Oh yeah, Oh yeah!

This is the moment when you find me cheerfully hum Celine Dion's I'm Alive. This is the defining moment I've been waiting for, for the past few months. This is one of those moments I will remember the rest of my life. And more importantly, this is the moment when I close my eyes, and thank Allah once again for His blessings..His never-ending blessings. The moment I'm talking about is when I got a call from a certain Mr Lee saying "Maxis wants to hire you."


I wouldn't say that the road to my first job was all along bumpy. I wouldn't say that I complained all the time about not getting anything much earlier. It's simply what I chose to do. I chose to take time off from any commitments. I needed the brake. I've never stopped since God knows when, not since SPM and not since I've been accepted to MRSM Jasin. 3 months off in Australia, and 2 months off in Malaysia. The other 3 months at Select Consulting was still a leisure because it was part-time. I only started job hunting seriously in April 2008. I have never regretted taking my own sweet time in getting my first job. If others straight away jumped into the working world after uni, I didn't. Time after time I've been 'warned' of the working world and how once started, you will be trapped in it for the rest of your life. Despite the warnings, I know I still want to get involve in it. To have a taste of it. And despite all, I don't want to waste this engineering degree, for sure! It's just that I want to be 100% ready. And no, I haven't forgotten about my 'other' dream...;)...There are still other means of achieving my other dream of being a great writer. One thing at a time...one thing at a time...

It's a great feeling to have made it on my own. Sometimes people ask me why I wasn't using Baba's channels. And I gave them the same answer...I want to try on my own! I really respect Baba and his achievements, but that doesn't mean I can 'use' him to get jobs. He does have contacts. That's the irony of things in life...I could go the easy way, but it's not always the proper way. At the end of the day, it's the decision that reflects your level of dignity.

So here I am..as ready as ever! The long holidays prepared me for this...to be ready and determined. That's the beauty of taking my time...my own sweet time...

On Missy Higgins

I am a huge fan of Missy Higgins. I have listened to her a kazillion times, and she never fail to bore me. Warm Whispers is blaring on my laptop speaker, so to speak. My taste of music goes 360 degrees, but the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Missy Higgins and Norah Jones gets the most play in my Windows Media Player.

I had the chance to go to Missy's concert in Nov 2007. Her 'One Night Only ' tour. Sitting 5 rows away from the stage, it was one of the best seats of the string of concerts I've been to in Adelaide. Avril Lavigne's concert was the other concert that I had the chance to be close to the stage. But Avril's concert was free standing, and because of that, I was pushed and being forced to stand beside a sweaty, tall, stuck-up guy. Luckily, we were a few feet away from the stage, which made it all-worthy as Avril made me forget that guy beside me. Otherwise, the scene of a short me beside a tall and sweaty-armpitt-person would be much worse than you can imagine! Seriously!

So Missy Higgins was belting out her true-to-the-core songs and I could not help but admire her live performance. It's true that her voice could not be compared to Celine Dion's or anyone else who has that range of high vocals. However, Missy's voice is rich and pure and soothing and goes well with the kind of song she sings. I used to have this perception that Missy's live performance would not be as good as the CD version. Daymn I was wrong. She hopped from the Piano to the Guitar to the Keyboards and sang away her trademark vocals without jitters. Once in a while, she would reveal the history behind the song she was going to sing. And this could go on for 5-10 minutes with her joking around and making the audience laugh. The 'Sound of White' relates to the death of her cousin. 'Angela' is about Scarlett O'Harra from Gone With The Wind. 'Peachy' is her way of ranting..musically. A few songs are about her relationships, be it good or bad. Many records were made while she was traveling around. With Missy, inspirations come easily. She could be sitting on the sands with the sound of waves at the background, and katink! she decided to write a song there and then. And Missy tells her story whole-heartedly. It just shows what a genuine musician she really is. It was just a beautiful concert.

I even influenced my family to like Missy Higgins...

It has always been me who prepared CDs for our family roadtrips. The DJ of the family...ME! Of course, it's not all about me and my selections. My rule of DJ-ing...Always consider what the others like too! So in one CD, I managed to squeeze in The Scorpions, Jamiroquai, The Beatles, Michael Buble, Radiohead, Sarah McLachlan, Missy Higgins, and Hannah Montana. For the last road trip at Great Ocean Road, Australia, I even tried to download Nursery Rhymes, but failed to do so. It's hard to get Nursery Rhymes, okay! Kesian Umar....hahhaaha..but don't worry, Umar loves Radiohead's Let Down. That nephew of mine!

So back to the point where I got my family to love Missy Higgins during that Great Ocean Road trip (excluding Hafeez and Kak Niza, since they left early) . I made this CD entitled All Things Missy. It was an Australian road trip. So I thought, why not put an Aussie flavour, right? So I put on the CD with songs from Missy's 1st few albums.

1st round of play: everyone kept quiet
2nd round of play: hmmm...still no signs, but they didn't seem to reject the CD straight away
3rd round of play: I could here tappings to the beat once in a while
4th, 5th, 6th round of play: Ira and kakak starts singing the lyrics
Umpteenth round of play: Quoting Baba, "Lina, can you make a copy of this CD for me?"

Strike!!! wahahaha..Of course, it was hours and hours of drive, which made it possible for the replays.

Now, Kakak (who also holds the copy of 'All Things Missy' in her car), said that when she puts on Missy Higgins in the CD player, it brings her back to the memories of our road trip in Australia, in late 2007. That's another thing Missy does, bringing out the Australian-ness in her songs. And that, to me, is why I'll never be bored listening to her. It just reminds me of my 4 years there, and how that 4 years stamped a huge footprint in my life. Enough said...

Al-Fatihah

Innalillah..I just heard a devastating news from my good friend Norly. Her dad just passed away. Having knowing Norly for quite some time now, and how she is a wonderful, reliable and great friend you could possibly ask for, I feel her pain and loss. I hope she will survive through this trying times. May Allah guide you and your family to heal this pain.


Love and prayers be with you and your family, Norly. May your dad rest in peace. Al-fatihah.