Catching Up with an 'old' friend

Shal

Last week, Jill and I met up with an old friend for dinner. Dulu Shal and I were very close. Almost everyday jumpa, kalau weekend mesti keluar together. Tapi the past 2 years tak berapa la. Sibuk dengan life masing-masing. Baru ni dia ajak jumpa, so pegi je la....

Jumpa kat The Curve, tapi dia drive we all pergi Bora Asmara dekat Kg Sg Penchala. (10 mins drive fr Curve). I've never been to Bora Ombak, but i assume its related. Jill and Shal had dinner, but i only had juice, sebab i had lunch at 5pm...kenyang lagi.

All the pics below courtesy of Jill

The Entrance

Blogger yang gigih

The Menu

Resident Band

House specialty: Nasi goreng mak bonda..it comes with ikan goreng on top

Anne minum je;-)

dessert pisang goreng with honey and cocunut

Jill control ayu

Konsert 6 Akademi Fantasia 6

The KEJUTAN

Khai & Rosma bersanding….sweet la to see them all married now. I’ve been following AF since AF1, so memang nostalgic especially the VT dari AF1 tu. They should have gotten the teachers fr AF1 to renjis mcm Cikgu Fati, Adnan & Linda. Kalau minimise the Mila & AC bantering , I’m sure there was enough time. Anyway, kalau Aznil ada lagi best…

Video klip selingan – cute la Alycia tu. Better than clips bodoh2 last concert. At least this time it has humour. But too much of a good things is never good. It carried on throughout the concert, a bit much.

The CONCERT

STANLY - Kata

Its time to go home. In fact he should have been out already. Is it just me or from the moment Stanly introduce his tagline, its irritating already. He has to 'overdo' everything. Its amazing Stanly has opinions about everybody's performance (friday's diari) but failed miserably himself. Sapalah dok vote Stanly ni....spare him the suffering, and let him go home.

ALIF – Ketahuan

OK vocals but not a spectacular performance. Enough to survive another week. What more with potential love interest played up in the diaries and concert, i have a feeling Alif will get popular votes to send him to the finals. He is a nice guy and you dont have much reason to hate him. Any song that Alif sings is starting to sound the same to me. Boring.


NADIA – Rama rama

Not one of her best performance. She didn’t like the song and it shows. Anyway, memandangkan competition yang tak seberapa , Nadia is still final concert material. She did give a more rock-ish feel to the song, and she deserve credit for that originality. Nadia is only 18, and she's handling her self so well that ramai yang lupa how good she is despite her young age.


TOI – Tak Bisakah

Toi forgot his lyrics – the first line, and that spoiled it for him. It’s a good idea to have him stand with the guitar. And dalam Diari Cikgu Siti dah pesan jangan senyum. But the vocals are just not good enough. Cikgu Adnan dah sound subtle baaaaeeeekkk punya, tau main instrument tapi nyanyi sumbang. However, i think this is Toi's personal best (which is BAD). Please send Toi home along with Stanly.

NUBHAN – Generasiku

I rasa sungguh tak sesuai the agogo back up dancers tu dgn lagu ni. His confidence level has increased from previous weeks I think. But the song is challenging because of the fast tempo, and he couldn’t keep up. The thing with Nubhan, samala dengan Saida dulu. People anticipated something special from you, and now they are tired of waiting. Having a nice tone is not good enough.

STACY – Don’t Speak



She’s the best this season. I want Stacy to be Juara AF6. Cikgu Adnan pun dah approve tu…”see you in the final”. Tapi baju ntah apa apa la. I'm not really fond of over-dramatised performances, but i did enjoy the whole standing on the kerusi and sepak sepak cushions action. Well done Stacy. My pick for the 6th concert.

RIZ – Seribu Tahun

Rambut tu apesal teruk sgt tu? And jacket ala – ala zaman Bintang RTM 80an. Sapelah yg dok jerit jerit hysteria untuk Riz tu. Ok je for me his performance this week. Trying too hard I thought on the improvisation. I liked his rendition of the Anuar Zain song better. I like this song by Imran Ajmain, and i didnt like Riz's version.


RINA – Ular

Kurang ummmphhh la Mama. This is a new song yang tengah HOT. susah la nak compete with Kak Nita. Although i dont think Rina deserve to go out because she was not nearly as bad as Stanly and Toi

Other Observations
Kenapa this year dah tak ada student back up vocals, and back up dance student lain. It used to be one the things that set AF apart from other singing competition. That esprit de corp. Lagu bonus pun dah tak de ke…..And why are the students miming Menuju Puncak. Some dont even bother miming....tak puas hati betul.

Credit: Pictures from Astro website

Friday Reflections

SEJARAH & FADHILAT AYAT KURSI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ayat ini diturunkan setelah hijrah. Semasa penurunannya ia telah diiringi oleh beribu-ribu malaikat kerana kehebatan dan kemuliaannya. Syaitan dan iblis juga menjadi gempar kerana adanya satu perintang dalam perjuangan mereka. Rasullah s.a.w. dengan segera memerintahkan Zaid b Tsabit menulis serta menyebarkannya.

*Sesiapa yang membaca ayat Kursi dengan khusyuk setiap kali selepas sembahyang fardhu, setiap pagi dan petang setiap kali keluar masuk rumah atau hendak musafir, InsyaAllah akan terpeliharalah dirinya dari godaan syaitan, kejahatan manusia, binatang buas yang akan memudaratkan dirinya bahkan keluarga, anak-anak, harta bendanya juga akan terpelihara dengan izin Allah s.w.t.

*Mengikut keterangan dari kitab”Asraarul Mufidah” sesiapa mengamalkan membacanya setiap hari sebanyak 18 kali maka akan dibukakan dadanya dengan berbagai hikmah, dimurahkan rezekinya, dinaikkan darjatnya dan diberikannya pengaruh sehingga semua orang akan menghormatinya serta terpelihara ia dari segala bencana dengan izin Allah.

*Syeikh Abu Abbas ada menerangkan, siapa yang membacanya sebanyak 50 kali lalu ditiupkannya pada air hujan kemudian diminumnya, InsyaAllah Allah akan mencerdaskan akal fikirannya serta memudahkannya menerima ilmu pengetahuan.

Fadhilat Ayat Al-Kursi mengikut Hadis-Hadis Rasullullah s.a.w. bersabda bermaksud:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*”Sesiapa pulang ke rumahnya serta membaca ayat Kursi, Allah hilangkan segala kefakiran di depan matanya.

*”Umatku yang membaca ayat Kursi 12 kali pada pagi Jumaat, kemudian berwuduk dan sembahyang sunat dua rakaat, Allah memeliharanya daripada kejahatan syaitan dan kejahatan pembesar.

*” Orang yang selalu membaca ayat Kursi dicintai dan dipelihara Allah sebagaimana DIA memelihara Nabi Muhammad. Mereka yang beramal dengan bacaan ayat Kursi akan mendapat pertolongan serta perlindungan Allah daripada gangguan serta hasutan syaitan.

*Pengamal ayat Kursi juga, dengan izin Allah, akan terhindar daripada pencerobohan pencuri.

*Ayat Kursi menjadi benteng yang kuat menyekat pencuri daripada memasuki rumah. Mengamalkan bacaan ayat Kursi juga akan memberikan keselamatan ketika dalam perjalanannya.

*Ayat Kursi yang dibaca dengan penuh khusyuk, Insya-Allah, boleh menyebabkan syaitan dan jin terbakar.

*Jika anda berpindah ke rumah baru maka pada malam pertama anda menduduki rumah itu eloklah anda membaca ayat Kursi 100 kali, insya-Allah mudah-mudahan anda sekeluarga terhindar daripada gangguan lahir dan batin.

*Barang siapa membaca ayat Al-Kursi apabila berbaring di tempat tidurnya, Allah mewakilkan 2 orang Malaikat memeliharanya hingga subuh.

*Barang siapa membaca ayat Al-Kursi di akhir setiap sembahyang Fardhu, ia akan berada dalam lindungan Allah hingga sembahyang yang lain.

*Barang siapa membaca ayat Al-Kursi di akhir tiap sembahyang, tidak menegah akan dia daripada masuk syurga kecuali maut, dan barang siapa membacanya ketika hendak tidur, Allah memelihara akan dia ke atas rumahnya, rumah jirannya & ahli rumah2 di sekitarnya.

*Barang siapa membaca ayat Al-Kursi diakhir tiap-tiap sembahyang Fardhu, Allah menganugerahkan dia hati-hati orang yang bersyukur perbuatan2 orang yang benar, pahala nabi2 juga Allah melimpahkan padanya rahmat.

*Barang siapa membaca ayat Al-Kursi sebelum keluar rumahnya, maka Allah mengutuskan 70,000 Malaikat kepadanya, mereka semua memohon keampunan dan mendoakan baginya.

*Barang siapa membaca ayat Al-Kursi di akhir sembahyang Allah azza wajalla akan mengendalikan pengambilan rohnya dan ia adalah seperti orang yang berperang bersama nabi Allah sehingga mati syahid.

*Barang siapa yang membaca ayat al-Kursi ketika dalam kesempitan nescaya Allah berkenan memberi pertolongan kepadanya

Wallahua'lam

Dari Abdullah bin ‘Amr r.a. , Rasullullah s.a.w. bersabda,
“SAMPAIKANLAH PESANKU BIARPUN SATU AYAT… “

More of Tipah Tertipu (UPDATED)

Latest UPDATE post meeting

They offer 50% je. Lagi nak suruh sign surat cakap tak akan claim apa-apa lagi and take no further actions against them. Memangla better than nothing, tapi kalau orang lain boleh dapat 80-90% kenapa i 50% je. Rasa dia orang ni nak try tengok je, test water. Takkan kena bawak bouncer baru dapat full.
So i suruh the Branch Manager tu pegi cakap kat Boss dia i want more. Sorang kakak ni dah kasi I number big Boss yg decision maker ni....dok fikir nak call dia direct or let the branch handle dulu. Ke nak tulis surat lagi....surat i yang lepas nampaknya successful gertak dia orang sikit. Hmmmm. :(

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sebelum balik kampung hari tu, i sent 2 letters kat company penipu tu atas nasihat pegawai KPDN. Masa saya kat kampung dapat call. Dia orang ni gertak sikit baru dengar suara. Anyway, tukang call tu i dah gaduh dengan dia hari tu sebab dia cakap dgn i mcm i bodoh. Kali ni bukan main lembut dia cakap "Boss I nak jumpa u." Bila i tanya apa purpose of the meeting, dia cakap tak tahu. I tanya siapa nama Manager you yang nak jumpa i....tak nak bagi tau jugak, tak sure boss mana konon.

Anyway, today is the meeting day. Later in the afternoon. To be honest i feel scared and nervous. I'm dragging Jill along takut kalau sorang2 tak tau apa nak jadi. Dah dengar cerita some victims has got their money back, ada dapat semua, ada dapat 80%...ikut suka dia orang je.

Yang dapat penuh tu bawak geng...bawak big men to takutkan diaorang sikit. Setakat i dengan Jill ni takut dia orang buat tak heran je. Tapi malas nak susahkan kawan2 la, orang lain pun kerja kan. Tawakkal je lah. I hope they are calling me to settle. Tapi tak boleh nak harap sangat....these people have many tricks up their sleeve.

Nanti malam i'll update what happens.

Flashback: Tak sia-sia doa you all.......

Kat mana nak mula.....oh yes meeting selasa lepas kat sini.



Hahaha, kelakar kan. Meeting kat Jusco. Dah client nak jumpa kat situ, pergi je lah. Jauh jugak Aeon Bukit Tinggi tu. Lunch meeting kat Pizza Hut, mula2 client suggest lunch kat Kayu Nasi Kandar...Jill dah marah, nak discuss apa kat tempat mcm tu kan. Pizza hut ok la sikit. Customer is always right kan (walaupon...) The people i met were my former boss, and former colleague. While i as much as possible tak berapa nak suka buat project kat former employer, beggars cant be choosy kan. Dah dia orang call me - i ambik positive je la. I am grateful for the opportunity, trust and confidence given. Bukan apa, tak nak ada yang salah anggap i am given favors by certain people because we are friends.

Anyway, i am pleased to say the outcome of the meeting is positive. Decision making dia orang cepat sebab they know what they want. Nak kata project besar besaran tu takla. Its like a combination of small projects, and some workshops and training.

We are finalising the paper work so Insyaallah, kalau all goes as planned May and June ni Jill and I will have our hands full. Dah ada satu project kecik ni yang dah sign agreement and dah mula pun. (Alhamdullilah, thanks you all yang doakan Anne, and bagi semangat. I doakan you all jugak,k.)

Selalulah Jill & I lepak Bukit Tinggi kalau jadi project ni. Lepas meeting sempat round-round, best jugak baju baju kat situ. Thank to Miss Nazla yang kasi direction hari tu.


Office client ni sebenarnya kat Pulau Indah. (masa i kerja kat company ni dulu they havent moved to Pulau Indah) Jauuuuuuhhhhhhh woooo. Semalam i pergi for the first time, sikit lagi nak masuk laut dah. Kalau you all pernah ke Star Cruise Terminal, lebih jauh lagi. I have to say the new office is a very impressive building. Masa i kerja dulu tak lawa pun office dia.



Semalam pegi meeting sorang2 je sebab Jill bercuti kat KK. (sampai hati dia kan....hehehe, takpe dia balik nanti kena kerja tak hengat). Bahaya betul driving kat situ, the picture below is the view in my side mirror....tersepit di celah heavy vehicles yang bawak lori mcm bawak kancil je. Scary ok! Nama je Pulau Indah, kat mana yang indah tu belum nampak lagi..


Seram dan risau because semua client ni nak cepat. Tanganku ada dua je, kepala satu. Senyum je lah. Masa takde project berdoa all the time, Tuhan dah kasi tak boleh complain kan. Cuma i'm scared to overpromise nanti tak boleh deliver.

Selain dari project ni, i also have a training programme next month on May 13. Bagus punya date kan:-(...takpela, i tak superstitious pun. Ini lagi satu....client wants a 2 day programme buat satu hari. Nak ajar Malaysian Labour Law to expatriates. Belum prepare lagi ni!!!!!!

Kerja siang malam la this week.

Apa lagi eh....tu je la updates on work yang i boleh share. Please do not salah anggap nak riak ke apa sebab dapat job....masa i tengah susah, selalu membebel bebel kat sini, you all sudi baca and bagi comments, support semua...so bila ada potentially good news, i just want to share with you all and also satu hari i can look back at this as a diary of my struggles.

p/s - update kes tipah tertipu another posting la ye.

Earth Day 2008, 22nd April

Let's do something for the Earth today.

I resolve not to wash my car for the next one month. :-)

I'm Back!!!!!!

I arrived this afternoon...alhamdullilah. Thanks to all who wished for my safe journey.

Penat la, nanti la update cerita cerita on my project development, on kes tipah tertipu. Review Konsert AF pun tak tau bila because i only watched a bit here, a bit there.

Have a good week ahead everyone. I'm gonna have a really challenging week ahead.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Balik Kg

Driving balik kampung this morning to send my Mom's new maid, replacement for Sally.

If i can find the time, i'll post on yesterday's meeting soon.

Otherwise, i'll be back Sunday.

Paksa Diri

Hari ini dan semalam, i paksa diri i buat benda benda yang i sejujur jujurnya takde mood nak buat. Boring stuff like income tax e-filing, and some follow up on kes tipah tertipu...(yg dah lama baca blog ni dah tau kan kes tu) - so i made some phone calls to KPDN, Putrajaya, then email the support group yang tengah kumpul data, then tulis surat lagi kat company penipu tu, pergi post office mail them....macam buang masa je sebenarnya tapi since ada orang yang dah dapat duit balik, cuba je.

I feels better lepas dah buat semua tu, at least cuba. Kalau tangguh2 tak tau sampai bila. Baru je nak lega, credit card dah call suruh start bayar. Bayar for nothing...buta buta je. My appeal to the banks that the transaction is a fraud kena reject. Anyway, benda dah jadi kena tanggung jugak. I can only doa Tuhan tunjuk jalan keluar out of this mess. Insyallah.

On a happier note, tengah ketandusan job ni....hari ni dapat email request for quotation. Sebenarnya Jill & I dah takde perasaan nak hantar2 proposal and quotation ni. Mintak2 pastu diam je. Tapi Company ni was where i started my career dulu. Kira kawan-kawan la. Projek kecik-kecik pun kitaorang terima je. And esok ada meeting to discuss apa dia orang nak. You all doakan i boleh? Maybe berkat doa uolls dapat projek baik punya...:-)

Konsert 4 Akademi Fantasia 6

The yo-yo!! Hip hop intro….what’s up with that.Its not a theme week, so I didn’t quiet get it…hmmm…I suppose production is trying really hard to ‘meriahkan konsert AF6 yg still half baked ni. Didn’t work for me tho.

Here goes....my humble opinion of last nite's concert, where nobody was expecting much. Not even this man.

Faisal: Joget Bunga Melati (Halil Chik)
Before he sang, the VT was shown to remind the audience to brace themselves for potentially horrendous vocals. (Like we need reminding). But sometimes, you hit rock bottom there’s no where to go but up.

With the joget number, and the back up dancers…it started out with potential. I thot Faisal may just pull this off. Then I got bored. He could at least have joget a bit more to make it at least visually interesting. It was not his worst vocal performance in my opinion, but too little too late. And the voters gave up on you last week already.

Toi : Laukku Cukup Masin (Spider)
With looks not his best point, and mediocre vocals…Toi really need that one performance to keep his place in the Akademi. Being a world class angklung player apparently is an insignificant trivia, and not scoring him any brownie points with the voters.

It was just forgettable, pretentious and Toi can start packing.

If not for all the hype about Faisal being ‘buta bunyi’, Toi is my next choice to boot out.

Alif: Menghapus Jejakmu (Peterpan)
Alif showed potential vocally at Konsert 3. But the tukar lagu incident, and him being hard on himself for not being able to nyanyi lagu omputeh….no one is expecting much from Alif this time around. We all saw he’s struggling in the Diari kan.

This number I would have thot would be a bonus to any student, sing-a-long, clap-a-long kinda song. But Alif made it so boring. I still think he has a nice tone to his voice, but nyanyi macam takde perasaan and takde energy.

Having said that I would like to see Alif brush off this bad week, and shine because he has potential.

Saida: Hati Kama (Siti Nurhaliza/ Noraniza Idris)
A potentially meriah performance, with back-up dancers and all. One of my fav Siti songs. Ingatkan Siti yang nak naik nyanyi. Kak Ani rupanya.

She still seemed too conscious and I would have thot having a duet partner would make her more brave to go all out. Like I’ve repeated in every concert review, again we are hearing glimpses of good vocals. It’s a difficult song no doubt, with banyak lenggok lenggok that only Siti can pull off perfectly. I thot she was slurring at many of those lines.

It’s been 4 weeks, and glimpses of good vocals are not enough to carry you through Saida. Penat la tunggu…

Stanly: Kasih Tercipta (Faizal Tahir)
This song…..one of my favourite ballad for 2007 – both Faizal Tahir and Bob’s version. And even before Stanly nyanyi, I know I’m gonna hate him for hancurkan lagu ni.

It started out ok, baru nak suka he went ‘tora’…part ‘lara’….’cinta’….dah la lupa lirik ‘lalalala berganti pedih’. A very emotional song, but he seemed focus on technicalities konon nak campur2 classical elements…which failed miserably. It was pure torture to watch and listen.

Given Toi is the more bearable character in Diari, maybe Stanly can go home next week. I doubt so la with his East M’sian loyal supporters

Rina: Terbang Helang (Sharifah Aini)
To her credit, mama is always confident and relaxed. Kesian dia pakai gospel singers robe in bright yellow. After kena tegur dgn pengetua, ni ke Jasmi’s interpretation of what a 44 yr old should look like????

It was just average for me.

Nadia: Mengapa Dirindu (Saloma)

I am liking her vocals more and more each week. Nadia is one of them that is learning and improving. Maybe keras sikit lenggok dia for this traditional number, but that is forgiven because the rest were so pitiful. Best performance of the night.

Nubhan: Cinta Hampa (D’Lloyd)
It was a relieve to hear that soothing tone again after he destroyed Summer of 69 last week. But his body movement were just keras and unnatural, and that corny thing with Ogy, posing2 atas stage…..aiyooooooo…..keliruuuu ok!

The second half of the song sounded really sumbang to me.

I don’t see any improvements in his vocals. Patutla pengetua mengamuk …balik asal! He came to the Akademi with that nice tone, and after 4 weeks takkan sama je.

Adlin kata Robocop yg pandai menyanyi, pastu habis bateri….hahahaha. Best. (post lucah lagi….hahaha)

Riz: Marabahaya (Pop Shuvit)
An energetic performance from Riz, and the choreography and back up dancers helped to spice up his act. Vocally…the melody part, he sang ok..but rap is not his thing. Towards the end he just ran out of gas.

Betul jugak Ogy cakap, need not be interpreted as lagu untuk car racing je.

Stacy: Cinta Terhalang (lagu sendiri)
A supposedly historic performance, never before a student sang a new song at the 4th concert. I have not warmed up to the song yet. Ok ok jer. Credit to Stacy for being able to carry the song…but I found her breathing so audible in between lines that I found it distracting. Comparative to other students, Stacy dahsyat!...but that wont be a fair judgment kan.

Menuju Puncak.....were they miming again? This batch macam tak suka je lagu ni. I dont know why. This should be their song...of their struggles together...and every concert, the last time they sing and dance together as the final 11,10,9...and so on. For someone who watched this show dah masuk 6 season ni, i feel Sad la...

Considering dah sebulan budak2 ni dalam Akademi, with the dream team of Tenaga Pengajar…..the entire Konsert is far far below expectations.

Cheering up

Tengah2 emo and stressed out pasal kerja and life in general, its nice to get some cheering up. It doesnt solve all my problems, but at least a relieve to have a good laugh with good friends. An unexpected lunch with my ex-colleagues who happened to drop by The Curve semalam.

Me and Sue Ann
( i was her boss dulu, now we are good buddies:-))

Me and Mages

(our team was mostly girls, this is one of the only THORNS -

he's a nice guy laa...cuma naughty je)

Me and Seema
(She's the youngest in our team, tapi i rasa dia macam BIG SIS
Her big day is coming up soon, you look radiant gal!)

About one year ago, we had my farewell when i left the team...one year later dapat prezzie lagi...hahaha.. Tiap2 tahun kasi i hadiah pun ok guys:-)

Lepas lunch, Jill & I 'masuk office' kat GJ as usual. Then i went home all EMO all over again...:-(

Strange Day

Sekejap happy - Sekejap sedih

Sekejap semangat - Sekejap down

Sekejap marah - Sekejap simpati

Sekejap rajin - Sekejap malas

Letih la macam ni. So emo

A Talllllllllllllllllllllllllll Order

Picture taken: Dec 2005.
Location: An Indian restaurant, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain

i was going thru my Pictures folder and found this old picture from a few years back. I ordered a plain paper thosai, and when the order came - got the shock of my life!!!!

Little Miss Happy

Sometimes it takes just a small, simple gesture to make someone happy.

Today a THANK YOU from someone sent me to the moon and back.

Dunk It

Pick a good one

Dunk It

Yummmmmsss

When was the last time you Dunk IT??????

Konsert 3 Akademi Fantasia 6

So this is the “rock kapak” week. Personally I don’t like themed weeks. I prefer the variety of the usual non-themed concerts. Anyway, all the kids rocked it out last nite (whatever their interpretation of rock is/is not).

What’s with the 2 ‘model’ in red pegang telephone and tarik luggage tu?????Perlu ke?

The critics were pretty interesting last nite. Ning is more bold with her comments, and I like the parts she openly disagreed with Ogy punya komen yg tah ape ape. Good to have Adlin back as well for blunt honesty.

Here are my views of last nite’ fare.

STACY - Pelesit Kota (Search)
Stacy can sing and we figured that out already. Ballads or Rock, Stacy can deal with it. Personally, I don’t really get what this song is about so I don’t know about her interpretation. She was just jumping about, and it didn’t seem to affect her vocals. She’s definitely final concert material.

FAISAL – Sentuhan Kecundang (Ekamatra)
Faisal oh Faisal….you got a major break last week, but that was as good as it gets. Starting note dah ‘tora’…off key, off pitch…we are just waiting for you to get off the stage man. Sorry.
(suka Adlin masa komen Faisal…)

NADIA – Total Eclipse of The Heart (Bonnie Tyler)
Nadia ‘tebus’ her mistake last week singing Umbrella. Her big voice suited this song well, and the diction and pronounciation which I termed as ‘weird’ last 2 weeks improved. Stanly did good too. One of my favourite performances of the nite.


ALIF – Kamelia (Sweet Charity)
This is Alif’s best performance so far. Dah boleh dengar suara dia yang agak macho. It wasn’t perfect but you can see him putting his whole heart into the performance. Berair mata dia. Good job Alif. Tapi betul jugak komen Adlin…Alif sang like a very, very angry lover at times….hehe. It’ll be interesting to see Alif’s development, and I think he’s starting to get more girls voting for him as he’s opening up more in the Diari.


LUFYA – Tika & Saat Ini (Medicine)
I just see Purple. Nothing wrong with purple but what’s with the baju la Kesian pulak kat si Lufya ni ….it looked like upholstery material to me.. Her singing and performance seemed forced.

NAIM – Opera Hidup (Wings)
3 concerts and nothing to show for, Naim. Time to go home.

STANLY – Patahnya Sayap Malam (Massa)
Seksa dengar Stanly nyanyi. After the Josh Groban song, its been a downward spiral for Stanly…can he sing anything else but classical/tenor type melodies..? On the high notes, I cringgge…like Ogy sd, ‘scary’!

SAIDA – Sepi Sekuntum Mawar Merah (Ella)
Still having confidence issues. Let it go girl, let it go. It was not too bad, but Saida need to do herself and her many supporters justice pretty soon. It’s been 3 weeks and she has not shine. We are only hearing glimpses of her wonderful vocals and I am so hoping for that one killer performance. Hopefully there will be one before she gets booted out.

NUBHAN – Summer of ’69 (Bryan Adams)
This is my all time Bryan Adam favourite. Hancur Nubhan. It’s the language problem more than anything else, I don’t think he can appreciate the story behind the song. The lyrics – he mumble through many of the lines, pronunciation was really bad. The only positive thing he can take away is he got through the compulsory English number week (every student kena nyanyi 1 lagu omputeh kan), so no more excuses after this.

RIZ – Keunggulan Cinta (BPR)
Another decent performance from Riz. I predict that Riz punya downfall kat Akademi (if there is gonna be one) will be his personality issue dalam Diari, and not his vocals.

TOI – C.I.N.T.A (XPDC)
I never liked this song, and Toi just reminded me how much I hated it. Sedapke suara Toi ni in the first place???…someone help me out here..


RINA – Enter Sandman (Metallica)

Mama you rocccckkkkkkkkk!!!!. She brought the house down, such energy…walaupun sepatah haram I tak faham apa dia nyanyi. Most happening performance of this night.

THE RESULTS

Malaysia voted – Naim & Lufya – out.

My top 3 pick of the concert – 1.Nadia 2.Rina 3. Tie between Alif/Stacy/Riz.

Random pictures

Lama tak post pictures....lama tak go snappy snappy sangat pun. I think since i cut my hair (trust me its really bad), malas nak ambik gambar. anyway, ini je pics yang i ambik last week...

Cute tak apron i...yes, since the bad haircut i only take headless pictures:-(

See that foam on my latte...a heart from the barista...see Jill's chai latte..no heart. Jill wasnt pleased..heheh

Karipap IKEA dengan kopi memang sedap

This is Sally, my mum's maid. Semalam Abang & I sent her off to Port Klang, she's going home for good.

Friday Ponderings

I received this in my email this morning. Thot it would be good to share it with all my fellow muslim bloggers ....may we all benefit from it on this blessed friday, Insyaallah.
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JANGAN MENGELUH ........... Kita selalu Bertanya....................dan Al-Quran sudah menjawabnya.................

KITA BERTANYA : KENAPA AKU DIUJI?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Apakah manusia itu mengira bahawa mereka dibiarkan saja mengatakan; "Kami telah beriman," ("I am full of faith to Allah") sedangkan mereka tidak diuji? Dan sesungguhnya Kami telah menguji org2 yg sebelum mereka, maka sesungguhnya Allah mengetahui org2 yg benar dan, sesungguhnya Dia mengetahui org2 yg dusta."
-Surah Al-Ankabut ayat 2-3

KITA BERTANYA : KENAPA AKU TAK DAPAT APA YG AKU IDAM-IDAMKAN?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Boleh jadi kamu membenci sesua tu padahal ia amat baik bagimu, dan boleh jadi pula kamu menyukai sesuatu, padahal ia amat buruk bagimu, Allah mengetahui sedang kamu tidak mengetahui."
- Surah Al-Baqarah ayat 216

KITA BERTANYA : KENAPA UJIAN SEBERAT INI?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Allah tidak membebani seseorang itu melainkan sesuai dengan kesanggupannya."
- Surah Al-Baqarah ayat 286

KITA BERTANYA : KENAPA RASA FRUST?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Jgnlah kamu bersikap lemah, dan jgnlah pula kamu bersedih hati, padahal kamulah org2 yg paling tinggi darjatnya, jika kamu org2 yg beriman."
- Surah Al-Imran ayat 139

KITA BERTANYA : BAGAIMANA HARUS AKU MENGHADAPINYA?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Wahai orang-orang yang beriman! Bersabarlah kamu (menghadapi segala kesukaran dalam mengerjakan perkara-perkara yang berkebajikan), dan kuatkanlah kesabaran kamu lebih daripada kesabaran musuh, di medan perjuangan), dan bersedialah (dengan kekuatan pertahanan di daerah-daerah sempadan) serta bertaqwalah (be fearfull of Allah The Almighty) kamu kepada Allah supaya, kamu berjaya (mencapai kemenangan)."

KITA BERTANYA : BAGAIMANA HARUS AKU MENGHADAPINYA?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Dan mintalah pertolongan (kepada Allah) dengan jalan sabar dan mengerjakan sembahyang; dan sesungguhnya sembahyang itu amatlah berat kecuali kepada orang-orang yang khusyuk"
- Surah Al-Baqarah ayat 45

KITA BERTANYA : APA YANG AKU DAPAT DRPD SEMUA INI?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Sesungguhnya Allah telah membeli dari org2 mu'min, diri, harta mereka dengan memberikan syurga utk mereka... ?
- Surah At-Taubah ayat 111

KITA BERTANYA : KEPADA SIAPA AKU BERHARAP?

QURAN MENJAWAB "Cukuplah Allah bagiku, tidak ada Tuhan selain dari Nya. Hanya kepadaNya aku bertawakkal."
- Surah At-Taubah ayat 129

KITA BERKATA : AKU TAK DAPAT TAHAN!!!

QURAN MENJAWAB "... ..dan jgnlah kamu berputus asa dr rahmat Allah. Sesungguhnya tiada berputus asa dr rahmat Allah melainkan kaum yg kafir."
- Surah Yusuf ayat 12

Bad Day

The plan was to chill a bit today, take a breather from work and watch this movie with Jill. Jill wasnt feeling well.

And my day just started out wrong, and it went on and on - one bad thing after another.

Tomorrow cant get any worse (fingers crossed)

Song now playing in my head: Samson's Luluh!

Ibu....

Ibu Yusni Jaafar passed away early this morning. I tumpang sedih la....bukan a big fan or anything, tapi i'm sure you all have read in the papers as well as watched on Melodi her sufferings di akhir kehidupan dia...family, financials, health. So much sadness for this mother whose life was dedicated towards making people laugh. The more recent tv interviews, berlinang air mata dia bila bercakap...and i am reminded of those images as i am typing this post:-(

Untuk semua kesengsaraan itu, pasti Allah menjanjikan sesuatu yang indah di akhirat untuknya, Insyaallah. Al-Fatihah.

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Speaking of ibu, i was preparing a quick lunch sebab ada meeting pukul 2. Sometimes tak larat makan luar, masak sendiri goreng ikan makan panas2 lagi best. This was my lunch.

Nasi putih gaul sikit dengan margarine, letak kicap...makan dengan ikan goreng panas, sedikit ulam. Nostalgic tau lunch ni....dulu masa i kecik kalau sekolah petang, sebelum bas sekolah datang, mak suapkan ni:-)

When i was speaking with my mum this morning pasal Allahyarham Yusni, mum sd dia takut di akhir kehidupan dia susah macam ibu yusni. I wont let that happen mum, promise.