Thursday, 28 February 2013

Date a girl who reads.

End of month picture.

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes. 

Reblogged from;
Heaven, hell, and mademoiselle.: Date a girl who reads.

Taubat.

Perhaps it is time for a self reflection.

You know, I have always wondered, kenapa rezeki susah sangat nak masuk? Am I not doing it right? Am I not in the right path? There are a lot of imperfections in my life. I am turning 22 this year, nothing has really changed. But maybe at one point in the future, I'd look back and see how things have changed. I encourage myself to always be positive and be confident in whatever I do. But I guess things have been going downwards. I am downgrading, that's how I feel lately.

Pathetic. I can't be that bad, maybe I just need to get out of my comfort zone and see what the world has to offer. A LOT. I know. Then I started to wonder, mungkin kita rasa tak tenteram because of kita tak ingat Tuhan. Atau mungkin sebab kita belum lagi nak rasa kesal of what we did in the past. Mungkin hidup ni rasa macam ada yang kurang sebab we haven't apologized to those yang kita dah lukakan. Those are the possibilities. I am not an expert on religious matters. I am far away from being pious. But those are the things I wonder alone at night.

Find God, and you'll find your way.

Monday, 25 February 2013

Maybe That's Why

 I love you.

A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled 'n asked.

"Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?"

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, "Because we lose our calm, we shout."

"But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner." asked the saint

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples.
Finally the saint explained,

"When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance. 

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small..."

The saint continued, "When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper 'n they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other 'n that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other."

He looked at his disciples and said.

"So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, Or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return."

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Read This.

 Nieces, Nayli and Israa. Mind the pose.

I haven't been posting much about what's new with my life. In fact I've never felt like writing about it. But somehow today I felt like doing so. I mean, someone out there must be waiting for "this". Pathetic laughs. This would be a typical blogger post. It's 19 minutes past 1 now, my eyes are begging for mercy. I probably should prepare myself for the 8-short-hours of journey to the world of fantasy. But I have promised myself to finish this post because I left it halfway, for a dinner with friends.

I was happy for a moment. But then I started to question myself. Why is it so hard for me to adapt with new surroundings? Why is it so hard for me to fit in? Why does it even matter to fit in the crowd? Those are some of the questions I kept on asking to myself, but I am hopeless. Alone I wonder. Have you ever felt like you don't belong anywhere? I am still the same old me, very bad at keeping in touch. Maybe I should just admit that I have poor communication skills and that means I have to re-do my resume. How ironic. Resumes are bullshit. However, that is not the point. Totally off the topic.

Life is actually pretty good for me now. There is no need to feel morose, it is completely unnecessary because everything happens for a reason. I am still in the journey of finding myself, I believe that the path I'm taking now is leading me to the greater things in life. Open your eyes and see the beauty in life, pay attention to the small details in life, and you'll feel blessed. I have always wondered why is everything so stale and boring. Then I realized that I've been doing the same damn routine for the past few months. Change is good, it reminds me of a reincarnation somehow. Like I told you before, change is bound to happen. You'll never realize that things around you are changing but then when you look back, everything is different. Isn't it?

Be kind to yourself. Stop telling yourself that whatever you are struggling with “should” be easy. If something is hard for you, it is hard for you. There are probably Reasons, though those may just be how you are wired. Acknowledge these things. When you finish something hard, be proud! Celebrate a little. And really, just stop saying “should” to yourself about your thoughts and feelings in any context. You feel how you feel. The things in your head are the things in your head. You can’t change either directly through sheer force of will. You can only change what you do. Stop beating yourself up for who and what you are right now–it isn’t productive. Focus on moving forward.

Sunday, 17 February 2013

The Greatest Speech Ever Made

Charlie Chaplin. Inspiration.
“We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery.”


I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned mens' souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.

Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.” The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder! Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men—machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have a love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it’s written “the kingdom of God is within man”, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power.

Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill their promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Thursday, 14 February 2013

2013.


Life is good. It has always been good to me. Emotional breakdowns, tears, sudden mood swings,  disappointment. None of that matters anymore. I have gone through a set of unfortunate events last year, I am hoping this year would bring me luck. Though I believe luck has something to do with serendipity, it is not something I should be worried about because luck happens to be with you when you less think of it.

I have never wrote about my love life in this blog, I would love to write something about it but I personally think that the action of doing so is a little bit of - showing off. Not to say that I have the best love life ever but I believe everyone has their amazing stories waiting to be revealed. As for me, I am not ready to unveil the story I've been secretly hiding to myself. But yes, I am dating someone, in fact I've been dating him for quite some time.

I am very fond of long term relationships as I believe it brings out the best of oneself. And that feeling of being together with someone you love for a long time is beautiful, simply beautiful. (The thought of him sends shivers up to my spine.) I've been in the wrong relationship before, in fact every single one of us did, I regretted it but at least it taught me something out of it, which is to always have faith in yourself and it is always the better choice to depend on yourself and put less expectations from others. You've heard it a lot of times, it's getting old but it is definitely true. Never regret anything you did in the past, because it was what you wanted before so just keep calm and move on. Cover up the patches with laughter and smiles.