Berisman’s Neighborhood

The event was graced by the presence of His Highness Tengku Abdullah; Tengku Mahkota Pahang. Maybe because of his presence, the event became more of ornamentation rather than geared towards heightening of individual devotion to the AlMighty.

Maal Hijrah at Masjid Sultan Ahmad Shah, Kuantan

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This memory was triggered by and entry In Tsue Ahmad's Blog Entry. Though the title was Team work, the photo jerked me back 30 years in time.. So long but the memory still lingers.

I wrote this in her blog;

The trees are shedding their leaves.. Soon cold breezes will be caressing your body and you brace yourself together, hand in the coat pocket, head tucked deep to contain whatever heat from your body and your leasure walk become a fast walk to keep that heat generator working hard. You tighten your scaff around your neck and chin.. Then the trees becomes baren, bracing for winter.

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The first photo was at Hyde Park Leeds where I was doing my Civil Engineering Degree Course. The setting in of autumn was (I'm speaking in past tense because it was a memory eventhough it is still the same in the present) heralded by the recoloring of greens to yelowish, orangish, reddish and brown. The leaves started to fall, littering the ground in multicolored spray of dried colorful leaves.

 It is a wonder that dying leaves can look so beautiful... It's not like hilang madu sepah dibuang isn't it? Cant we believe in that, we will always be beautiful and growing old doesnt diminish that??? Wrinkles can be extraordinarily beautiful; how else the artists could paint gloriously beautiful old couple complete with thousand wrinkles.. Photographers too tend to favor the thousand lines of experiences on old person for award winning photos!!! Think of that.. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.. What a wise saying it is..

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Before I got lost in reverie, I'll get back to my story.. Then the trees became baren (still in past tense... arent you going to comment on that, Liza???) and the last to go was the grasses.

Third photo.. the advent of winter. Snow started to fall...> Re-read the entry I made in Tsue's Blog above...

 Next two photos... Budak-budak Melayu seronok sangat main snow... That's me lying down on a good friend and at the back was an elderly teacher under extended training in UK..

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3 days after all the freshly fallen snow settled, the  cotton felt snow started to get grainy like the ice from ice kacang. When it got mixed with mud and becomes watery-hard, it lost its beauty. Then walking became a chore, sloshing through the cold snow-mud and all that was left was coldness that seeped in any open space and tried to chill your bones.

It took quite a while before all the snow-mud cleared away. Then the ground and trees was left barren and used up.... beauties all gone.

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The  next cycle of joy started again when grasses started to grow. With it the spirit of Spring, a new energy slowly awakening inside you as you feel the warmth seeping in to replace the coldness of winter.. Then flowers started to grow. The grasses seemed full of flowers.. I had not seen before such landscape of flowers coming p with spring.. maybe that's why they call the season SPRING.. The flowers just spring up from the beforehand barren landscape after the grasses....

What a memory...

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Want to show how you age? The last photo shows how to rad the tree's age via the rings in the x-section. 13 rings means 13 years of age.

The middle photo of the tungsten traditional lamp intrigue me because of the priximity to the light bulbs. Top is just a shot from the Christmas decoration at Mid Valley..

I heard about Jodi Piccoult and her writings. This is my first book by her. Just bought it last night and have not gone beyond first page. Hoping to find this an enjoyable reading. The storyline is so promising of heart wrenching episodes and conflicts of emotions.. I know my eye glands will be working overtime, but may be it's good for the eyes.... I know I wont be following P.Ramlee's way as in Ibu Mertua ku..

Jodi Piccoult - Handle With Care

Malam tadi berbual dengan seorang rakan daripada satu media internet sampai jam 1.00pagi.  Beliau adalah kenalan saya sejak lebih daripada 25 tahun.

Perbualan berkisar sekitar politik tanah air.

Bila saya tanya beliau ke mana arahtuju PAS sekarang?  Dia diam, kemudian sebut, "kabur".

Dulu PAS menarik perhatian dan sokongan kerana membawa isu Hukum Hudud and UMNO/BN adalah penentang perjuangan mereka.  Sekarang mereka tidak sebutpun perkara yang sama, dan jika sebut tidak dalam nada pelaksanaan segera sebagaimana sebelum Mac 2008. 

Apa lagi seruan PAS sekarang?  PAS survive kerana ia dapat menunjukkan perbezaan dengan UMNO daripada segi kesungguhan kemahuan kepada Hukum Hudud dan pembentukan negara Islam.  Bila perjuangan itu sudah dikuburkan dengan kerjasama dalam Pakatan Pembangkang, apalagi perbezaan yang dapat mereka tonjolkan?

PAS sering juga menonjolkan UMNO/BN adalah korup, mengamalkan nepotisme dan kronisme.  Kes terbaru yang melibatkan TGNA, menantunya dan Kickdefella, serta penulisan anak TGNA yang terus terang mengaku ada berlaku perkara yang sama (beliau tidak sebut adanya nepotisme dan kronisme, tapi mengaku ayahnya yang bersungguh mahu melantik menantunya, dan pengakuan TGNA dia ada dalam mesyuarat yang turut dihadiri oleh LA untuk melantik menantunya itu) dalam pemerintahan PAS, saya rasa mencacatkan lagi perjuangan PAS.  Begitu juga perbezaan yang cuba ditonjolkan dengan UMNO menjadi semakin nipis, sama-sama ada korup, sama-sama ada nepostisme, dan berbagai lagi tuduhan yang selama ini hanya dibalingkan kepada UMNO.

Tanpa perbezaan dalam daya tarik penyokong, pertarungan mungkin akan beralih kepada siapa lebih bersedia mengguna 'senjata' dan 'alat peperangan'.  Seorang pengkaji telah membentangkan beberapa hari lalu dalam satu seminar PAS di Selangor, khabarnya sokongan rakyat di Selangor berada dalam keadaan 40:60.  40 untuk PR dan 60 untuk BN.

Adakah angka-angka ini memberi erti baru untuk masa depan politik di Malaysia?

My wife almost pengsan looking at this serving. Beiing prim and proper in attitude everything need be presented in a proper way and this is against everything in her. Serving your husband dinner in a kuali is the height of barbarism ettique to her.

However this is the way they serve from this shop named 'KUALI'. I should have understood its literal message and not try to interpret 'Kuali' to mean the mastery of food preparation. For me it doesnt mean that much and my eppitite was not diminished.. May be that's the difference in the thinking polarity between man and woman..

Kuali Plate

Rabu 9 Disember saya turut membuat penyampaian pada satu forum belia bertajuk "One Asia Forum: Youth and Social Media".  Program tersebut dianjur oleh Asian Youth Council dengan sokongan KBS dan kerjasama daripada MYC, INMIND dan CAYC.  Majlis itu menghimpunkan hampir 100 anak muda dari sekitar negara-negara Asia.  Sebahagian daripada para peserta adalah pelajar di institusi pengajian tinggi di Malaysia.

Saya tidak dapat mengikuti program yang dilaksanakan di sebuah hotel di Jalan Pudu tersebut sehingga selesai.  Namun, saya kira ia adalah satu usaha yang positif.  Program tersebut cuba membawa para pemuda memahami peranan Media Sosial - SM (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog, YouTube, dll) dalam membentuk masyarakat masa depan, serta bagaimana menggunakannya secara positif.

Saya jangka masih ramai yang tidak berapa sedar betapa besarnya peranan Media Sosial dalam menjana masyarakat masa depan, termasuk sebahagian besar mereka yang mengguna SM ini sendiri.  Banyak, kalau tidak semua jabatan kerajaan menyekat para kakitangan daripada mengguna SM ini sewaktu pejabat. Kemungkinan besar kerana ianya banyak mengganggu tugas.  Namun, saya rasa ianya perlu kajian semula. 

Pisau yang tajam, banyak guna dan banyak bahayanya.  Namun, ianya terpulang kepada siapa yang memegang hulunya, dan bagaimana dia menggunakannya.  Begitu juga dengan SM atau apa-apa peralatan pun.  Di tangan kanak yang tidak tahu bahayanya, ianya tidak elok dibiarkan.  Namun jika pisau itu berada di tangan orang tahu cara menggunanya, pisau itu sungguh banyak gunanya.

Ramai pengguna SM hanya berseronok dengan "mainan" baru tersebut.  Tetapi, jika kita dapat mendidik agar SM digunakan secara positif, ia bukan sahaja dapat membantu kelicinan tugas, malah boleh membawa seluruh organisasi kepada satu tahap yang lebih baik.