I had a dream the other day.
At first when I woke up, I couldn't remember what it was. When I turned to the nightstand, I saw a framed picture of arwah mak tok and I, and my tears started to fill my eyes.
I dreamed of mak tok.
We were at the lawn of a kampung house surrounded by a lot of trees. So many that I could hardly see the sky.
I was sweeping the leaves, clearing the lawn, just like how I used to do every evening back in our house in Dhoby Ghaut. Mak tok just stood there, looking at what I was doing. She seemed so at peace, in her kain batik and baju kedah. I remember her smiling at me.
And that was it. That was what I could remember.
My faith convinced me that mak tok is at a better place.
She is doing fine, she is at peace. Only Allah knows how happy I am to know that.
But the fact that I miss her so much started to make me cry.
While reciting Al-Fatihah for her, tears just wouldn't stop streaming down my face.
In my heart I prayed, "Ya Allah, thank You for making me see mak tok again. You know what's in my heart and You have granted my prayers. Please rest my mak tok in peace, Ya Rahman. Please let her know that she is never forgotten and that she is deeply missed. Please let us meet each other again in the hereafter, Ya Allah. Ameen, Ya Rabbal'alamin.."
Mak tok, I'll see you again in my dreams.
Al-Fatihah.
Maher Zain - So Soon
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Once I was done mandi, I came out, put clothes on, and started to check email.
Kak Lina was still watching the movie.
"Pompuan ni kan! Dah tau someone dok kejaq depa, boleh pulak buat benda bodo!!" Kak Lina yelled at the TV screen.
I was like, Oooookaaaaay... Menonton dengan penuh perasaan Kak Lina ni.
So aku pun melayan la..
"What happened?" I asked.
"Tak la.. tengok la pompuan ni. Ada orang dok hambat depa, dia boleh pi telefon this guy! Bodo ka apa ni?!" Kak Lina bercerita dengan penuh perasaan seperti dia sama-sama melarikan diri bersama perempuan tersebut.
"Then they can track her whereabouts la... hmmm...," aku jawab dengan penuh cool dan chill. Then I continued to check my email.
Tiba-tiba...
"HA! KAN DAH KENA TRACK! MANA POMPUAN NI NAK PI PULAK?! JUST STAY WITH THAT GUY, STAY WITH HIM!!!" Huish! Marah sungguh Kak Lina dengan minah ni. Kalau ada depan muka mesti dah kena sedekah. ("Sedekah" di dalam konteks ini bermaksud "belasah". See, my blog is not that useless after all. You learned something new, didn't you?!)
I looked at Kak Lina and said, "Huish.. chill, chill Kak Lina... it's just a movie."
The girl went back to that guy. They were on a train, and they were alone.
And then, they were getting close and closer to each other. And then, they started kissing.
"AMBOI TGK SAT DALAM DOK KENA HAMBAT TU DAN LAGI NAK CIUM-CIUM SEMUA?! TAK PADAN DENGAN TAK CUKUP UMOQ! AMBOI BUDAK-BUDAK ZAMAN LANI LA!!!"
No, no. That wasn't Kak Lina.
That was me.
Kak Lina and I were in our room in Laguna Redang Island, Terengganu.
We're here for work (yeah, right). No, seriously, we are here for work.
Seriously!
So anyway, I was going to take a shower when I heard Kak Lina said, "OMG! My werewolf is in this movie!"
Then I asked, "Sapa?"
"Ala... I forgot his name. That guy from Twilight tu," Kak Lina answered.
"Oh... His name is Lily's occupation," I said.
Kak Lina looked confused. "What? I don't understand..."
Oh my... Usually she would get this right away. What happened? Did the sea do this to her?!
I repeated, loudly and clearly, "His name is LI-LY'S OC-CU-PA-TION!"
"What....?" still looking confused. Yup, I think it's the sea.
"What does Lily do? You remember Lily right???"
"Lily, the tailor?"
"Yeah!" I said, preparing to laugh with her.
"What? I don't get it," she said, looking 10 times more confused.
"OMG! TAILOR (Taylor)!" I just lost it. Well, can you blame me?!
"OH MY GOD! I was thinking What Lily's occupation? Is that like a group or something? OH MY GOD! hahahaha," she said, laughing on the bed.
"Who would name a group 'Lily's occupation', anyway?!" I said, and headed to the shower.
But wait.... it IS kinda cool to name a group Lily's Occupation!
- to be continued -
I was very lucky to have been involved in Astro Bella launch campaign some time in February.
FYI Astro Bella is a new telenovela channel on Mustika Package. So if you're a sucker for telenovela, go subscribe that package NOW! (Astro, please give me 5 ringgit for promoting this, thank you.)
Anyway, back to the campaign.
You know how dramatic and over the top telenovelas are, right? Hero curang dengan maknya sayoq la, bapak mertua jatuh cinta dengan orang gaji la, mak ada scandal dengan drebar la. Macam-macam kejutan, semuanya drama gila. I get brain twisted thinking about it alone. So yeah, that was the idea for the campaign. HIDUP INI PENUH DRAMA. You get soooo dramatic, even over the little things.
I guess the best thing about working on this campaign is how much I could relate to the whole idea.
I admit it, I am a drama queen. Exaggerations, over-the-top facial and verbal expressions are in ME. It is so me that I strongly think that the definition of exaggeration should be changed to "Nurisfahanis Hashim".
I mean, come on, we all need a little drama in our life, right? It adds flavours and colours to your life. No? Well, at least it does in mine.
We launched the campaign with a full-page ad. The scenario was everybody getting dramatic over a broken egg at a hypermarket. We spent half-day at the hypermarket shooting stacks of eggs and an egg alone. No talents, nothing. Only eggs. I called it a celebrity egg, and I named it Ramona. At the end, they broke Ramona into two. And I was sad. *sniff*
After that, there was this follow-up ad, a different scenario showing how dramatic people can be over a teenie weeny sauce stain.
I was at the photo shoot, making sure that we get the best shots, the talents give the expressions that we want, stuff like that. (I wanted to upload the behind-the-scene video but it kept turning out as "error" once I uploaded it. Stupid technology! x( <-- see how drama I can get?) Anyhow, shooting this was a bit like shooting a TV commercial. They had to really act it out for the photographer to capture the expressions. I was just laughing all the way looking at each of the talent's expressions. It was so much fun.
But then... while we were looking at the shots taken, Alan (the photographer) pointed something in the picture and said, "Here is empty, not very nice...."
Then I nodded, and said, "Yeah, it's not really nice like that, huh. It'd be good if we have someone to sit there."
Then Alan looked at me. I looked at him.
And I was like "Ooooh I am not liking the look he's giving me!"
Just as I expected, he said, "You go sit there, can?"
"You mean I have to sit only, or act dramatic like the rest?" Then I heard myself said that, and realised how stupid I sounded. Before he could register how stupid that question was to his brain, I continued, "Ok, I'll act it out as good as I can!"
So this is how the ad turned out to be.
See that oh-so-drama face on the left, having a tembikai juice alone like a loser? Yeah, that's me. 
Hi guys!
I just wanna share this awesome video by DiGi. It's called "Dear Malaysians".
How often do we say sorry to our loved ones, even a stranger?
I mean do we even realise that what we do in everyday life might have hurt some people in some ways?
And even if we do, do we care?
Do we even care that we hurt these people?
The answer is simple.
If you care enough, you will make an effort.
If you care enough, you will put aside all your ego, and do what is right.
If you care enough, "sorry" will not be the hardest thing to say.
Say sorry for driving recklessly on the road.
Say sorry for not spending enough time with your parents.
Say sorry to our Harimau Malaya football team for not supporting them all this while.
This is what the video is about.
Saying sorry to our loved ones and fellow Malaysians, who, most of the time, we take for granted.
Start saying sorry. Be a bigger person.
I can still remember the first time mak tok brought me to get my first telekung.
I was 5 or 6 years old.
That place was called "Jua Morah". Well, that's how it's pronounced in Penang accent. But I think the real name was Jualan Murah kot. So we went there, and mak tok stopped at this one kedai.
"Mami, telekung besaq dia pakai punya ada juai?" mak tok said, pointing at me. Aku pun pulled off the cutest face possible.
"Ada... sat na," that mami said, looking for "telekung besaq aku pakai punya".
Then she took out one telekung, mak tok tried it on me, and it was perfect.
So later on, we went home with my first telekung, and a small prayer mat.
So the next step was to pray la kan. Takkan nak pakai telekung pi main hambat-hambat, polis sentri, boya-boya apa semua. But the problem was, the 5/6 year-old me was confused. "What am I supposed to say anything during the prayer? What do I say? I don't even know the steps! I need guidance!" I thought back then.
Mak tok made it easy for me.
She said, "Ikut ja mak tok buat apa." So that was what I did. I stood beside her. I heard her baca Al-Fatihah. I followed. When she rukuk, I rukuk. Dia sujud, aku sujud. But I didn't know kena baca apa when you sujud and all, so aku baca baca alif ba ta. Hohoho..
Later on, when I could memorise the steps, I started to pray on my own. At that time, I felt so grown up. I could pray on my own! I don't need guidance! It was so exciting.
One day, mak tok was about to finish cooking when azan Zohor berkumandang. (ceh, formal pulak).
Then she said, "Anis! Pi amik ayaq semayang, semayang lekaih. Ni dah bang dah."
So aku pun dengan confidentnya pi masuk pancoq (bathroom) and amik wudhuk.. I was so happy that I didn't need to ask mak tok bahagian mana nak basuh dulu. Konon dah expert la. Tak yah guidance la katakan.
Then aku bentangkan sejadah dekat area katil mak tok. It was in the kitchen compound jugak. So I started to pray...
Then, I heard something.
It was Abg Bob. To those who have read the post "AKU DAN BANJIR", you might recall who he is. For those who haven't, GO and READ! Anyway, Abg Bob is my cousin who lives just beside my house. He was in primary school at that time. About 8 or 9 years old.
"Ajam! (that's what he called my mak tok)" he shouted.
Aku *dalam hati* ni mesti kat luaq ni depan rumah ni. Apa dia nak?
"Awat Bok?" I heard mak tok tanya. Thank you mak tok for verbalising that for me.
I was in my second rakaat when I heard him replied, "Ni Bok nak pinjam beskal Anis sat. Nak pi kedai."
Aku *dalam hati* alamak aku sayang beskal aku tu. Aunty Bayah beli kat Amarica! kalau dia pelingkop macamana?? Abg Bob kan samseng Dhoby Ghaut! Balik-balik nanti tinggai handle beskal ja macamana?! Ahh tidak!!!
Dengan pantasnya, dalam rakaat kedua tu, aku kalih belakang and shouted, "TAK BOLEH PINJAM BESKAL ANIS!!!"
Lalu sambung rukuk.
Tak yah guidance la sangat, kan?
So here we are, in 2012.
Many people talk about new year resolutions. Some want to buy a house, some want to change their cars, some want to get promoted, some want to get married. Ok, let's not go to that whole "getting married" thingy. I wouldn't want to fall into my own trap :p
As for me, my new year resolution is only one - to be a better Muslim.
What? Only one resolution?
Aha.. you must realise that being a better Muslim also means:
- Being a better daughter
- Being a better grand daughter
- Being a better sister
- Being a better best friend
- Being a better friend
- Being a better worker
- Being a better colleague
- Being a better knowledge seeker
- Being a better driver on the road
and the list can go on and on.. so it's actually not only one resolution.
You see, that is the beautiful thing about Islam.
It's not only about praying 5 times a day, fasting during Ramadhan and going for hajj.
It is so much more than that.
So let us all be better Muslims.
Let us strive for Allah's love and His blessing upon us.
May Allah be with us.
Amin.
