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Archive for the ‘Write On’ Category

The Readers

Salam Mesra, thank you and big hugs from Moscow to my dear readers in…

  • Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
  • Alliance, Ohio
  • Amstelveen, Netherlands
  • Ampang
  • Bandar Melaka
  • Bangi
  • Banting
  • Basildon, Essex, UK
  • Brunei
  • Bukit Mertajam
  • Butterworth
  • Caernarfon, Gwynedd, UK
  • Charlottesville, Virginia
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Fairfax, Virginia
  • Fort Mill, South Carolina
  • Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, Germany
  • Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
  • Gainesville, Georgia
  • Großheppach, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
  • Groningen, Netherlands
  • Houston, Texas
  • Ipoh
  • Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Jitra
  • Johor Bahru
  • Kajang
  • Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Kemaman
  • Klang
  • Kota Kinabalu
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • Kuantan
  • Kuching
  • Makati, Manila, The Philippines
  • Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
  • Nilai
  • Northridge, California
  • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Pantai Remis
  • Pasir Mas
  • Penang
  • Perth, Australia
  • Petaling Jaya
  • Phnom Penh, Cambodia
  • Plano, Texas
  • Puchong
  • Rochester, New York
  • Rugby, Warwickshire, UK
  • San Francisco, California
  • San Juan, Batangas, The Philippines
  • Santa Monica, California
  • Seremban
  • Seri Kembangan
  • Shah Alam
  • Sharjah Ash Shariqah, UAE
  • Singapore
  • Spring, Texas
  • Stasovoy, Moscow
  • Sungai Petani
  • Sydney, Australia
  • Taipei
  • Taiping
  • Trolak
  • Umea Vasterbottens Lan, Sweden
  • Valdosta, Georgia
  • Wangsamaju
  • Wellington, New Zealand

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Those in places I did not mention, write to me and complain, please? 🙂

I might come and visit you to deliver the hugs in person.

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*Credit to TraceMyIP.com for making it possible for me to know where I am read from.

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Sandaran Hati

“… sesungguhnya Tuanku itu
tempat hati berpaut.
Tuanku itu jugalah
tempat luka berparut…”

Ampun Tuanku
patik mohon kasih.

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Stages

Stages

As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.
Since life may summon us at every age
Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.

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Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slaves of permanence.

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Even the hour of our death may send
Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
And life may summon us to newer races.
So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.

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by Hermann Hesse

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Thanks to my darling Angel for walking with me to this poem.

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The Password

I won’t promise you a straight yes, but you can always ask. Nicely, please. 🙂

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Ganti

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I was sending some samples of my poems to a hopefully future editor/publisher when I found this:

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Ganti

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Sengaja aku susun
rindu ini untukmu
dari bulan ke minggu.

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Sengaja aku atur
untukmu rindu ini
dari bulan ke hari.

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Tak sedar
tahun sudah berganti.

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June 18, 2000.
Skycity, Auckland.

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It has been almost ten years. In fact, the poem is only ten days short of celebrating its tenth birthday today. I remember writing this the day before my wedding, alone in my room, thinking of all the could-have-been’s and the would-have-been’s, anticipating all the possibilities and the impossibilities. Though it is for no one in particular, I remember thinking of what I was about to let go.

I had no regrets then.

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I am letting go of all the possibilities and the impossibilities.

I have no regrets now.

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Peribadi Itu

Peribadi Itu

Menemuinya hari itu
ku tahu dia bukan musuh
kepada musuhnya
tetapi kekasih
kepada dunianya.

Memahaminya hari itu
ku kira dia adalah pencabar
yang mengajak aku menentangnya
dengan mata bersinar
dengan hati berdebar.

Aku tidak lagi merindu
pada si lembut palsu
dialah seberkas peribadi
yang terletak di tengah ruang
dan peribadi itu ku dekati
dengan hormat dan tenang.

Mengingatinya kini
serasa suaranya berulang
memesan ku meneliti
segenap ruang.

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Rahman Shaari

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Good By Then

Goodbye is probably the only word I say and never mean. I don’t say goodbye very often anyway. But I can tell you the truth right now that if I say goodbye to you and if I look like I am going to leave you… it’s a lie. I do not mean to leave and I do not leave. I go. But I always come back. And I stay in your heart (or so I wish).

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And so I will not say goodbye to you on June 5th, when I go. I would just tell you what you already know. That I carry you in my heart. That I will be good by the time we’ll meet again. That by then, I will have missed you so much that it won’t do me any good if I keep staying away from you.

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Set your day to Saturday.

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FATed

Of late, this is the face I have been wearing…

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One tired face, one cold body, the day after the 2010 Mother’s Day, gallivanting in Stockholm for the second time this year, two days away from what was supposed to be Mom & Dad’s 39th Anniversary.

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Not many have seen this almost topless picture I took of myself on April 27. But if you are wondering where this post is going, other than me trying to exhibit the exhibitionist side of me that has been hidden for so long… just scroll down, will ya?

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The picture below was taken on January 21st, 2009. I remember visiting Mom at the hospital late that afternoon. And I remember telling Mom how I was changing for the better me. For me. And I remember how proud Mom was of me. She knew I was going to bounce back. I didn’t.

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And the next picture was taken on December 3rd 2008,  when I went to Singapore just to see the Yasmin Ahmad’s movie that was (then) banned in Malaysia. I had a good walk. I had a great time. And I had one of the best laughters ever.

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Just two months before I went for the Great Gallivant Project in Singapore, I was going through a rough patch in my relationship. Though the next picture is a poor representation of that rough patch, I am getting to my point really soon. Scroll down, people!

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June 2008, when this next picture was taken, on my way home from Bangkok…

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I was pretty round and rounded woman at 73kg.
And that ain’t all that pretty to me.

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Okay! My point is: Yes. It is possible. Losing weight is undeniably challenging. But it really is do-able. I was lucky, all it took for me to lose  the first 10 kilograms was just a heartache and a broken heart. Some people went through a series of heart attack before they finally learn that if we take more than what we need, something has got to give. I’m glad all I have to give up are my pounds.

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For me, weight has been a battle since… errr, birth perhaps. I know how REAL it is and I know how damaged and ‘injured’ my self-esteem was for many many years, to be an overweight child.

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I remember how embarassing it was when I could not do the lompat katak (frog leap) fun sports event when I was in grade two. It was supposed to be fun. But my Mom had to ask my class teacher to ‘excuse’ me from the sports day. It was not fun. Not for me anyway, to be excused and excluded. The only fun if I had stayed on and gone leaping  was for people to see how a fat frog leaped.

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Losing weight, I know now, is not about appetite. It took me years to believe it. But I can tell you straight to the face now that losing weight is about attitude. I still crave for a thousand million things. Sometimes, all at once! But I no longer ignore it when my stomach tells me it has had enough.

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I honestly have run out of excuses to stay overweight. That said, I am still working on my final 5kg to my ideal weight, though. So bear with my work in progress! At last, halfway between my 30’s and 50’s, I am making sense of everything I have read about health all my life!

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Other than changing my attitude about appetite, food and eating, I have taken up running. Nothing serious. No marathon yet for this leapfrog, no. I try to run 20-25 kilometers per week. 5 kilometers at a time. Maybe 10, with good music and good pictures. You know what I mean? Hehehehe.

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I find that it is not the first 20 minutes of the run that is always the most excruciating. It is the putting on the pair of runners and getting on the treadmill that is murderous! The other day I spent 13 hours and probably 8 kilometers of walking AROUND the house, AWAY from my shoes and the treadmill. I am not always motivated, but by the time I get into my 3rd kilometer, it gets easier. I can go far and long, I swear I can Forrest-Gump it!

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Well, you can call this a show-off entry. Go ahead. It is, by the way. And if you have been battling your weight all your life, like me, and are winning, like me… I am inviting you to count our blessings in every step we take when we run. Run baby… run to me!

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Hai Hencem!

I jarang mulakan blog entries I ni dengan perkataan ‘I’. Tapi hari ni ‘I’ nak membebel yang tak ada ertinya. Meh sini…

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I sangatlah tak larat-larat tengok wanita-wanita meninggalkan komen pada gambar beberapa lelaki di Facebook, dengan komen yang kebanyakannya berbunyi begini:

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“Hai hemcem…………”

“Hai encemmmm!”

“Oh hencem nya cik abg ni!!!!!”

“Oh abgku yg hencem…………………………………………….”

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Pada I, memang kelakar. Tak pernah gagal (without fail lah tu), I mesti akan tersengih dan tergelak bila baca komen yang sedemikian. Dan yang kelakarnya ialah, I tengok yang mengomen tu ialah wanita-wanita yang sudah bersuami dan beranak-pinak belaka. Dan mereka jugaklah yang mengepos artikel ‘Dosa-Dosa Facebook’ di Facebook Wall mereka. Tu yang I heran tu, mereka ni baca ke tak artikel tersebut? Apekehal! Muahahahaha.

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Memanglah I akui ada beberapa lelaki di Facebook I tu yang kacak, segak, tampan dan bergaya. Tapi takkan lah setiap gambar asek komen “Hai hemcem!” je. Move on and say something better already laaa deyy! I rasa lelaki-lelaki itu pun macam dah tau dah apa komen wanita-wanita ini. Tutup mata pun boleh baca.

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Dan I pun dengan jujur lagi telus nya akui, I pun rasa makin ramai pulak lelaki hemcem yang datang ke Facebook I kebelakangan ini. Diminta lelaki-lelaki ini sila jangan perasan ya. Tapi harapkan rupa je lawa, kalau bercakap asek nak menyebabkan tekak I geli pun tak guna jugak. Macam ada seorang lelaki kacak yang telah I cantas buang dari diari Facebook I tahun lepas. Sikit-sikit nak cakap pasal apa ada dalam baju I, dalam kain I. Eh yellow! Move on, or move out kay!

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Okaylah I nak pergi menggelakkan diri baca komen “Hai hemcem!” wanita-wanita gersang di Facebook. Muahahahahahahahahaahahahahhahahahahaha! Dengar tak I gelak ni?

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Whatever Cinta Is…

This is my all-time favorite love poem:

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Sonnet 17

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I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

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I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

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I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

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in which there is no ‘I’ or ‘You’;
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand
so close that when you fall asleep it is my eyes that close.

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by Pablo Neruda

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