Two Common Things

Assalamualaikum, and greetings.

Well two common things about this post and the time I have left in Sydney is; that they won't be long.

This post serves just as a friendly note to my dearest readers that I'm still around, I need you to forgive me for not writing for a long while, and that I will be back writing very soon, taking a few days to complete what I hope will be a commentary on current happenings of course. And maybe another about my reflection after about two years of living an 8-hours-flight away from home. Nah that's not really far compared to some others living continents away from home. But yes, wherever you are there's always something to learn about.

My stay in Sydney is coming to an end, in December my cohort friends and I will be making our way home to dear Malaysia. I still remember posting an entry when I was about to fly for Sydney. It was raining, I was writing it in my teaching college, and it doesn't feel like two years ago. But for relatives and good friends waiting in Malaysia, two years seems to not move at all, it's totally a different story.

I'm trying to keep this entry simple because I need to continue reading. But you know how I love keeping you reading my long entries, ehe! Okay not today. ;)

So if it doesn't take much of your time I kindly ask of your favour to say a little prayer for our fellow brothers and sisters in Gaza, Syria, Burma and everywhere. I will talk more, I know there's a lot about this to discuss, but later if you don't mind. In the meantime please pray for me and my friends too, some of us finished their exam, I'll be sitting mine on November 23rd, my blog partner on 26th. That should mean Whatever-Luna will be back with entries soon. Soon is whenever ideas strike. :)

Take care my sweethearts, see you very soon. Be safe wherever you are. Lots of love. :) <3 p="p">

Staying Falling in Love

It's difficult to stay. Falling in love.

But falling feels so good you just want to keep falling. Down, down, deeper into this love. We're humans we have no wings. We can't fly. No, this isn't about surviving the fall.

It's plainly about falling.

Your heart shrinks. But you know it won't hurt, you won't break your backbone hitting the ground. No, it was promised. It's about the fear, and your facing it, and this bizarre; fear-facing exercise you're currently in. It just feels good, this falling.

Down and deeper.

The shrinking feeling slowly turns into something you struggle to describe, but enjoy so much. It's a mix of thrill, growing confidence, the want for more, and strangely...love. Strangely love.

The shrinking feeling now turns into that butterfly-in-my-stomach-like sense you have when you see your crush. Nah-this is way better. You recall gazing in admiration the face of your crush but you don't recall this very feeling with every glance. This is obviously something more special you just start to believe it's true. True love you call it now, unlike the previous others.

That feeling when you're giving your best to the ones you care about.
That feeling when you know you're safe because they're always around.
That feeling of never-ending excitement of seeing your loved ones again.
That feeling of winning a chess game with just another move.
That feeling of some cold sea breeze against your smile.
That feeling of watching the most beautiful sunrise.

That falling in love and never wanting to stop because you know it's going to be fine.

Have you ever felt that?

I did, so many times, but this time it's really different-unlike the many times I hated falling in love-this time I just want to keep falling,

because I'm falling for The One, I know He will catch me. His promises none unravelled to be other than truth.

Don't trust me, trust Him. Excuse me while I fall in love but you might want to take a step into this bliss you'll want to keep falling in.

Independent Eid

2012.

Final year in Sydney. Malaysia awaits, I have to admit that my problem is Sydney is so mesmerising but it is nothing near to home. Things I find in Sydney I don't in Malaysia, but a reverse of this is more significant it keeps Malaysia dearest to my heart, always.

Eid was better this year than the last, alhamdulillah and so was Ramadhan too.

Happy 55th Independence Day, Malaysia. Being away taught me a lot about ways to love you more honestly. These couple of years have done a great deal teaching me how it's like to be free, to appreciate freedom, but I know it deep inside that there's always a truth in 'you never know the value of something until you lose it.' For this, I really hope whoever is reading this to know, that our lives is more than just about winning a fight. It's about protecting what we're blessed with. Peace, a land to live on and call home. Well the Palestinians and Syrians don't-and even that being the case-they are proud to do the honour defending whatever they've got with all might. People die every day and it's an honour for their families. Here we are wondering if we've done enough for our country. If ever.

Other than that-

please forgive my shortcomings, I hope my writings continue to benefit you in every way. It has always been a pleasure to write, be read, and to know you're there.

Eid Mubarak. If it's not too late. Nah, it's never too late for something good. ;)

Take care, lots of love.

Assalamualaikum.

Don't Get Enraged When...

Greetings.

Having read a post on Facebook on an explicit song containing wordings from a particular religion, I felt an urge to write on inappropriate remarks on religion(s) being gradually accepted as a norm in current popular culture.

I thought, what is it with this trend? Has the world came to negotiate the act of vandalising morality by being silent to all immoralities in their every disguise?

First of all I think it's wise to first reflect whether we are the ones responsible in letting this happen. Let's ask ourselves whether we are the ones who; over the past few years, have turned deaf ears on mockeries, oppressions and injustice. And perhaps, just perhaps, that we are the ones who doesn't walk the talk. It could also be, that we're not doing our best in demonstrating the qualities taught in our religion we wish others to understand resulting in others taking our shortcomings for granted. We could have been too fast asleep all this while to realise what's going on.

There is no religion that teaches disrespect in the first place, which is why I believe any act of insensitivity towards any religion in the world should be banned as a bold message to those who believe that it is perfectly fine to ridicule religions while remaining masked in the name of 'entertainment', that their act is not acceptable as a decent morality.

Oh, you might be saying "Nah, here goes another caveman babbling about religion and blah blah blah. What else do they do?" Well even an atheist deserves a medium for his existentialist belief to be heard, why not everyone of religious faith. This being said; freedom of speech never meant everyone can freely pick on another person for pleasure, then naming their deeds whatever sounds nice such as songs, justice, restoration, and what not while the corrupt remains steady, the ignorants blindfolded and the target constantly suppressed, or specifically in the current scene; picked on.

All these I'd sum into a short, simple wordings: 1) Immorality and disrespect shouldn't have been given a place in civilised society and 2) Corruptions can never happen where it is not tolerated with.


Understand me when I say, the oppressed should wake up, and the oppressor should grow up.

It's time.

PoeticNotes #1: Why Heaven

But the world isn't half as good a place
as heaven.

Souls sit writing sorrows down to the end
so to get only sober, none the merrier

You kill the time doing nothing-
time kills you while you wait

And it's bitter
but you can make me less tormented if you would

Voluntarily draw a curve on your face
to be my elixir.

So the world could be less a bitter place
while we're painting pictures

To bring home, hearts hope,
stay in bright lights, to heaven.

Transition#4: How Long Does It Take to Answer

Assalamualaikum.

Agama itu milik semua, tapi hidayah cuma milik Allah SWT. No, don't stop here. Keep reading.

Everyone's granted a heart with intuitions, a body with capabilities, a mind with dreams and above all the power to decide. But among us all, who finds our being a miraculous one, capable of powerful possibilities?

I don't know.

I don't even find it often that I succeed, transforming my dreams into reality. Well many people dream and I dream too, but when people achieve I may be one of those trying to convince myself that tomorrow I will, ten times.

Look.

He gives us 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, but not everyone makes it to the end-you and I know-yet we act as if we're so sure that tomorrow is in our hands. Uhum. How old am I, you ask? Almost 23. I asked myself once, why am I thinking about this. Why bother about death when life is still young. Answer is; young people die too. You will one day hear that I had left only my name for you to say, but no longer my physical being, for you to meet. And because of that, I want to think about the time I have, while they're still around. I want to make something useful out of the time I have.

I won't talk about shaping people or changing the world until I'm serious enough to change myself because I know, it's easy to dream out loud, but not walking the preach. I'm not compromising with myself to start tomorrow, I'm starting now, today. Let my words you're reading be an evidence, that I've started my way to amending my little part of our shared world. Allah is ever forgiving, until when are we procrastinating to turn to Him and live the way He is pleased with?

Don't let this slip away. Extraordinary changes come from ordinary people who allow their lives to be in line with the righteous deen. Let our hearts be purified with remembrance of our Lord Allah, let His words ease through our minds and shape us into one of a kind.

When I type this I remember Sheikh Omar Suleiman in his khutbah on how Saidina Umar al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) had thought that the words Muhammad S.A.W read from the Qur'an were poems. When he finally gave up his heart to understand, he knew, that the words weren't made up, that they are the revelations. He is, after embracing Islam, the second most influential man after our prophet S.A.W. True, we can't be Umar. But am I not right when I suggest, that we could be anything we want, that we could be influential too?

So let me take you to where my thoughts are running. Let us live accordingly, and do humanity a favour. Let us make a significant change, starting from ourselves.

Now think about your dreams. Pick one of them, the one that excites you most. Have in mind what you're going to do about it. Yes, you're going to make it happen. Good thing. And you're going to start today, in sya Allah. We need a shift, we need to tune our mindsets. Our dreams can happen. Now research all possible sources you can find, Qur'an, books, the net, anything. Outline how you can make it happen and,



go for it.

Come Autumn March.

I've got a feeling, that our neighbours' hosting a party.

As it was yesterday, tonight is drenched in melancholic rain come autumn March. Someone's playing continuous sleepy tune on the guitar. There was always him and his guitar across the road all the recent nights as I settled on a new bed. Tonight along it goes with the soft natters. Up and down like a feather on a ripple, its subtle sound waves cruise the chilly air through any open door and window.

My day's notes now an armrest. To one side of the noir notepad a dark red vessel houses a damp teabag the scent of strawberry. In bizarre harmony I sit, typing this, as it goes.

The rain's its music. Nobody's humming. Only that it sometimes gets heavier, yet honestly too soft the newborns of His clouds bursting into tiny pearls as they fall head-first onto the earth..

***

'The Third February 14'

Assalamualaikum and hello there!

February 14, for the third time this year, marked luna-stella's anniversary. Three years ago my fingers first served for a blogger's pleasure, tapping on the keyboard the this and that of my life story as clumsy and innocently honest, a newbie.

Today is pretty much the same, except for I grew up with luna-stella trying to learn be a little more sensitive and alert for issues around the place I stay in and the place I was born in, also open minded when sharing my jar of two cents while keeping up with my own belief and the society's.

Years ago here is where I tell about the fun I had with family and friends. Here is where I talk in Greek when I feel like writing poems (and still do) or was heartbroken, here is where I am transparent-where I feel fairly safe to share my life to the very bit of its pieces. That was then. As time went, dear self has decided not to get carried away ranting about fun stuff all the time, but rather pay a little more attention to what goes on in the world and how it connects to me being a Muslim, a daughter, a future English teacher, a friend, an animal lover, a Malaysian, and a member of the society. All this through the looking glass of a blogger.

Well in three years, I had times when I thought, why I run a blog, should I at any point quit, for whether my readers are able to share my mind has always been a core issue. Thought a million times over, I decided not to stop though at times it didn't feel exciting to lose motivation. So I made this line up: 'once a blogger, always is'. Yeah, you heard it somewhere. It's the scout's 'once a scout, always is'. And it has always been a motivator ever since along with my parents' constant support.

I want to blog because I want to make my habit of gazing into empty spaces thinking about things that wildly pop up worthy of my time. I feel it fun to have them in my blog, where they are read, pondered about, argued and justified. Plus studying teaching in particular, demands the time and effort to spend some time to think, maybe talk and write about issues worthy of attention. I am glad, that my time I mostly spend alone when thinking, are sometimes shared with friends who find pleasure in good arguments and conclusions too.

The point is, there is no use to keep what's in your mind to yourself when you have ideas-so share. We think differently from one another and hey, how nice it is to learn about one thing in as many points of view there are when you talk to acquaintances and blog about it, no?

It has been three years and we're still running. Until I find a better thing to do other than blogging, this will always be one of the best opportunities there is where I can freely express myself with sensible reminder to adhere to the social guidelines-that is the language I use to get my ideas across-and the way I represent myself. I wish to utilise this medium as a platform to speak and be heard while continuously refining my language skills. I wish to learn, as much as I can considering the fact that this blog at its third year is a best reflection of who I am in this blogsphere. Merely a toddler.

There is a lot to learn in the real world. Surprisingly, I turned this place into a quarter of my life too. It's becoming real-and how amazing it is-to give a seemingly unimportant event a deep good thought and realise its significance to quality living and learning.

All you've read in short; 'to blog is to learn'.  Happy Birthday dear luna-stella, my pride and joy. :)


p/s: How d'you find the new background?

The Said 'Freedom of Speech'

Assalamualaikum.

This time of the year terms like kebebasan bersuara mahasiswa (students' freedom of speech) and the likes have already become more than common. Almost six decades ago Malaysia strived her way to racial integration and economy balance. Education then was-and still is-a catalyst towards development of every aspect an independent country had to work on after uncountable years of occupation. As a result of the hard work Malaysia today stands tall as one of the most rapidly developing countries and is well acknowledged as a country of peace and harmony. The early start of 2012 however witnessed a shocking resurgence of independent students' rally for freedom of speech that demands the Malaysian government to abolish the 41-years-old act that has never before been as seriously a turmoil the way it now is.


One question here. Has the country been neglecting the citizens' rights for voicing out their stand that all of a sudden it is radically fought for as if we have been denied the right to all the while?


If studied closely, the enforcement of AUKU by Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's then Minister of Education in 1971 was intended to protect students from being exploited by or getting involved in any unregistered organisation without the grant of Malaysia Constitution or the Vice Chancellor during their years of study. As simple as that, students' association or other organisations that have been granted to operate are at students' convenience to join for good. This might however appear to some as stopping students from being actively involved in politics and specifically denying students the freedom of speech. While there is a certain amount of truth or possibility in this perception, it is also not wrong to say that AUKU protects students from disregarding their primary goal of excelling in studies should their engagement to political associations takes over the priority instead.


Then is there a relevance in the issue of freedom of speech?


I, at my humblest position of being an ordinary tertiary level student believes that existing opportunities to develop basic skills of leadership and deliberation are not exploited to the most. Student Representatives Association or Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar has always been around as a stepping stone for students to practice the said skills and more. I personally restrict myself from being judgemental about any stance taken by students who joined the recent demonstrations but I believe that chances are that the said rally for freedom of speech intended are far from achievable through immature acts of violence. Honestly, who would grant freedom if it doesn't seem convincing that people asking for it are capable of maintaining control over the trust? Let's not talk about power, no one wants to be under control of an unstable group of future leaders who breaks nearby door of a clinic when asked to dismiss while yelling at top of their lungs for-well-freedom of speech-at dead of night.

We are too busy fighting for a chance to voice out opinions that are failing to look mature when supposed-to-be-peaceful assembly turn uncontrollable. See the problem? We will forever be fighting for 'rights' while forgetting to convince the people in position that we are rightfully deserving. I am a Malaysian citizen too, and I personally feel that there are good reasons why Malaysia is a democratic country, and one of it is not to be blindly criticized. Students are called 'mahasiswa' and in their hands are the country's hope and future. 'Mahasiswa' are supposed to be mentally very educated in ideology and acts learned out of years of study, not hasty and aggressive in speaking their minds out. Democracy allows everyone freedom of speech, and for certain anyone can speak up and be heard through reliable, professional manners such as working out referendums, organising forums to be attended by the public, empowering future leaders with competent public speaking skills through available student associations in high education institutions they study in, and many more.

It is this simple: If you want a driving license you must first prove that you can drive on the road safely so other road users and you yourself are safe. So if you want freedom of speech you must first prove that you are worthy of the responsibility of representing the citizens, and keeping up the peace and harmony our nation had though times fighting for.