From the desk of the Amazing ‘Ainur…

i’d like to publish a retraction…a few minutes ago i wrote on my previous entry that i read on just jared.com that Angelina Jolie has already given birth to twin girls in France…well, a few seconds ago i read on People.com that the birth rumours are not true!!!! hahahhahahaha…it’s a false alarm…this is what the article over on People.com says:
"Angelina has not given birth. She is fine, enjoying her home and her family in France,"

hahahahhahaaha…seriously…the just jared.com article even has the names of her babies…isla marcheline and amelie jane…hahahahaha….this is hilarious…where do they get these names from? the babies are not even out yet…

okay…that’s my retraction…keyword of the day: cross-reference….gotta go now…

‘Ainur

assalamualaikum w.b.t. and kia ora…

it’s 2.33 in the morning…and i’m lying on my bed (on top of my purple, flowery duvet, to be exact) in my room, which is one of the seven rooms in my parents’ house…at 2.30 i suddenly felt like writing…so here i am…writing an entry…my first blog entry in one year…

i felt like writing because i’m happy…im happy, which is a rare occurrence…i’m not a naturally happy person…i’m home…in my room…surrounded by my collection of dvds, cds, cassettes, novels, postcards, etc…right now, i feel like a consummate multi-tasker…i’m writing this and at the same time i’m reading Philippa Gregory’s ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ and reading an entry on just jared.com on Angelina Jolie’s newest babies…yep, she’s already given birth to her twin girls in France…and i’m listening to OneRepublic’s ‘Say All I Need’…excellent song…this song is going to be their third single, by the way…it’s gonna be out real soon…i also have a mug of iced nescafe beside me…in case i get thirsty…my mom made it for me before she went to bed…life, seriously, could not get any better than this…

and now i’m listening to one of the songs in the Backstreet Boys’ newest album…the song’s called ‘Panic’…it’s catchy…nick carter has a lot of solo parts  in this song, though…his voice is grating….he sounds like he’s singing through his nose…and now i’m listening to john mayer’s ’say’…that’s his newest single…and it’s awesome…A-W-E-S-O-M-E…

ok…it’s time to go back to the novel…this entry is getting nowhere…i’ve just realized that i’ve written total rubbish…before i go, though, i would like to congratulate syida and hana on their upcoming nuptials…congratulations!…and to my b.ed tesl cohort 2 friends: enjoy your break and don’t forget to practice your cricket!…that’s it, then…till next time…ciao…

‘Ainur Rahmah Ellias

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora…

I know I should do this last week…I meant to do this last week, but alas, I forgot…I let myself get

distracted…last week marked the 40^th anniversary of Israel’s ILLEGAL occupation of Palestinian lands (i.e.the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem)…Israel began their military occupation of these lands in 1967…40 years have passed…still no sign that the Israeli government is ready to relinquish their (ILLEGAL) hold over Palestinian lands…for 40 years the Palestinians are forced to live as refugees inside their own land…for 40 years they are subjected to all sorts of indignities and are forced to endure endless oppression and humiliation…think Israel’s checkpoints, curfews, closures, raids, “security fence” a.k.a separation wall/ apartheid wall, collective punishments…so, this is me saying “No!” to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands…and “No!” to Israel’s apartheid…enough’s enough…this has been going on for far too long…when the Palestinians suffer, they make the Israelis suffer…the IDF then step up their offensive on the Palestinians…and the Palestinians retaliate by stepping up their offensive on the Israelis…and we all know what will happen next…violence begets more violence…nothing good is going to come out of this…this has got to stop…so I’m saying “NO!” to Israel’s ILLEGAL occupation of Palestinian lands…it’s time to end the occupation…

while I’m at it, I might as well say “NO!” to other things…I’m also saying “NO!” to the following things:

-fighting between Palestinian rival factions (come on, guys…this is counterproductive…do you seriously think that this fighting is going to bolster your cause?)

-fighting between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq (there are other ways to have fun, you know)

-fighting in the name of religion and God (you people ought to be ashamed of yourselves…you give religion and God a bad rep…I’ve got two words for you: DIVINE RETRIBUTION…be afraid…be very, very afraid…)

-ethnic cleansing and genocide (think Darfur…if we let this continue, we are going to have another “Rwanda” weighing on our conscience)

-anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of racism…and discrimination on the basis of religion, race, nationality, sex, etc…and incitement…(nothing can justify these things…it doesn’t matter if we think we are right and other people are wrong or mistaken or abnormal…there’s no excuse for treating people like worthless trash…)

-nuclear warfare and arms races (sometimes the more is not the merrier) and wars (we cannot do these things and call ourselves civilized people)

-ALL forms of terrorism…that includes state-sponsored terrorism…no more bombings, hijackings of plane, abductions, grisly beheadings, etc…the US government pledge to stop terrorism but they themselves participate in terrorism (I consider going into other people’s countries and bombing their towns and villages as terrorism…that, and supporting other state(s) to perpetrate acts of terror)…how’s that for irony?

-women looking like stick insects…this whole ‘size-zero’ thing is sickening…thin I can accept…but I draw the line at stick-thin…I don’t get why any woman would want to subject herself to regimented and torturous diet…I don’t see anything good about starving yourself to death…life’s too short for diets…and remember, moderation is the key…

-all Lindsay Lohans, Britney Spears, Paris Hiltons, Nicole Richies of the world…what’s so cute about acting dumb?…dumbness is not an attractive quality in any woman…or man, for that matter…dumb is not hot…there’s no cure for idiocy…the thing that I find very, very disturbing is the fact that there are girls out there who look up to and aspire to be like these IT girls…they drive on the wrong side of the highway, do drugs, drink like there’s no tomorrow, get photographed panty-less, go in and out of hospitals all the time, go in and out of rehab all the time…wow, I get it…they are real model citizens…

-activities that destroy our environment…I’ve jumped on the bandwagon…I’m going green too…like Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio, I couldn’t think of anyone else…seriously, we’ve got to start paying more attention to our environment…you hear? no more open burning, excessive consumption of energy, excessive emission of CFC and carbon dioxide, couldn’t think of anything else…the Earth, which is currently the only planet in which we could live in, can no longer tolerate us and our destructive ways…let’s all go green…

That’s about all I could think of…my brain’s shutting down from lack of sleep…or too much sleep, I forgot which…feel free to add to my list, though…if you guys are on your break, enjoy your break…be safe…take good care of yourself…if you don’t do it, no one will…and go out and be happy…happiness is key…gotta go…

‘ainur rahmah ellias

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora….

Hello…the long-awaited winter break is finally here…I smell freedom…still have one more assignment to submit, though…next week…then I’m home free…the end of yet another trimester…that certainly makes for a good cause of celebration…I foresee hours of ‘HOUSE m.d.’ marathon and playing scrabble alone…yep…that’s my new obsession…playing scrabble alone…it’s fun…you should try it…that, and trying to set the record for personal best…it could be anything…how much mocha I drink in a day, how long I could go without talking (my personal best, minus sleeping time, is 8 hours), how many episodes of ‘HOUSE m.d.’ I could watch in one sitting, how much chocolate I could inhale in one sitting, etc…I like the idea of pushing limits…I try to do that whenever I can…you’d be surprised to discover just what you are capable of doing if you really give something, anything a go…

My personal best for how many episodes of ‘HOUSE m.d’ I could watch in one sitting is 15…I stopped only because I was sleepy…I was impressed with my own tenacity…I was very proud of my own “achievement”…God knows that that doesn’t happen often…. seriously, I’m hooked on the series…it’s really clever…you know what attracts me to the series in the first place?…i mean, aside from the obvious fact that it’s clever?…Dr. Gregory House, Head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital…it’s not often that you get a main character who’s all screwed-up…that’s what or who House is…he’s a deeply-flawed character….he’s the kind of person you’d love to hate…but instead of hating him, you find yourself liking him…you like him for all the wrong reasons…I mean, he’s arrogant, narcissistic, abrasive, condescending, manipulative, sardonic (I’m running out of adjectives, here)…his behaviour borders on antisocial…he’s a doctor with no bedside manners…if that’s not enough, he also happens to be a drug addict…there’s a reason why his colleagues and patients call him a selfish jerk, a manipulative bastard and an ass…he has little to recommend him…but I like him anyway…he is the very definition of an anti-hero…but he is my hero…

I like him because he’s tenacious…he’s willing to do anything to save his patients… sure, he breaks laws, violates all ethical and moral codes known to mankind, manipulates people around him, doesn’t take “no” for an answer, browbeats people (he all but shoves his ideas down people’s throat)…but he gets things done…he does those things to save people…and he doesn’t do it to be thanked…he doesn’t do it to get approval…he does it because it’s his job…he does it because it’s right…he is also intelligent…and he knows it…and he lets other people know it too…this is a guy who knows that he’s good…and that other people think he’s good…self-doubt is not an issue for this guy…he doesn’t believe in humility, either…he won’t admit that he’s wrong (most of the time, anyway)…even when a treatment is not working, he will not say that he’s wrong…he’ll just say that he hasn’t found the right answer yet…but he will, eventually…clever…he doesn’t think that he’s capable of screwing up…I admire people like House…I also like the way he keeps pushing people’s limits…if one of his staff screws up, he torments them…he reminds them every chance he gets of their screw-ups…and his words sting…he makes their lives a living hell, basically…but he doesn’t do that to crush them…he doesn’t let things go because he wants them to face up to what they did…he wants them to feel bad because in their line of work, one tiny mistake could cost someone their life…he wants them to feel guilty because guilt keeps them on their toes… it keeps them from making the same mistake again…he pushes his team because he wants them to work hard to keep their job…he knows they’re good, that’s why he’s always pushing them to step up their game…he’s shrewd, that guy…he also doesn’t believe in grey areas and middle grounds…things are either black or white…there’s only ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, no ‘in-betweens’…it’s what you do and what you don’t do…if something is not right, then it’s wrong…did I mention that he’s brilliant?

House also happens to have an outrageous sense of humour…he’s hilarious…you cannot believe the things that come out of that guy’s mouth…he makes fun of absolutely everything and everyone…no one’s safe from him…not even Wilson, his bestest buddy…he says funny things, he does funny stuff…he’s funny…he’s a doctor and he avoids seeing patients like the plague…he usually eats lunch and watches tv in a coma patient’s room…he induces migraine headache in that coma patient so he could prove that the drug that could supposedly prevent migraine does not work…he covers his steak with lots of salad so that the cashier can’t see the steak (and can’t charge him for it)…he orders an MRI for the entire maternity ward just because he feels like it…he walks around in a wheelchair for a week just to get his parking space back…and how many doctors go around saying things like “Do I have to spell it out for you? Pheochromocytoma. Actually, I’m not sure how you spell it” or  “I was curious. Since I’m not a cat, that’s not dangerous” or “You know how they say, "you can’t live without love"? Well, oxygen is even more important” or "On average, drug addicts are stupid…. I believe drug addicts get sick. Actually, for some reason they tend to get sick more often than non-drug addicts”…I’m a sucker for people with a great, albeit warped, sense of humour…and then there’s the eyes…he’s got the most beautiful pair of eyes I’ve ever seen on any living man or woman…they’re blue!…did I mention that his eyes are beautiful?…

You know what? I actually don’t know what made me write this…an entire entry dedicated to this one man…a fictional man, to boot…wow…I actually wrote an entire entry about a man who doesn’t even exist…this is a personal best…actually, this proves what I’ve always known: I’m pathetic and I need to get a life in the worst way…I’d just hit ‘10’ on my freak-o-meter…I should probably take up a hobby (or multiple hobbies) or something…any suggestion? I really should stop…if I write some more, people would start questioning my mental health…I’m fine, really…just bored…and uninspired…and just a little homesick (even doctors can’t cure this one)…and infatuated with this really great guy, Gregory House…buhbye, now…

‘ainur rahmah ellias

-i miss my parents and brothers and sisters-

Assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora…

Hello, ladies and gentlemen and assorted others…I’m nearing the end of my easter break…already…I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, time really does fly when we’re having fun…and I really am having fun…I don’t do much actually but, still, I’m having the time of my life…I don’t travel anywhere, I don’t go out and meet new people, I don’t buy new books or watch new movies (though I did buy new CDs)…but I’m having fun…just spending time with myself and getting together and hanging out with a small group of pals…so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank nada, omma, fathi, mimi, sheila, kak ina and ana shirin for making my easter break fun and eventful…

I had the best time when nada and I tried to make bread/bun…we hosted a western-themed lunch party…and we decided to make my mommy’s “special” buns…I’ve never tried it before and I didn’t know that it would be hellish…the process of making ‘em, I mean…the buns are heavenly, the process of making ‘em is hellish…we tried making them six times… failure and acute heartache multiplied by six…that’s why I hate cooking…it’s just one drama after another (it is precisely because of this attitude that I cannot cook to save my life…my parents are not worried…yet…so I thought that maybe it’s not time for me to panic yet)…on the day that we were supposed to have the lunch party, we FINALLY got it right…thank God…I’ve lost count of how many times we changed our flour and yeast…we spent hours kneading that by the end of it, our arms were deliciously sore and limp and sometimes I felt like they weren’t even there…kneading bread dough makes for a very rigorous exercise…i think that kneading is the best way to go if you are aiming for more toned and muscular arms…though I’m not sure that muscular arms would look good on girls…unless you are a swimmer or a gymnast or a tennis player or a weight lifter or you’re Angelina Jolie, in which case people would forgive and overlook your muscly arms…sorry…that’s me digressing…

I’m sure you are all aware of the Virginia tech shooting…what US is now calling the deadliest campus massacre in all of its history…probably one of the deadliest mass massacres in the United States…and it happened just days away from the 8^th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting…which is today, April 20th…four days to be exact…it couldn’t have happened at a worse time…it was a catastrophic event, wasn’t it? 32 people shot in cold blood…then the shooter shot himself in the head…I hate to sound insensitive…I know that Americans are still mourning and all…but so many things about the Va. Tech shooting perplexed me… the first shooting happened at 7.15 am at one of the students’ dormitories…two people were killed…and the second one happened at 9.20 am at one of the academic blocks…there’s a two-hour gap between the first and second shooting…a lockdown was imposed only after the second shooting…can you imagine?…they knew that two people were already dead and there’s every possibility that a gunman’s on the loose in the campus ground and still classes went on like nothing had happened…I thought that university people are supposed to be smart people…the worst thing was most students and lecturers didn’t know about the shooting…the university people were very economical with the facts…bad, bad call…if the students and lecturers were informed about the first shooting they wouldn’t have turned up to class…they wouldn’t be sitting in the classrooms when the shooter decided to go on  a killing spree…some of the survivors wouldn’t have to witness the gruesome murder of their professors and classmates…imagine being there and seeing this guy storming into your classroom and shooting your lecturer and friends and not being able to help them…you were as vulnerable as everybody else in the classroom…you were at the mercy of the shooter, basically…I can’t even begin to imagine how helpless and hopeless they must feel…I wouldn’t want to wish that on anyone…had they been informed, these survivors could now live in blissful ignorance…

New videos, photos, letters and testimonies that have surfaced in the aftermath of the shooting painted the shooter as a loner…a weirdo…and possibly a psychopath…the FBI are now saying that he might have been picked on, bullied, probably isolated…he never fitted in…he didn’t feel at ease with himself, with other Va. Tech students…he didn’t “belong”…that’s what’s so tragic about this shooting rampage…I make it a point not to make bad things worse…if I see people acting weirdly, I try with all my might not to make him feel bad about himself…try not to embarrass him…try not to single him out…I try to be nice to them but if they don’t respond, I just let them be…I try to remember the ”do unto others….” rule…doesn’t come up to scratch sometimes, but i try…eric harris and dylan klebold, the columbine shooters, weren’t with the “in” crowd…they weren’t jocks, they probably weren’t the most outgoing and easygoing of boys…that doesn’t mean that other people can bully them…or laugh at them…what if they have “strange” interests? That doesn’t give other people the license to label them as social outcasts….guess what? Sometimes hurtful labels like that hurt people…hurt them so bad that they’d feel embolden to seek their revenge…and God help you then…so what if this Cho guy was a bit strange?…i’m not asking people to go out of their way to be nice to him or make him feel welcomed…he probably wouldn’t appreciate those kind of gestures…just don’t look at him like he’s a psycho…don’t pick on him….don’t make him feel like he’s the lowest form of life…don’t give him a reason to be aggressive and violent…I know that this sounds real good in theory but I really believe that it could work…what I’m asking is for people to be nice to each other…treat people with the respect and courtesy that they deserve…we’ve seen people get violent and kill just because they were mistreated in some form or another…surely there’s a lesson to be learned from these shooting rampages…the problem is we never learn…we see it clearly and still we ignore it…what does that say about us?

Another thing that pisses me off is the availability of guns…anybody can own a gun in the States…that right is enshrined in their constitution…every individual has a right to keep and bear arms…a lot of people think that they should make much-needed amendments to their constitution…I don’t think that that’s gonna help matters because the possibility of them amending their constitution is zilch…they won’t change it…not in my lifetime, at least…I’m ok with that…the thing that I disagree with however is how they make it so easy for people to own a gun…there’s currently 200 MILLION guns in private ownership in the States…that’s a lot of guns…sometimes these guns fell into the wrong hands…they often do, actually…they rarely check for criminal records, trace history of mental illnesses, etc…that’s when all hell breaks loose…one NRA rep said that Virginia’s probably the easiest place in the world to get a gun…the guy who sold the Glock to Cho said that he didn’t hesitate because Cho looked so normal…of course he looked normal, you moron…people who go into gun shops usually do…if they don’t, they won’t get their guns…they may be mentally unstable, but they’re not stupid…do they need to have the word “DERANGED MANIAC” tattooed on their forehead for the owners of gun stores to realize that they can’t sell guns to just about everybody? imagine what guns in the hands of convicted felons, jealous or furious husbands/wives, aspiring robbers/rapists/gunmen, troubled apathetic teenagers etc. can do…it’s one thing that they make it legal for people to own a gun, but making it readily available for ALL KINDS of people is another thing altogether…

And to think that Bush justifies his war plans by saying that other people’s countries need fixing…what about your own country then?…my advice to you, Mr. President, is to stop finding faults with other people…stop and look at your own backyard…you scorned people in the middle east because they teach their children to play with guns…you forget that war is the norm, rather than the exception, there…they are living in a perpetual state of war…they are living in the most dangerous place in the world, thanks to you and your buddy…that’s their excuse…what’s yours?…you prided yourself on being one of the safest countries in the world…what’s with the guns then?…fix your own country first, sir, and then we’ll talk…fix your problems first and then you can meddle in other people’s businesses…if you don’t, then I know of a name perfectly suited for people like you…and that’s a HYPOCRITE…..

‘ainur rahmah ellias

assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora…

hello…how’s it going? (in true Kiwi style)…today’s march 31st…today’s my close friend, Ain’s, birthday…happy birthday, Ain…and today is the 12th day of the month of Rabiul-Awwal in the Hijri calendar…which means that today is my beloved Prophet Muhammad’s birthday…happy birthday to Him too…and happy birthday also to whoever’s celebrating their birthday today…i’m going to take this opportunity to wish my older sister "happy birthday" in advance…her birthday’s not until next week…and my younger sister, Naiim, too…her birthday is at the end of April, but i don’t care…so, happy birthday, Naiim and Kak Najah…now i’m satisfied…

there’s a lot of things going on in the Middle East right now…there’s the Arab League peace initiative, which is rejected by the Israeli government…then Ehud Olmert, the PM of Israel, calling Ismail Haniyeh, his Palestinian counterpart, a "terrorist"…then a close ally of Olmert, Haim Ramon, was convicted of sexual misconduct…before this, the President of Israel was forced to take  a leave of absence when news surfaced that he had raped one of his female aides and sexually assaulted a few others…Olmert himself is currently under investigation over allegations of cronyism (funny that…he often comdemns the Palestinian Authority for their supposed corruption…looks like a classic example of "the pot calling the kettle black" to me…), then there’s the "kidnapping" of a BBC journalist in Gaza…and the kidnapping of British sailors by the Iranian Govenment…were they or were they not in Iranian waters?…can’t wait to see how this crisis is going to end…

what i’m really interested in at this moment is the rejected Arab League peace initiative…seriously…i think it’s high time that Israel and its Arab neighbours stop fighting…the Arab countries made it perfectly clear in their proposal that they are going to normalize ties with Israel and accept Israel’s existence if Israel withdrew to its pre-1967 border…and accept the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state and accept a just solution to the "Palestinian refugees" problem…sounds like a fair bargain to me…but Olmert has a problem with the withdrawal to pre-1967 border and the Palestinian refugees thingy…so he rejected it and said that it was a "diktat"…how convenient…let me make it clear to you guys…when Israel triumphed over Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, it seized the remaining 22 percent of historic Palestine that was not part of Israel proper…some of this area were later annexed into Israel and some (i.e. the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) were placed under Israel’s military occupation…till this day…the Israeli Government disengaged from Gaza at the end of 2005 (the settlers may not be there, but the Israeli Army is still very much there)…the West Bankers still live under military occupation…this year marks the 40th year of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands…this occupation contravenes the international law…several international laws, to be precise…the UN has time and again passed resolutions condemning Israel’s illegal appropriation and annexation of Palestinian lands…the Israeli Government needs to withdraw because their hold of these lands is illegal…it’s as simple as that…ILLEGAL…which part of I-L-L-E-G-A-L do they not understand?

the Arab League peace deal is a classic case of quid pro quo…you give us our lands back, and we leave you alone…isn’t that what Israel wants? to be left alone? Israel wants Palestinian "terrorists" to stop bombing Israeli civilians…then Israel has to stop giving them a reason to bomb its civilians…cease your occupation and they’ll desist from bombing you…if the Israeli Army keeps treating the Palestinians like worthless trash (Amnesty reports that everday at least one Palestinian dies under Israel’s occupation), then they are going to be treated like trash too…it’s the first rule of physics, people…there is no action without reaction…so, that’s why i think this whole thing needs to end…the Israelis are weary of living under constant threat and fear for their lives…the Palestinians are weary of living under occupation…the Palestinians living in the Diaspora are tired of being seen as unwelcome visitors and a nuisance to their host countries…i think i’m right in saying that both parties want out of this conflict…if they want out, they’ve got to lose their rejectionist stance…there’s no other way around it…they’ve got to work with each other…Olmert’s refusal to recognize the Palestinian Unity Government as a legitimate negotiating partner won’t help matters….and the Palestinians, for God’s sake, please stop fighting and killing each other…what’s the point of having a Palestinian state if there are no Palestinian left to enjoy it?…you’ve got to stop screwing each other up…you’re all working towards the same goal…you might want to consider working WITH each other…that might help…

on a lighter note, there’s a new movie out called "becoming jane"…it’s about the life of jane austen, my favourite author in the whole wide world…syada, it’s a gorgeous story…you and i are going to love it…i haven’t watched it yet, actually..but i have seen the trailer…and it’s gorgeous…saying that i like jane austen is probably understating it…i adore her works…i adore her style of writing…her wacky witticisms…her cynical view on the society in which she lived…her sometimes pessimistic outlook on human nature…i love it…there’s something refreshing about her…she’s a non-conformist…she dared to defy long-established conventions…she didn’t do things just because other people were doing it…she’s smart…she, in short, had all the qualities that i respect in a human being…this movie, "becoming jane", is about her romance (or alleged romance) with an Irishman, Thomas Lefroy…they actually don’t have enough evidence to suggest that this liaison did happen, but they decided to do a movie on it anyway…funny…but if it did happen, then i know where she got the inspiration to write her brilliant works from…

ok…time to go…it’s a rather long entry, is it not?…i’ve run out of ideas anyway…perfect timing…go watch the movie when it comes out…i’m not forcing you or anything…if you don’t want to watch it, that’s fine by me…i’m actually against the use of force except in cases where serious provocations are involved…so, i’ll say my goodbye now…goodbye!

"Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure to be kindly spoken of." (jane austen)

"If a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to Yes, she ought to say No, directly." (jane austen)

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me that trouble of liking them." (jane austen)

‘Ainur Rahmah Ellias

assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora…

hello, people…something new happened to me this afternoon…i got tagged!!!…by my dear friend soya…thank you, soya…i’m flattered and honoured…i have an assignment due this coming monday that i have no intention of doing…i know i should do it but i want to write this entry first…because this is waaayyyy more interesting than the topic of my research paper…now i don’t know how this whole thing works but as i understand it i have to write a blog about six weird things about me?…and then i have to "tag" six other people?…is that how it works?…assuming that the answer is "yes, ‘Ainur", i’m gonna try and give this my best shot…okay…here goes nothing…

six weird things about me:

1- if i like something, i don’t just "like" it, i get obsessed with it…i don’t simply become a fan of that thing, i become a fanatic…sounds scary, doesn’t it?…now that goes for actors, singers, authors, FOOD and almost everything else…if, for example, i like an actor…chances are i’ll watch every single movie or series he’s in, know his middle name, know the names of his parents and siblings, know which high school or college he attended, know his qualifications, favourite food, nicknames, past jobs…basically his whole life story…i’m that way with food too…once, when i was in ipba, my best friend, zue, asked me to try her "ayam halia"…i liked it so much that that’s the only dish i’d order when i went to scud…for lunch and dinner…for, like, half-a-year…my current obsession is toasted bagel with butter…i’m waiting to see how long this one would last…

2- everyday, before i go to bed, i’ll read at least two pages from two of my favourite novels…here in nz, that means ‘pride and prejudice’ or ‘to kill a mockingbird’ (i left my other favourite novels at home in penang) …everyday…without fail…i’ll just pick a page, randomly, and start reading…i’ve tried to kick the habit, but you know what they say…old habits die hard…i can now proudly say that i know these beautiful stories by heart…jane austen and harper lee will be proud of me…

3- i don’t drink plain water…at all…i can’t swallow them…that means i don’t drink mineral water or tap water or the water from water coolers…i’ll drink them if they are cold (like ice cold) but if they are the room-temperature-type water, i won’t…simple as that…i just can’t swallow them…my throat can’t accept plain water…i know they are supposed to be good for you, and i have tried to force myself to drink them, but my efforts so far have proven to be fruitless…i avoided plain water like the plague…still do, actually…

4- i like going to class…i do…seriously…even if the class sucks…the lecturer sucks and the classmates suck even more…i’ll still look forward to going to that class…i even like the whole "pre-class" rituals…like reading hundreds of pages of lecture materials, doing tutorial assignments, preparing questions to ask to my tutors (although i usually don’t ask them), choosing which tee-shirts and scarves to wear (serious stuff here…your shirt and scarf have to match…)…i love those stuff…note: loving those stuff doesn’t in any way mean that i do them…you understand…sometimes laziness gets in the way…i love classes in general but that doesn’t mean that i attend all of them…in fact, i sometimes make up the most ridiculous of excuses to get out of it…i’m a professional class-skipper…and i’m proud of that fact…

5- i love to watch guys with curly hair…i’ve been doing this since i was a little girl…they don’t even have to be good-looking…i don’t do anything else to them, i just watch them…their hair, to be precise…discreetly, of course… harmless fun…it is my opinion that guys with curly hair are better looking than the ones with straight hair…i don’t care if their curly hair are unkempt, i’ll still watch them…i sound like a sick pervert, don’t i?…my first favourite footballer was Emmanuel Petit…a Frenchmen…gorgeous curly locks…brilliant football player…Roger Federer’s hair is gorgeous too…JOHN MAYER’s hair is beeeaaauuuutifuuullll….i love his hair…my MEDIA lecturer had a really, really lovely curly hair…but he’s my lecturer, so i pretented not to notice his hair…i still looked but i didn’t do it often because i felt guilty…sometimes, in class, when i get bored (lectures sometimes have that effect on me) and about to fall into a stupor, i search the hall for guys with curly hair…i count them and sometimes, when i feel like it, i put them into categories (e.g. brown, blond, shoulder-length, tied in a ponytail, unwashed, etc)…

6-  i like to hear stories about chaos, catastrophes and destruction…when things go bad…like volcanic eruptions, landslides, typhoons, car accidents, plane crashes, wars, the occasional fire drills, collapsed cameras (and cameramen), flying roofs, conspiracy theories (i don’t always believe them because they are usually rubbish, but i read them anyway), scandals, etc…for some rather perverted reasons, i seem to like hearing stories about this sort of stuff…doesn’t mean i like them…in fact, i feel bad that they happen…but i like knowing about them…make sense?…i follow the kennedy family saga till this day…the idea of a cursed family is very attractive to me…i follow the wars in the middle east and africa…there’s this whole "sharks attacking human" thing going on in australia now that i also follow…or celebrity divorces…i enjoy reading about the occasional environmental disasters…like melted glaciers or bush fires or sinkholes…important stuff, right?

so…those are six weird things about me..it took a lot of courage for me to write them down…i had to go through a lengthy process of soul-searching before i could write this list…i don’t understand why i do what i do…habit, i guess…i sometimes think i’m weird…none of my siblings are like that…not one…thank God…so i’m going to tag my friends now…let’s see:

1- zue  2- nada  3- syada  4- nisa  5- aini  6- ana

so here are the rules:

"Rules & Regulations:Each player of this game starts out by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog!"

good luck guys…hope you have fun listing six weird things about you…and thanks, soya…

‘ainur rahmah ellias

assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora…

hello…people…i hope everything’s fine and dandy in your life…hope your life’s better than mine is at the moment…okay…enough of this gloomy talk…no, actually, i intended to write a rather gloomy entry…i wanted to write something that mirrors what i’m feeling now…you don’t have to read this entire blog, you know…you can stop now…i won’t know, so i’m pretty sure i won’t mind…

you know how sometimes you feel like the weight of the world’s resting on your shoulder? that’s kind of what i’m feeling now…okay, you know what? i suddenly don’t feel like writing about myself..so i’m gonna write about very general things here…things like problems…everybody has problems…we may not have problems of the same magnitude but we all have problems…let’s not forget that…i’m going to take a stand here and say that problems are bad…they are not fun…and that’s why i don’t like them…problems make us feel sad and depressed…and, forgive me for pointing out the obvious, sometimes when we are sad/depressed, we do stupid things…things that we might regret later…

you know how people say that every cloud has a silver lining? when our lives are cloudy (when we have problems), we have the tendency to forget about the silver lining part…we forget to look at the bright side…we even forget that there’s a bright side…how convenient…we may not see it at the time, but we have to remember that the clouds will go away…first, there’s the clouds…which are followed by the rain…and what happens after the rain stops? the sky clears and the sun comes out again…you know that…elementary, my dear Watson…so whatever you do, don’t forget that problems are temporary in nature…soon, your life will be back to normal…and THEN you’d wish that you have problems…you know, to spice things up a little bit…kidding…

you guys do know that all those problems are there to test us, don’t you?…i know you do because you guys are smart..it’s God’s way of testing our resolve and strengthening our will…they are there to help us to be stronger and better human beings…but there will be times when we might feel that our problems are too much for us to handle…that we don’t have enough strength or courage to tackle ‘em…or sometimes we do have the strength, but we don’t know how to tackle ‘em…we don’t know what to do…you know what you should do?…recognise the fact that you have problems and reach out for help…there are people out there who, if you’d only let them, are more than willing to help you…they’d gladly prop you up in your time(s) of need…but first, you have to let them in…they can’t help you if they don’t know what’s up (or down) or if you don’t let them…asking for help is not a sign of weakness…i’ve learnt that we don’t have to be strong all the time…sometimes, the best thing you could do, even if you’re a good driver, is let other people take over the steering wheel…you know, when your hands are shaky (continue driving and you’ll cause an accident) or you’re really bad at reading maps (continue driving and the next thing you know, you’re in the middle of nowhere)…just let other people help…what’s wrong with that?   

it also helps if, through all these difficult times, you are able to keep a clear head…it’s important that you don’t lose your focus (and lucidity)…that you don’t wallow in self-pity (because other people have problems too, you know…you’re not special)…that you don’t entertain negative thoughts…because negativity won’t get you anywhere…you’ll only spiral deeper into depression…and that’s not a good place to be in, let me tell you…my father once recommended that i read one of his favourite books (he has three copies of the same book, that’s how much he likes it)…it’s called "Don’t Be Sad"…it’s written by Sheikh ‘A-idh Al-Qarni…it’s a brilliant book…there’s a poem that the author wrote that i really2 like…i posted it on my profile…you should read it…then there’s two things that he said that i find particularly interesting:

“Whatever has befallen you was not meant to escape you, and whatever has escaped you was not meant to befall you: If this belief were to be firmly ingrained in your heart, then all hardship and difficulty would become ease and comfort.”

“In this life, if you inwardly disparage something you can’t have, its value will diminish for you.  And if you are contented with not getting something that you really wanted, then your heart will find solace.”

well…that’s about all i have time for…it’s getting late…i should stop…oh..i also found a poem that i like and i’m going to include it here…sorry about the gloomy tone of this entry…life isn’t supposed to be bright all the time (that’s what makes it fun!)…and so’s my blog…okay…ilalliqa’…

"Allah’s Knows Best"

ALLAH knows what is best for us
So why should we complain?
We always want the sunshine
But He knows there must be rain.

We always want laughter
and the merriment of cheer
but our heart will lose their tenderness
If we never shed a tear.

ALLAH tests us often
with suffering and sorrow
He tests us not to punish us
but to help us meet tomorrow.

For growing trees are strenghtened
if they can withstand the storm
and the sharpness of the chisel
gave the marble its grace and form.

ALLAH tests us often
and for every pain He gives us
provided we are patient
Is followed by rich gain
So whenever we feel that
everything is going wrong
It is just ALLAH’S way to make our spirit strong.

‘ainur rahmah ellias 

assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora….

hello…it’s been three months since i last posted an entry…wow…i like that…proves something that i’ve always known…’consistent’ is not my middle name…i’m sitting down to write this not because i feel like writing…but because i desperately want to go to sleep but i couldn’t…i was fast asleep, you see, when my alarm clock went off at 1.45 am…the thing is, i set it for 5.30 am…can somebody please explain to me why that happened?…and now i can’t go back to sleep because i don’t feel sleepy anymore…i hate alarm clocks…you know how they say that warm milk can make you feel sleepy?…complete bulls**t…i tried that and it only made me feel nauseous…

i turned on the tv while drinking my warm milk and ‘FOX’ was commenting about this year’s Grammy awards…john mayer won two awards…yeay!!!!…well-deserving awards, if you ask me…the dixie chicks won FIVE awards…good for them…what an excellent comeback…what a way to shut their ill-wishers up…but those creeps on FOX, with all their bootlicking ways, don’t like the fact that the chicks won all three of the major awards…naturally…they complained that the grammy is becoming more political…i don’t think that THAT is their real concern…what they don’t like really is the fact that not only are the artists becoming political, they are leaning towards the left…horror…

do you know why the dixie chicks were boycotted way back in 2003?…2003, as you might recall, was the year that George W Bush waged war against Iraq…in one of their concerts, natalie maines, the lead singer of the chicks, said that "we are ashamed that the president of the US of A comes from texas" (i’m not sure if those were her exact words, but she said something to that effect)…they are from texas, you see…so, of course, people slammed them for being unpatriotic…funny that…(i don’t remember which US Presidents said this but he said that to stand by your president when you know that he’s wrong is not only unpatriotic, it’s also a treason)…so they boycotted them…some lunatics who were pissed off by maine’s comment even sent them death threats…i swear those american extremists are getting funnier by the day…   

the dixie chicks released an album last year after a three-year hiatus and it was good…which, i’m guessing, is why they won five grammys…their songs responded to the whole ‘Bush-bashing’ thing…listen to their first single off that album, ‘not ready to make nice’…it’s great…if i were the chicks, i would say something like that too…and like them, i wouldn’t apologise either…i would be embarassed if my president is a mad warmonger…it’s bad enough that he’s not smart (and THAT’s putting it mildly…do you know that he only got into Yale because his father was a Yale alumnus?…do you know that he can’t pronounce ‘nuclear’ correctly?…do you know that he said "our children IS…"? hello?!!! Subject-Verb Agreement…)…i like to watch david letterman’s section of ‘great moments in presidential speech’…you wouldn’t believe how simple-minded (a euphemism for ’stupid’) Bush is…i would be ashamed too if my president has a tendency to go and wreak havoc in other people’s country…he went into afghanistan and look what happened…it’s not any more stable than it was five years ago…then he went into iraq and iraq today is a quagmire…and now he’s threatening to attack iran and syria, countries belonging to the exclusive ‘axis of evil’…with a president like that, is it any wonder that more and more americans are leaning towards the left?…is it that hard to see why there are more and more left-leaning people in america today?…so i say good for you, john mayer (whose song ‘waiting on the world to change’ has a profound anti-war message) and good for you, the dixie chicks…anyway, i thought america is supposed to be the beacon of democracy… and isn’t democracy about, among a great many other things, freedom of speech?…so why all the anger and hostility?…those people are just exercising their rights to free speech….surely Bush’s fans could understand that…

see? that’s what happens when i couldn’t sleep…when i couldn’t sleep, i talk…non-stop…and since i have no one to talk to at this hour, i write…okay..and now i need to stop…because i’ve run out of things to say…and i also need to pray…and then i’ll try to go back to sleep…and one more thing before i go…i’m happy with this year’s grammy…john mayer wins, christina aguilera wins, the dixie chicks wins…i have no complaints…by the way, john mayer attended the awards ceremony in an Armani tuxedo and a pair of Nike sneakers…dashing!…

okay…until next time…

‘ainur.rahmah.ellias

assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora…

hello, people…it’s been a while since i last posted an entry…didn’t really feel like writing…there’s nothing to write about, really…i have no life to speak of…i seemed to be doing pretty much the same stuff day after day for almost three months…while other people were out doing whatever it was that people do outside the house(s), i was inside my room doing absolutely nothing…not that it’s anyone’s fault, but my own…i just couldn’t be bothered…it’s a classic case of "if it’s not broken don’t fix it"…since i was perfectly comfortable indoors, i saw no reason to go outside…except to attend my classes, sit my exams and complete my school placement thingy…not much of a life really, come to think about it…

my school placement ‘thing’ went great…met a few exceptionally hilarious students…i particularly loooooved the way the students in the class that i was observing responded to an activity in which they were asked to make up alternative storylines or characters or endings to ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’…one guy suggested that they change the wordings…since people today are so concerned about being ‘politically correct’, he suggested changing the word ‘dwarfs’ to ‘vertically-challenged chaps’…one girl suggested altering the ending…she said that instead of the "happily ever after" ending commonplace in all fairytales, Snow White should sue the Prince (who kissed her while she was sleeping in her glass coffin) for SEXUAL HARASSMENT!…the Prince has no business kissing Snow White when she doesn’t even know him and when she was sleeping and obviously defenseless!…this argument will surely hold up in court…one suggested that Snow White should sue her father for CHILD ABUSE…he failed to take good care of Snow White and left her to the mercy of her evil stepmother and didn’t even have the grace to look for her when she ran into the forest…clever, isn’t it?…absolutely spot on…one student even when so far as to suggest that Snow White could be a guy…who says that guys can’t be as fair as snow?..who says that guys can’t be called ‘Snow’?…true…today a lot of girls have names like ‘Sam’, ‘Alex’, ‘Robin’…and those are names previously exclusive to guys…there’s no reason why we can’t have a guy named or nicknamed ‘Snow White’…Wentworth Miller’s character in ‘Prison Break’ is nicknamed ‘Snowflake’…see the logic?…i was laughing soooo hard and loud that i could wake the dead…how i wish i was that smart and creative when i was at that age…

since my summer break started about a week ago, i’ve been reading ‘pride and prejudice’ and ‘to kill a mockingbird’, two literary masterpieces i daresay, everyday….that’s right…every single day…i just looooove these two novels…don’t you?…now that we (by we, i mean the b.ed tesl cohort 2 students) don’t have to study ‘Pride’ for ES anymore, i’d recommend that you guys reread it…if you only read it once, you are bound to miss some things…and those things that you missed the first time around could in all likelihood be the very thing that makes ‘Pride’ so endearing…don’t you just loove MR. DARCY?…by you, i mean girls…he’s so romantic…and smart….and witty…and stable (that’s important)…and kind…and he writes "long, charming" letters (i don’t know if this is a good thing or not)…MR DARCY, in short, is the epitome of the perfect gentleman…and so is MR KNIGHTLEY in ‘Emma’ (another one of Austen’s gems)…and EDWIN in ‘Mansfield Park’ (yet another one of Austen’s clever works)…and HENRY CRAWFORD in ‘Mansfield Park…too bad he doesn’t get the girl…i was rooting for him…i was on ‘Team Henry’ for the whole of the second half of ‘Mansfield Park’…’to kill a mockingbird’ is a ‘must-read’ for everybody…if i were to become a politician or government minister one day (God forbid!), the first thing i’d do is to force everyone to read ‘to kill a mockingbird’…people who refuse to do so will be jailed…kids in secondary school will have to study the book for their LitComp…i realise that this is slightly radical, which is why i’ve decided not to become a politician…not that i have what it takes to be one…seriously, if we are to live harmoniously together, we should first read the book…i really like what Atticus Finch says to his kids, Jem and Scout: "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird"…it’s probably one of the most quoted lines from the book…

i’ve also been listening to a lot of new songs…panic! at the disco has some really, really cool songs…’but it’s better if you do’ is my personal favourite…if you decide to check out this band’s music, check out their song titles…if ever there is a competition for the longest song title, this band would win hands down…here’s some example : ‘Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off’ and ‘There’s A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered, Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought Of It Yet’…see what i mean?…the fray is awesome…i like their melodic/pop/rock/ music…their songs are mind-blowingly good…i think so, at least…if you are checking out the fray’s music, take time to read their lyrics…gorgeous lyrics…john mayer’s new album is brilliant…then again, all of his albums are brilliant…you cannot expect anything less than brilliant from him…his new hairstyle is brilliant as well…read mr. mayer’s lyrics…he’s a master lyricist…christina aguilera’s new album is also excellent…she sounded more jazz-y and soul-y in this album…while Christina’s out celebrating her musical success, Britney is out there battling that lousy-reason-for-a-human-being-that-she-calls-her-husband for custody of her two kids…oooohhh…that’s cruel…but it’s true…and truth hurts…

see?…the things that i’ve been doing these past few months are things that you do within the four walls of your house/room…being indoors is fun…we should all try it sometimes…i’ve ran out of ideas…should probably stop now…to all britney spears’ fans, i’m sorry…didn’t mean to offend you…well…until next time (don’t know when that will be), au revoir…

‘ainur.rahmah.ellias