Saturday, September 28, 2013

Just another lazy Saturday

Z left mlm Jumaat at 3.30 am.We took a room at Sama-sama Hotel.I arrived dulu thinking the two would check in early.Z and I went for the spa.Girl tu buat sakit...she urut mcm org Melayu.She said mmg dia belajar dgn org Melayu..urut cari urat.Fui...nak mati rasanya.

We slept very little cos' by 1.30 am naik buggy from the hotel to drop Z's luggage.If you do web check in, tak payah queue (queue was long).So we went for a drink and lepak2. Z masuk early cos' we were sleepy also.I had to drive bck to Gombak for a student's viva at 10 am so by 7 am dah kena bertolak to beat the jam.

Ngantuk giler. The day before we had Daryoush and Kianoush Dalvand from Iran to speak on their animated series on Rasulullah.I tanya why so many violent scenes...perang perang juga but the Prophet as seorang yang penyayang dan lemah lembut must be shown too.They said they are working on the later bit of history...zaman perang pun sikap pemaaf Rasulullah pun ada, apa.Dialog sunni-shiah harus diteruskan although dua beradik ni kata film mereka avoid hal2 agama.Itupun kata mrk, dah buang 70 per cent scene perang.Bak kata Tunku, itu kehendak market.Film2 Hollywood pun byk violence.Saya protest! :)

Today, we caught up with lost sleep but at noon, we picked up Mr. Maw, the qigong guy.Bwk pi jumpa Irshad who's looking so tak bermaya.A very nice guy Maw ni.Orang charge RM400, dia charge Rm50 je cos' konsep dia...ada ilmu,bantu orang.Kalau salah guna, buruk padah ke atas diri sendiri.Wow..Islamiknya.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

IYSFC and IWFF pics

 the designers

 screening 

 the youngest participants from Cherang Ruku

 Serious considerations

 Guests

 Short films

 Impressed

 Behind the scene

 workshop

 more workshop

 learning new tricks

 monitoring from afar

 workshop again

 forum on shariah complaint films

 boys at work

 we are listening

introducing Islamic rap

Monday, September 23, 2013

Final day of IWFF@IIUM

We did the final session today...last day of IWFF at IIUM.Animation was easy...so few entries.Was able to catch up with the judges.Pak Hassan is one kind person..like every one sitting as IWFF judges.Big names but humble.We have not paid them a single cent.I hope they would be honoured at IWFF@Putrajaya.

Syukur alhamdulillah, we saw the finishing line.Nice feeling.I think we have our objectives covered.Could have done a bit more with publicity.I hope at Putrajaya, we'd have lots of it.It does not matter now.No one can take away our experience in organising the film events and Cikgu Faiz of Cherang Ruku said this: we have been to so many film festivals (they were in Thailand, Japan and almost Australia cuma no tickets to go) but at IIUM, the festival gave us skills and network we needed.Sweet, kan?Itulah pun antara objectives kita...to empower young people.

And now to assist IWFFi for their Nov IWFF event.But I can now move on to other things. :)

Day 3 at IWFF@IIUM

Terasa penat dah.This morning I was at the documentary session.Wough, very informative.Prof Ibrahim pun kata he found all the entries fascinating.

Then Dr. Jeff Halper came and spoke of political bullyings on Palestinian subjects.I like wht he said about governments always not doing the right thing.He said governments do not leave.They change.They do not lead,they follow.The people's job is to push/pressure governments till they follow what the people want.Cantik, kan?

I keep receiving anonymous messages through iwff website (kinda figure out who...Mr.Sourgrapes who thinks he should be the centre of the universe but feels abandoned and unimportant cos' the world continues to spin without him).

What can I say? Bak kata KJ...I do not layan politik longkang. :)) If you do not even have the balls to leave your proper email address when you harass (dok tukar2 pulak tu...menipu diri sendiri) do not expect to be treated with respect.

Dah tak suka baca writings on website kita (iwff.org.my), sapa suruh baca? Pi la cari kerja lain to fill up your time.

The special screenings went well with Ms. Jacinta Gould, NZ Deputy High Commissioner giving an interesting introduction on Islam in NZ and Coffee and Allah.It was the Chinese gold miners who first brought Islam to NZ (the first recorded existence as it appeared in the 1874 census). 20 years later Indian Muslims arrived, followed by Eastern Europe Muslims after WW2.

Prof. Zikrgoo did a philosophical introduction on Iran.Islam.Film.He also spoke on his latest art exhibition which he just completed at Matrade.

More later.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Day 2 IWFF@IIUM

Hiccups...one venue was locked up..techies at tempat kebakaran at IRK Building..could not be located.Sigh.

But we got another venue downstairs..techies berkejar ke tempat kejadian..found us a portable screen.After getting the judges settled down, I rushed to catch Faisal Hamdi and his friends (Farahin one of them).I vowed NOT to cry...emotional persuasion does not work...I'm a practical person...but I cried in the end and parted with a few ringgit for the Syrian cause...memang jahat betul regim Syria sekarang.The bit that caught me was him not dipilih Allah to syahid ...belum layak..him not picked for death cos' Allah wants him to carry a bigger mission.I think that and that bit in which a young soldier (Z's age) rebelled against the dajal Prez cos' he was asked to kill demonstrators ke hapa. He refused..he was arrested and tortured till death.

Ptg tu Riaz came.I thought he was not coming.Bawak gang la pulak.A lawyer filmmaker.Nama mcm orang putih but Muslim.He introduced the documentary from US and we had a drink soon after.We clicked sebab semuanya IIUM grads! So here's the plan...dot dot  dot ..for next year..(I thought I said I wanna move on? Told ya!) :))


IYSFC Award Night

KJ came as advised - wearing smart casual.Only we were not! He said looks like I'm the only one who's underdressed here.:D But he carried himself so well. Betul mcm Obama. Z likes him so much.I used to tease her about it but looks like dgn mak2 dia dah masuk KJ's fan club now.

KJ ni beradab bdknya.I saw how he salam Prof Kamal and didn't call Rector Dato Seri Halimah.He worked on his p's and q's.The way he said my name...ada ideram di 'h' at 'dah'.Wough...Arabnya bagusss.Haha.When I posted my pic with him on my fb, never before I got so many likes so fast.Org dok like his photo.Not me. :D

The speech he rewrote better (but of cos'!) He did his homework well.Said all the right things...women's empowerment, youth power.Rumi.You'd want a Prime Minister who's so KJ.Muntah le Rafizi if he reads this. ;)

Will post pics when I get some.
 For Z :)

 Part of the team (over 100 of them)

 the important people behind IYSC
(Hafsham and Tan Sri Kamal Hassan.Rector can't be seen in the pic)

His speech was a dynamite

Friday, September 20, 2013

Today.Here.

Alhamdulillah, I live to see IWFF@IIUM.What a historical moment! All praise to Allah.It's God's will.
IWFF kicked off nicely today with screenings of documentaries at Mini Audi and short films at Al Tabari.Syed conducted his making short films at HS Seminar Room, all happy at lunch when we met with the other judges (Azrain included).Semua happy cos' we were together at the beginning.Hajjah Juju pun begitu sporting despite kesibukan dia as Queen of Halal Hub. :)

Counsellor Iran Embassy Dr Ali Akhbar Ziaee came with his wife.We spoke a bit about Haji Amir yang marah cos' I refused to speak Bahasa Indonesia with him.Ahaks.Gue ngak reti!

Am staying back for an interesting forum malam ni (ada imam muda) on syariah compliance films.Will write feedback later.

Laporan forum:

I enjoyed listening to all three speakers...Tn Zabidi (dulu magistrate but now a well known writer and scriptwriter drama TV), Fikery Yahya (TV3 anchor..I don't knw him cos' takq tengok TV but he's very witty) and Imam Muda personality.

Sambung later.Long day.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Besok akan sampai juga,InsyaAllah

Last minute tak boleh datang (my two judges of two different film events).Hadoi.Nasib Dr. M emailed me a couple of days ago..very timely.Dia org besar FINAS so I pun SOS dia.Dgn izin Allah, dilontarkan seorang yg juga besar untuk mengganti juri yg sudah terbang last min.Mudah-mudahan selamatlah perjalanan kami.

Tensi as we discovered 11th hour blunders.The kids dah berkhemah at CERDAS, always sleeping late (kalu cuti ari tu siap awal kerja, tak la kalut gini ya? But we agreed not to play the blaming game.I pun buat byk blunders.:) ) In the end, I told them the real trophy would be how we handle our last min. crisis.Wah..now everyone control macho! :)

Budak-budak Cherang Ruku, Kelantan dah sampai. You know cikgu-cikgu mereka dtg just to send them then balik semula ke Cherang Ruku which is further away from KB which would be 6-7 hours drive.Bdk2 UIA bwk diaorg jalan2 ke KLCC naik lrt.I betcha some of them have never set foot in KL before.Ummi used to be a doctor in Kelantan.She said Cherang Ruku is remote.But google it.It has a very interesting history.Batu asas tapak sekolah was placed by Dato Sri Anwar Ibrahim and two Prime Ministers had visited the school before : Tun Mahathir and Dato Sri Najib.Now they are about to meet KJ, youth icon dlm bentuk Menteri bkn penyanyi atau pelakon.

I find this truly exciting.In fact serba serbinyalah exciting...I saw promotional materials on film and shariah compliance bdk2 ni organise..ada imam muda...novelist terkenal...macam2. I didn't register tapi nak sgt join.I hope ada seat lagi.




Monday, September 16, 2013

Some quality time with the family

We were comparing notes with how other families made time for their kids.One of Z's friend's family would always drive somewhere either to eat or just to stay in a plc to unwind.Kadang2 balik ari e.g going to Ipoh for chicken rice ke or mee udang in Kedah ke.Wah...pengsan kalau dapat biras mcm ni! :)

This is my busiest month but the two are breathing down my neck for quality time since Z is going bck to Hengland soon. So we went to the movies semalam.Z must be the only young adult pi tengok wayang dgn mak bapak.I saw ramai anak2 muda lain berboiferen dan golfren. The Internship ni kelakar giler.Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.Go and watch it.Bumped into Azhar outside the cinema (he's 60 something).We laughed at one another saying we could relate to the movie very well..mengisahkan org tua buta komputer kerja dgn bdk2 gen i ni...internet, information dan segala2 digital.But org tua buta hurup ni survived. (Iyalah..yg tulis script tu org tua..Vince Vaughn.Cer bdk muda yg tulis..sure di akhir cerita org tua mengaku kalah and let these digital Frankensteins rule the world)

Monday Sept 16

We went to have high tea at Hyatt.Z and Amir tengah popular...tadi the Star interview mereka over their website on interns and someone from JP Morgan (VP) tweeted looking for the duo sebab keluar The Edge satu muka semalam.It's nice to see young people being busy like this.Alhamdulillah.

Visited Irshad.The eldest brother is so responsible.He cukur habis rambut Irshad so that when rambut Irshad start gugur, he won't be so depressed.Smart and sensitive, kan? Irshad not looking good but his mom said dah byk kurangnya.Pls doa.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Catatan hidup yang tidak mungkin luntur

My two years' project is coming to an end, InsyaAllah.I should not be whining how difficult the journey has been...we started with no money, no experience.By will of Allah, we have some money for two festivals.Kerja Allah, Allah akan bantu.Alhamdulillah.

I must record this...hari ini was tested to a certain limit (well..hari-hari pun for the last 2 years!) so when a friend text-ed pasal his schedule, I asked if anyone from my office contacted him since I had 1001 mcm probs at the moment.He said ada and added nanti hilanglah your 1001 masalah tu.Kah2.Sangat cute jawabannya itu! Sangat la juga tepat (masalah 1001 ini akan berakhir bila film events berakhir Sept 23).

I wanna move on! I wanna be free like an eagle.Eagle tu kan jahat burungnya? :)) Jadi baik pun orang pijat kepala kita, kan?

Tapi wanna, wanna ni biasanya kekal as wanna, wanna.

Nota kaki : Kita ingat semuanya straightforward with the winners - beritahu anda salah seorang pemenang, dia dtg, ambik hadiah dan balik.Tetapi tidak! Seorang ibu pemenang telah menelefon menyatakan anaknya tidak dibenarkan keluar dari kem latihan khidmat negara.I went OMG! Then I had to call HQ Kem Negara ni and memohon agar pelatih dibenar keluar sekejap utk ambik anugerah.My co-organiser pulak time nilah nak itu ini.Fening mcm tak cukup kaki tangan.But Dr Riza,Dr Aishah, Dr Farizah,Dr Maszlee semua rajin menolong. We went to see Prof Ridza on a different agenda ptg tadi.Ridza is so easy to work with.And he would come down to the ground check apa kita nak.Ridza is our Deputy Rector.

Sunday, September 08, 2013

Finishing touch, kenduri and economic stability

I went to pasar with Bibik this morning.Nik nmpk penat so I let him sleep in.Miss tali la kononnya tu. ;)

Lucky we booked ayam kg last week cos' we went late, semua dah habis except those reserved.Bagus arrangement mcm ni.We hv decided to eat ayam kg only after our friend told us dari mkn ayam hormon, lebih selamat mkn daging (which is bad too).He said organic chicken or ayam kg is safe.
Gayah rang and asked me to teman her to get Tan Sri Ani's approval signature for his memoirs to be published. Told her ada wedding noon ...can we balik by then? She said can.

We didn't get home till 1 pm.Dok berborak mcm2.Preps were made to launch the book soonest it's out. We have a few options.Nak nunggu Sakinah confirm who they want to help launch the book.

At the wedding do, bumped into rakan haji kita, Haji Z who is in the financial world.All this kecoh2 about Msian econ doing bad was nicely explained by Haji Z (a yuppy yg tak makan dek usia... he's very religious).This is the right time to buy gold investment account, katanya. He also said if India were badly hit economically, satu dunia kena.Msia will not be so badly affected like econ crisis in 1998, he said, echoing the voice of other economists we know.

Just spend wisely, folks.It's always good to save for rainy days.

Weekend functions

Saturday, 7/9/13

My Liverpudlian alumni organised a raya gathering at Singgahsana.We went a bit late so I missed some of the familar (and kabarnya new) faces.

I had to drop by the office to do some work.One of the students came to see me. She was directed to see me and ask if I could help her with her personal prob. (it's not your regular prob, ok?)I was clueless.Then she got upset over something I said and said something about Muslims ni munafiq and that the Christians are more generous.I said that's her opinion and I don't think it was fair to transfer her anger to me and tak pasal2 meletup pada orang tak kenal.I did try and call up a friend to see if she could help solve the prob but my friend pun said it's very tricky.

One of those days...

Meeting the founding members of ULMAA was nice.Mcm biasa, gelak ketawa.Datin Zuraida tersangatlah friendly.She said she met me before masa I organised the green energy talk at iium with Dato Aishah as one of the speakers.I tak ingat selain Amin, Aizi, Azhar, Dr. Cassim, Tan, Raj etc.Dr. Cassim plans to visit Kg Orang Asli with ULMAA and his NGO. Delesh ckp dah lama he planned that. :D  Delesh left Frost and Sullivan and joined Astro as a strategic planner.Nik and I usik dia mcm biasa.Yup, here's to a great friendship.

Malam: Nabil's barbecue bday party.I made salad resipi baru.Sedap (for me but the rest pun said nice).Yoghurt with lots of grapes both green and dark ones plus cherry tomatoes, carrots, cubed green apples, butterhead lettuce,mint leaves, onions, lemon juice and salt.I put some walnuts and raisins as well.Patut ada parsley as well, mustard, parmesan cheese. Nxt time lah.

Nadra continues to speak German with us.Hail Hitler! 

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

3 days retreat at Sama-Sama Hotel




The COCI team spent 3 days retreat at this wonderful hotel at KLIA (formerly Pan Pacific).I've never liked hotel food but here...masyaAllah..not only sedap but very healthily prepared too.I felt guilty as I enjoyed my meals..thinking of Sal and Irshad.

We completed our mission.Nik and Z tak percaya I worked all day and night.They always make fun of me, saying I play too much at work.Haha..dosa akukah if I enjoy my work?
The COCI gang berangan nak buat macam2 project. It's nice to be in a group which shares your interest and passion in life.Ada org nak buat trip ke Mongolia.:))

I drove back to IIUM from KLIA in the heavy downpour.Too much work at Cerdas and I'm glad my female colleagues are lending me a hand.May Allah bless them so.The kids are slowly returning.