan.
My most memorable Ramadhan to date was after graduation when I went back home for a year before starting work in UK.

It was my first time spending raya & puasa with the family after a LONG while...
How I miss it..my mom would wake up everyone and make hot drinks for everyone but it was usually just me & my dad who would have something to eat for sahur. In the evenings, we would berbuka bersama and go for tarawih prayers as a family.


When I was back home in Malaysia, throughout the whole month a new English show was being aired on Al-Jazeera for the first time called "Parables of Qur'an ". It was hosted by a guy called Moez Masoud. The idea of the show was simple...every day Moez would discuss a parable from the Qur'an with a group of young men & women.

What made this show interesting was that Moez was not a preacher or ulamak of any kind. He is a normal guy like you and me who have made mistakes in life and may have been on the wrong path at some point of our lives but with Allah's guidance managed to get back to the straight path.

The guests on his shows are open minded & intellectual modern people and in each parable Moez gets each guests to relate the parable from the Qur'an to their own experiences. Audience of the show (myself included) would be able to relate to the experiences shared by the guests in one way or another.

In the modern society that we live in today, there are many young Muslims out there who are lost, feel out of place and do not feel the Qur'an has any relevance to the world we live in today. But Moez's show was able to highlight the fact that the Qur'an and its beautiful verses are as relevant today as it was when it was brought down to us all those thousands of years ago.

The show had an impact on the way I looked at my life and Moez is a true inspiration to all young Muslims. I wish there would be more shows like this . In Malaysia there are many religious shows but I don't know whether their traditional approach is able to inspire young Muslims like Moez's shows can. There should be more shows like his.

Keep up the good work Moez!

Happy Ramadhan Al -Mubarak to all Muslims around the world!

The idea of success...

"Success is the ability to go from one failure from another with no loss of enthusiasm".-Sir Winston Churchill.

Isn't it a great quote? I found it on a famous quotes website.

When I was growing up failure has never been an option..I set myself certain goals and hope to achieve them.

But as I grew older, life isn't as smooth sailing as we hoped it would be and I had to learn how to deal with failures in my life....

Life is full of sacrifices and having to make the best out of the opportunities given to us.

I have gone through some low points in my life where I have felt lost and at times thought I was a failure. During these times I'm blessed to find out who my real friends are and get support from people who are closest to me.

There have also been high points in my life where I feel like I'm on cloud nine. I guess we have to cherish these moments as it makes all that bitter pain beforehand all worthwhile.

I'm sure there will be more high and low points in my life but I guess it all depends on how we handle them.