The Crowd Goes Wild

'Why do cowboys ride on horses instead on cows? Basically, it is because... which is basically...'

Can't we just stop using basically in our sentences, or paragraphs for that matter, over and over again, unless most or all nouns in our statement are really basic? Even if we're trying to basically define a noun, we don't have to mention that favorite adverb of ours. People are not that dumb as we think.

You're on TV hijo, I heard you say basically five times during your interview that lasted for only a minute. That was your sixty-second moment of fame and you let it pass by telling us basics that are not really basic at all.

‘Basically’, this annoying habit has to stop.

Why recite Al-Quran??

This is a beautiful story. May our hearts open by it? Why do we read Quran, even if we can’t understand a single Arabic word?:

An old man lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Qur’an. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, ‘Grandpa! I try to read the Qur’an just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Qur’an do?’

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, ‘Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.’

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, ‘You’ll have to move a little faster next time,’ and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, ‘I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough,’ and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would. Leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, ‘See Grandpa, it’s useless!’ ‘So you think it is useless?’ The old man said, ‘Look at the basket.’

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out. ‘Son, that’s what happens when you read the Qur’an. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives.’

Thanks to Zhariq for sharing this story..

Lights (White)

So many things I've have learned and yet I still have to learn more. The things I've learned few days ago I owe it to Azri, who let me borrowed his 'DIY Light Tent', he was also kind enough to give me his photography gears (camares, lens, etc) to be as my subjects and share some of the things he knows.

And now with the things I have learned and yet to learn, the next step for me is to practice.

Here's some of the results...

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

“Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.”

I have one paper for this semester and it is in the end of this month. Instead of wasting time doing nothing, this is a good opportunity to share with you the book that I have read quite a few times:

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho.

Well, The Zahir is about the search of a famous writer for his wife who has left him. He has travelled from Paris to Kazakhstan just to look for his wife. He has learned a lot during his journey and has gotten to know people who changed his life forever. He didn't give up until he found his zahir, that one person he couldn't take off his mind for years.

I have just finished reading Paulo Coelho’s "The Zahir" again, and I think I love it the most among all the books I’ve read so far. According to the Encyclopedia of the Fantastic, "the Zahir, in Arabic, means visible, present, and incapable of going unnoticed. It is someone or something which, once we have come into contact with them or it, gradually occupies our every thought, until we can think of nothing else." The Zahir is for anyone who has found love, lost it, and gone mad.

“..there is nothing worse than the feeling that no one cares whether we exist or not, that no one is interested in what we have to say about life, and that the world can continue turning without our awkward presence”

Bola Sepak

Kenapa masa perlawanan bolasepak adalah 45 minit, dan bukannya 30 minit ataupun 1 jam (utk separuh masa)?

Saintis sukan dan pemain-pemain veteran juga tidak dapat memberikan jawapan yang tepat. Di dalam kemusykilan tersebut, ada seseorang yang memberikan jawapan yang boleh diterima.

Dia menjawab...."Sebab mengapa bolasepak dimainkan dalam 45 minit ialah...Terdapat 2 pasukan di dalam setiap perlawanan dan ada 11 orang pemain di setiap pasukan. Setiap pemain mempunyai "2 biji bola" dan membawanya setiap masa semasa bermain didalam padang. Jadi, jumlah kesemua bola untuk kedua-dua pasukan ialah 44 biji bola. Terdapat sebiji bolasepak yang digunakan di dalam perlawanan. Oleh itu,jumlah keseluruhan ialah 45 minit.

Persoalan terjawab !!! :-)