()*^%$!@*%&%

First, I almost finish that damn ethic essay. Took me too long to finish it as with my extremely short attention span, I would spend 15-30 minutes break per 100 words typed. This entry is also part of my break btw.

Second, it snowed yesterday and I snapped a photo of my car covered in snow and wanted to share it on the blog but unfortunately the photo is too crappy as (1) I took it with my pda-phone that is only 2mega-pixel and no exposure adjustment so the photo is overexposed (2) behind the car is a white shed which meant no resolution of snow.

Third, one of those break I mentioned earlier was spent watching this movie called Hot Fuzz. A cop comedy movie from the makers of Shaun of the Dead and same actors too. Hilarious with interesting plot to boot. I would recommend it for anyone who want to take a breather now and then. Its a bit gory so don't get pissed at me for not warning you beforehand.

Fourth, its )*&@!#)^ freezing now. Heaters is definitely required at the moment, and I am anticipating electricity bill that, for the first time in my years in NZ, to exceed the $100 mark. Just for note, my usual bill averaged out to $50 per month and never exceeded $80 in a single month.

Fifth, Ramadhan is near. Moonsighting in NZ would be on 31st August. I remember when I used to join those back in Dunedin at the scenic Signal Hill. I never saw the moon because it always was cloudy back then.

Sixth, occasionally there will be some random people who would skype me. Normally, I ignore but on the odd occasion, I just chat along just for the fun of it. Its interesting to note that some Malaysian doesn't know what NZ stands for. Need more geography lessons I say. We don't want to fall to the same level as the US do we. Remember Miss South Carolina..

Seventh, happy birthday sis.

Eighth, I edited this entry three times. Too many grammatical error that makes it unbearably embarrassing..

apathy

more
Even more

Ignore last post

This weekend, I have to coop up in my room due to another ethic essay write-up, again. Sigh, and it such a nice day outside. Felt like summer coming early with the sun beaming unchallenged. I've managed to finish tweaking the blog as mentioned. New features:

- Blog roll (titled as 'others' on the sidebar): this is gadget from blogspot where I just add the url of the website/blog I want to follow and it will display the latest updates of that website. The website requires RSS feed for it to work. Apparently, blogspot's blog have these inherently.

- Updated 'labels' list on sidebar

- Improved shoutbox

So, lots of things have been going on this past week. First, Olympics is on and the curtain raiser for EPL, the Charity Shield, finish with Man Utd as the victor again. In the meanwhile, there is that war in Georgia. I just have to mention about this war, mainly because of somebody ironically said this: "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century." Guess who? His name is synonymous for backwoods or shrubs. In Malaysia, this article from The Star came out. I think the medical officers has every right to be aggrieved by the perceived unfairness of payment. If this is not addressed, more and more docs will opt for the lucrative private practice, leaving the public health system understaffed and stressed.

zzzz

My broadband connection is currently a pain in the arse. I could barely do anything with it at the moment, and I've struggled to get through to just post this entry, which you might as guess it, another pointless entry. All I intend to say is, my Internet is down, and I won't be posting anything fancy (not that there ever was) at least till 20th August. You might have notice that the blog layout might change a bit and that is because I did some tweaking just out of boredom but just couldn't finish it off since the aforemention slowness is making me even more bored.

The Sun

Chapter 91: The Sun
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
By the sun and his morning brightness,
by the moon as she follows him,
by the day which reveals it splendour,
by the night when it enshrouds him,
by the heaven and its construction,
by the earth and its spreading,
by the soul and its moulding,
and inspiration with knowledge of wickedness and piety.
Successful is the one who keeps it pure,
and ruined is the one who corrupts it.
In their insolence the people of Thamoud denied the truth,
when their most wretched broke forth.
The Messenger of Allah said to them:
"The she-camel of Allah, let her have her drink".
They cried lies to him, and hamstrung her.
For that sin their Lord let loose His scourge upon themm,
and razed their city to the ground.
He fear not what may follow.

As with chapter 22, Allah starts this chapter with mentions of the natural phenomena He created. These are often repeated throughout the Quran to serve as reminder for mankind of the signs of His existence and His rule. It begs the question - surely life on earth cannot be purely out of coincidence? And that, surely life on earth is then not left to chances or without guidance or control? The chapter moves on to state the basic truth about man - "by the soul and its moulding and inspiration with knowledge of wickedness and piety. Successful is the one who keeps it pure, and ruined is the one who corrupts it." - in that man is just as capable of recognising the good as he is of recognising the evil in everything he encounters. Man is equally capable of directing himself one way or the other. This dual ability is deeply ingrained within him. All external factors, like Divine messages, only serve to awaken his potential and help it take its chosen way. In other words, these factors do not create this potential, which is innate; they only help it develop. In addition to his innate ability, man is equipped with a conscious faculty which determines his line of actions and is, therefore, responsible for his actions and decisions. He who uses this faculty to strengthen his inclinations to what is good and to purify himself and to weaken the evil drive within him will be prosperous and successfull; while he who uses this faculty to surpress the good tendency in him will ruin himself. The chapters followed on with an example of Thamoud people who disobeyed Allah's ruling and was punished by it. In this chapter, only a cursory story of the Thamoud people was given. This example is used multiple time throughout the Qur'an, one is in chapter 89 (the Dawn).

Summarised from Sayyid Qutb's In the Shade of the Qur'an vol.30 translation by M.A. Salahi, A.A. Shamis (1979) Redwood Burn Ltd.

Please note that the Quran is to be read in Arabic as stated in the Quran itself (i dont remember the verse) - as even the best translation cannot provide the meaning of some of the arabic words/style/connotation used in the Quran. This has to be kept in mind when reading translation of the quran.

Random reverie

Its interesting to note that when you're outside your country, you get to feel like an outsider observing what's going on. You get new perspective from the change of background. You get to select what to take in, instead of being immersed in the happenings itself. Additionally, you get inputs from true outsiders and how they see the events pan out. Perhaps, one of the perks doing an OE is you get to stand back, observe from a neutral point of view and piece the pictures together how you see it fit. For years, I have been following Malaysia's progress through The Star newspaper. Out of all the mainstream Malaysian newspaper, The Star was the one which I perceived less biased toward government (or to be frank BN). It is a known fact the Malaysian mainstream media are BN's organ of propaganda. Hence, on occasions, Harakah, Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today would have to be referred to in order see the point of view from the other side when suspicions arise. I do have reservation of some of the reporting of these 'alternative media' as they can be overly negative of the government (when the negativity is inappropriate) and sometime, emotionally charged. However, since the recent election, some articles from The Star where ambiguous in its reporting with apparent concealment of facts and very selective presentation. Hence, these alternative media have been resorted more often. All I'm saying is, check out alternative point of view as well if you haven't done so. This shouldn't be news to most people, just thought I ramble on this thing just in case some people missing out...

y so srs?

The Night

Chapter 92: The Night

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

1. By the night when she lets fall her darkness,

2. by the day in full splendour,

3. by Him who created the male and female:

4. Surely your striving is diverse.

5. For Him who gives and is godfearing

6. and believes in that which is the Best,

7. We shall smooth the way to perfect ease.

8. But as for him who is a miser and deems himself self-sufficient,

9. and calls the Best a lie,

10. We shall smooth his way to affliction.

11. His wealth will not avail him when he falls headlong.

12. It is for Us to give guidance,

13. and to Us belong the End and Begining.

14. I warn you, therefore, of the fiercely blazing fire,

15. in which none shall burn but the most wretched,

16. who denies the truth and turns away.

17. Preserved from it will be the righteous,

18. who gives away his money to purify himself,

19. not in recompense of any favour done him by anyone.

20. He simply seeks the pleasure of His Lord, the Most High.

21. He shall indeed be well content.


Allah started this surrah (chapter) by swearing by the natural phenomena that He has created. This form of oath is used extensively by Allah throughout the Quran to remind mankind of the signs He has created for man to ponder upon the reason for their existence. In this surrah, Allah focuses on two of His signs - the changing of night to day and day to night, and the creation of beings into two complementing creatures - the male and the female. As one contemplates and meditates upon those phenomena one is bound to conclude that there is an able hand which controls the universe and alternates the night and day in that perfect, unfailing accuracy. The same applies to the creation of male and female. Hence, one is also abound to conclude that the hand of Allah also controls the lives of men. He has not created them in vain, and He has not abandon them to lead a life without purpose.
From verse 4 onwards, Allah then continues to describe that humans' actions are diverse and so are the rewards of their respective actions. This examplifies the infinite justice that He has bestowed upon mankind for good is not the same as evil, following the right guidance is unlike wrong-doing, and righteousness is different from corruption. There exist 2 types of people: the first is; who gives and Godfearing and believes in that which is the Best and the other; who is a miser and deems himself self-sufficient and calls the Best a lie. The rewards for these 2 types of people are obviously different: the former - We shall smooth the way to perfect ease while the latter - We shall smooth his way to affliction. The following verse - His wealth will not avail him when he falls headlong - affirmed that even though he can be successful in his worldy life, his success are meaningless and powerless to stop the retribution of his actions later on in his life or the hereafter. In the hereafter, this group suffer the worst affliction ever to be bestowed on man - I warn you, therefore, of the burning fiercely blazing fire, in which none shall burn but the most wretched, who denies the truth and turns away.
The surrah ends with describing the rewards of the righteous - Preserved from it (hell) form the righteous, who gives away his money to purify himself, not in recompense of any favour done him by anyone. He simply seeks the pleasure of his Lord, the most High. He shall indeed be well content.

Summarised from Sayyid Qutb's In the Shade of the Qur'an vol.30 translation by M.A. Salahi, A.A. Shamis (1979) Redwood Burn Ltd.

Why so serious?

You thought this is gonna be an entry on The Dark Knight didn't you? Well no, I'm not going to write anything about that movie that is perhaps the best movie I have ever saw. In fact, what I intend to do is promote the Islamic Awareness Week that is coming near you all over NZ in the week of 4th - 10th August. Christchurch's activities are as follow:

Weekday daily information booth at University of Canterbury.
Daily lecture/video showing at C1 Lecture theatre 1930 - 2030 weekdays.
Mosque Open Day on the 9th August at Masjid An-Nur 101 Deans Avenue form 1100 - 1600.
BBQ at white pavillion, Ilam Field on the 10th August from 1100 - 1600.

Lets put a smile on that face by learning more about Islam. Pencil in your calendar the dates and time to ensure you'll be there. Invite as many non-Muslims as you can. Remember ,the main idea is for them to get to know Islam, not making them convert as hidayah is only the realm of God.

Just couldn't resist...

..posting these:

Don't waste time

Don't waste your time reading my blog, instead read this: Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah. This article from wikipedia is surprisingly true to what I have heard/read from a reliable source. Abu Ubaidah's will:

"Let me give you some advice which will cause you to be on the path of goodness always. Establish Prayer, Fast the month of Ramadan, Give charity, Perform the Hajj and Umrah, Remain united and support one another, Be sincere to your commanders and do not conceal anything from them. Don't let the world destroy you for even if man were to live a thousand years he would still end up with this state that you see me in. Peace be upon you and the mercy of God."

Gaming

So far, my plan to stop gaming is going smoothly. It is now 3 weeks since I last played any computer games. My record was 6 months, so I'm still far away from breaking that record. Just after 3 weeks, I'm starting to see the fruition of my abstinence, I get more schoolwork and clubwork done, and also able to slip in some other activities as well. Gaming doesn't just take your time out, it can also induce violence (see newspaper article below) and death:
"A South Korean man has died after reportedly playing an online computer game for 50 hours with few breaks. The 28-year-old man collapsed after playing the game Starcraft at an Internet cafe in the city of Taegu, according to South Korean authorities. "(more from BBC).

Mt Cook

Nothing much going on here, me with my school work and NZ is pretty much mundane at the moment. But my dear Malaysia, what is happening there? Sodomy allegation on a certain person (again...), road blocks, motion-of-no confidence, retirement plan. Since the recent election result that ended the years of homogeneous power of a certain political party in the Malaysian government, unprecedented events have took place. Given my lack of knowledge on these kind of stuff, I'm just gonna sit on the fence and see how it pans out. I do think the roadblock was an outrageous move and totally upper handed. Some people will point out avoidance of the 13 Mei 1969 tragedy and they might have a point there..Anyway, continuing my winter holiday story: So, after Queenstown, we head on to Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ. We didn't actually hike/drove all the way to the peak, but only stayed overnight at Mt Cook Village that is situated at the foot of the mountain (I guess). YHA hostel was the cheapest accommodation available at the village but it was also the most expensive among the accommodations we stayed throughout our holiday trip (rated at NZD29/night). The village was threadbare as it only had couple of houses there, a resort, a school and no shops whatsoever. At the time of visit, winter hasn't really set in and so, no snow and no skiing and less tourist. It wasn't warm enough to permit tramping as well, so the village was pretty much empty. We only did some walking and enjoy some spectacular scenery, such as the one I captured at the start of this entry. They are glaciers here too but they are mainly for viewing and not as beautiful as Fox or Franz Josef. The road to Mt Village has specatular view as well as evident by the photo below. This is Lake Pukaki.

Queenstown Revisited

Whazzup peeps? I'm here chillin in front of the comp here after that sweet as Teppanyaki dinner. First time tried it and though the food is a tad oily, the cook showmanship and the whole experience was quite good. I've been kept busy this week with exam as I might have alluded before but don't worry, I'm back writing this blog to quench those appetite for another of my entertaining yet meaningless blog entry. :D If you have not scrolled down yet, you should, as I have made some nifty addition to the blog - a FeedJit javascript to keep track of the traffic of this blog. I'm just curious. Anyway, back to my holiday stories and me and my flatmates went to Queenstown after having enough of Wanaka. We took the Crown Range route, a scenic route passing the mountains in between Wanaka and Queenstown:


This road provide access to Cardrona, a ski resort, which I have never been actually. At Queenstown, we stayed two nights to enjoy 'luging', bungiing and jet-boating. There's heaps of things to do here but you sure have to have a bank balance to match. This is not an exhaustive list but other stuffs to do here are paragliding, ski/snowboarding, lake cruise, and skydiving. Here are some panoramic view of Queenstown taken from Queenstown Gondola and Luge Ride:

The lake shown in the photo above is Lake Wakatipu and this is where Lingam went on holiday.

Wanaka Revisited

In a couple of hours, I'm going to try to go to bed and hope I could actually sleep and then wake up for an 8-o'clock start tomorrow. It's a daunting task given I've spent the later part of my holidays being a nocturnal, only sleepin after fajr and waking up just before Asr. This is in contrast to how I spent the early part of the holiday, where I would dose off before 11pm out of sheer tiredness and would then wake up refreshed next morning and not dose off after Fajr. Just digressing here, I've read somewhere that the hadith saying it's makhruh to sleep after Fajr is dhaif. Can anybody verify that fact? However, that early part of holiday was spent traveling, and after conquering the glacier, I went down for a quick visit of Wanaka. Just 4 hours drive from Franz Josef and passing the scenic Lake Hawea, Wanaka is one of the top tourist destination in NZ, mainly for it's winter activity attraction. We went there for sight seeing and only went walking on Mt Iron, a 2-hour walk just on the outskirt of Wanaka. It's more of a pit-stop for us before heading to Queenstown. Winter hasn't really kicked in yet when we enter and so no snow-capped mountains yet. There were lots of fog though. Here are some panoramic photo I've come up with from that walk on Mt Iron:

I haven't really develop my panoramic photo skill yet, hence the narrow slit appearance of these photos. Anyway, on a totally unrelated note, I've spent the last few hours of my holiday reading this hilarious website: . As far as I can remember (not that far) I did promote this website a few years ago in my blog. It now certainly has upgraded and contain some new hilarious articles. Should be good comic relief for those who was or is involved in MSA (Muslim Student Association) or anybody for that matter.

West Coast Revisited

A month plus a week on and I am back writing a nonsense entry for this totally random blog of mine. A quick update of what has happen: school --> assignment --> test --> more test --> holiday (yeay) --> NOW: holiday almost ending. Despite the glamour of Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy, I'm not going to delve much into my medical student experience but I just wanted to recount the holiday I've spent. First up, was 'West Coast Revisited'. Perhaps, some of my loyal reader out there remembered my brief mention of my trip to the West Coast last year, so this year I returned. Why? To conquer the glaciers, the Franz Josef Glaciers to be exact. Franz Josef glacier are just one of the several glaciers situated at NZ West Coast (other notable glaciers - Fox Glacier, and Haast Glacier). A glacier is a large, slow-moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity.[1] What unique about this glacier is that it is situated between rain-forest! It just happen that the Southern Alps, a mountainous range running longitudinally in the middle of NZ South Island, hold up rain cloud from the Tasman Sea and cause the area to experience heavy rainfall and subsequent fall in temperature (esp at the valleys) help maintained the glaciers from melting away. Conquering is a bit hyperbolic I must say, as I only took a half day guided tour. Though rated as medium fitness intensity, it certainly was a light workout as during the tour, we stop a lot to allow our guides pike away ice to make steps. The tour took us through the rain-forest surrounding the glacier before proceeding to hike up the glacier itself. Special footwear (Spikes) was provided. Once there, the glacier is certainly magnificent. The ice are bluish in colour as ice absorbs all light except blue colour. The ice cubes you see in your fridges are white because it contain lots of air while these glaciers are compacted ice. Other activities on the glacier that could be done are heli ride and ice climbing. Wiki article on Franz Josef glacier is here. Anyway, here are some of my personal pics for sharing. Up top is me at the glacier it self, in between some icy valley there. Bottom photo: Top - the guide. The temperature is pretty warm, but the ice are cold. The guide was piking all day, thats why he's just in his short-sleeve shirt compared to us who are all in blue jackets. Bottom - More photo of the glacier and the group we were in.

Obesity Cured!

Obesity is up there among the most problematic public health problems that plagued most parts of the world now. Complications related to obesity is plenty - sleep apnoea, increased risk diabetes, IHD, osteoarthritis, almost virtually every disease there is. OK, a bit hyperbolic there, but the point is it is a HUGE problem. (see what I did there). The prevalence of obesity and overweight is as follow:
US: (2004) = 116 million people or 64.5% of population
China: (2004) = 27.3% of population ("reference")
MYS: (2008) = 50% of population (from my memory of a result from a recent public health survey. I can't be bothered to find a 'proper' reference)

But there is a cure. And it's all natural so it must be good for you:

weirdo part 2

---continued from part 1: It shocked me a bit and caused me to paused for a while. My mate, who had started solah (formal prayer) earlier, just finished his solah and was then approached by the fella. They started discussing and even though I was supposed to concentrate on my solah, I just couldn't contain myself from peeping in. In a nutshell, that guy said that we should seek Jesus as our saviour, Jesus would save us from hell and that he was a prophet. wtf. Not the first two, but the last part, he's a prophet? lmao. When I finished my prayer, I totally ignored him and left my mate there. hahaha. Don't worry, nothing happened to my mate as he also quickly end the conversation and excused himself. That night, we stayed away from the room and only return to sleep at the dorm. That guy was kinda huge, a Maori, I guess (think of Jonah Lomu of the All Blacks..) We checked out the next day and never had anymore conversation with that guy. I never regretted not talking to him anyway. It would just be pointless to get your point across to someone who clearly thinks himself as a prophet. This guy was staying at a backpacker, and by the looks of his stuffs and setup, he's there for long term. In addition, aside from us, he didn't talk much to anyone else even though clearly most people in that backpacker are not Christians. So, how can this guy be a prophet?
On a totally unrelated note, I got the colds again...sigh. This should be my last post for the week, as I need to get cracking for a test on Friday. I will also be on-call on Thursday and trying to get a patient for a case report. Cheerios. Here are some funny photo with bad English (worse than mine).

minah rempit

Stolen from pixdaus.com

weirdo

Ironman was good but not great. At least it wasn't a waste of money. On a totally unrelated note, in my North Island travels that I chronicled couple of months ago in this blog, I came across this weirdo at Whakatane. Me and my travelling companion checked in at backpackers once arrived at Whakatane and as what normal Muslim would do, we stop by and pray our daytime prayers before continuing travelling. So we prayed at our dorm room and there was this guy who was sitting on his bed and as soon as I started praying that guy went on to say out aloud "O Jesus, please give guidance to this man, blablabla..." --- to be continued. I'm knackered today. Before I dose off, these are some of Bizarro comics that for Malaysians out there might be familiar with if you read The Star comic section. (Mai - it's Bizarro not 'gonzo' as I have mentioned before but I did get the last syllable right, sort of...).